Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2005 00:52:35 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Minutes; other news
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

Gayle Surrette <davinci at chesapeake.net> wrote:
> You evidently forgot that we mailed you on 9/9/2005 telling you to
> do exactly what you did with the links after being instructed to
> have you do so by the Capclave chairs.

Yes, Paul emailed me (on the 12th, not the 9th), but that email didn't
tell me anything about the Capclave '05 updates I didn't already know,
or cause me to do anything with that site I wouldn't have already done
by Third Friday, albeit maybe a day or two later.  Elspeth can confirm
this; I told her in a September 3rd email that I would turn the mirror
site into links before Third Friday if I didn't have updates from you
or Paul by then.

I did find your mention of the Capclave '06 website in that email
useful.  Thank you for finally updating it.

> I really think that the way you phrased it in the minutes is that we
> ignored your requests and as you know that isn't so.

Well, you did.  For months.  I thought I was very restrained during
the meeting.  Perhaps too restrained, as I neglected to mention that
you now have the *only* copy of the Capclave website, and if anything
happens to you, it's gone.  And that the site is intended for inreach
as well as outreach, which is where a mirror site is really important
during brief main-site downtimes; WSFAns know about both sites, and
could have looked at keithlynch.net/wsfa/capc05/ if they found
capclave.org temporarily unavailable.

I had been looking forward to discussing these issues and
considerations with you, either in person or via email, i.e.
discussing the pros and cons of a mirror site, and various ways you
could have provided me with updates with negligible effort, since all
I needed was a list of files, not the files themselves.  Maybe we
would have reached the same conclusion you reached.  Or maybe some
other conclusion.  Maybe someone could have spoken up and come up with
an easier way to get that information to me.  I know it would have
been utterly trivial on Unix, and I assume it couldn't be much harder
on Windows or any other system, just to do the equivalent of piping
the output of "ls" to my mailbox nightly, which would have required
*zero* effort once set up.  Instead, I was presented with months
of dead silence, followed by a decision made entirely by others.
Never before had I felt so much like Capclave is "them," not "us."

If I forgot to say anything, it was at the meeting, not in the
minutes.  The minutes are intended merely to reflect what was said at
the meeting, not what should have been said, and are only defective
if they fail to do so accurately and completely.  If you thought I
neglected to say something at the meeting, you could have spoken
up then; you and Paul were there.  You can still do so at the next
meeting, of course.  And I will accurately report whatever you have
to say there, no matter how unflattering to me.

Since I'm completely out of the Capclave website business, I hope
this will end any grounds for disagreement between us.

Well, there is one possible ground left, so I hereby promise not to
nag you about the Capclave '07 website before next year, and not to
maintain a Capclave '07 mirror site, ever.  That should give plenty
of time for everything to cool off.

Thank you again for all the work you've done on the Capclave '05 and
'06 websites, and I apologize for any conflicts.  We both know they
come entirely from a mutual desire to do what's best for WSFA and
for Capclave.