This list always stood out from the typical mailing list by the virtual absence of flame-wars (a.o. thanks to Ted's strict moderation). So it is with some amazement that I noted the last few days. My personal 2 euro-cents: a) I know, from frequent private communications, that John loves tongue-in-cheeck comments. When I read the whole list exchange about "real" observers, there was no doubt in my mind that it was all in jest. b) I know, by experience with the press, that journalist pick out the best, most strongly sounding statements. A news item usually has little room for nuances, a quote of a few lines will usually focus on the bold statement. You should always be careful to judge someone solely by the way he or she is quoted in the press. So IMHO this all indeed is an unfortunate mishap in which an unnuanced news item quote and a tongue-in-cheek series of exchanges on the list triggered by it, plus an unusually strong discussion on an entirely other subject (identifiers in subject lines) being linked to it, started to lead its own life. I feel we now all need to take a step back and let the dust settle, before it starts to irreparably damage our group relations. - Marco ----- Dr Marco Langbroek - SatTrackCam Leiden, the Netherlands. e-mail: sattrackcam@wanadoo.nl Cospar 4353 (Leiden): 52.15412 N, 4.49081 E (WGS84), +0 m ASL Cospar 4354 (De Wilck): 52.11685 N, 4.56016 E (WGS84), -2 m ASL SatTrackCam: http://home.wanadoo.nl/marco.langbroek/satcam.html Station (b)log: http://sattrackcam.blogspot.com ----- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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