OT: reply to posts with "no mail" option set

[Rodolfo J. Paiz]

At 06:23 11/18/2003, you wrote:
>Hi Rodolfo,

Hi!

>I'm a DBA myself, and the main corporate sysadmin sits next to my desk [...]
>And no, the two of us wouldn'get fired - but any other non-IT user trying
>the same would surely do.

OK, understood. My primary point to the other guy (forgot who posted) was 
that it is your responsibility to apply whatever knowledge you gain on this 
forum in a responsible manner, where "responsible" is defined by your 
specific environment and where knowledge you gain here is akin to knowledge 
you gain anywhere else... say, by reading a book.

It is not the book's fault if you misuse the knowledge or if you break a 
rule while using the knowledge... _you_ must know the rules and follow 
them, or face the consequences. I highly doubt you could defend 
inappropriate action with a "But the book said I could do it" or even "But 
some guy on a mailing list said I could do it." Now, _you_ appear to be 
perfectly well aware of this, as I'm sure all or 99.99999% of us are. Why 
TOG (The Other Guy) got upset with me, I have not grasped.

I do very seriously question the wisdom of being too harsh with sanctions 
over such things, since it's a very good way to lose some valuable 
employees. Sometimes you do have to fire people, but "zero tolerance" is 
foolish and self-destructive. But that's another thread entirely and OT for 
this forum.

>|Good Christ, whose systems do you
>|admin: the KBG's? Sheesh...
>
>Suppose you meant KGB here -   :)).

Sweet Jesus, the Commies have gotten to my spell checker!

>And again, as I sit next to the sysadmin here (we've
>got 1300 PC's), I can very much understand the
>troubles hinted at by the admin you're replying to.

So can I. But if someone was giving me this kind of grief, and his defense 
was "some guy on a mailing list said I could do it," then THAT would be 
grounds for getting fired due to incurable and likely congenital stupidity. 
I deal with such things on a case-by-case basis, sometimes actually helping 
the poor sod find a better solution, sometimes discouraging the concept 
gently, sometimes by being firmer. In the case of that most dangerous of 
animals, "an idiot with initiative", I either get him fired or promoted to 
management. But again, I do not consider "zero tolerance" to be a valid option.

And I certainly don't consider "some guy on a mailing list" to be 
responsible for either your careful and responsible actions, or for the 
idiot with initiative.


-- 
Rodolfo J. Paiz
rpaiz at simpaticus.com