6423 Cygnet Drive Alexandria, VA 22307 30 May 1996 California Institute of Technology Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences Pasadena, CA 91125 To: Edward M. Stolper, Chairman Peter J. Wyllie, Academic Officer Jean A. Grinols, Division Administrator Priscilla Piano, Executive Assistant for Academic Affairs Jeff N. Batten Richard F. Lucinio Michael L. Black Philip J. Maechling Robin J. Bolsey John E. Marquis Arthur S. Bryant Janice I. Mayne Mahmood A. Chaudhry Shannon L. McKinnon Alix Chen Victor Nenow Chin Yu Cheng Jose A. Nunez-Anzueto Sang B. Choi Roberta L. Robb Stanislav K. Cincera Paul W. Roberts Alberto Devora Francois Rogez Rosalie A. Ewald Nick J. Scheckel Epaprodito Gelle Joe Spitale Lindsey Hedges Jose B. Tamayo David Johnson Robert A. Taylor Steve P. Labrecque Deborah S. Wells Michael A. Long Permit me to bring your attention to the behavior of Carl J. Lydick, a GPS employee for several years. My name is David Murphy; I live in Virginia and have been working here for over a decade as a VMS systems programmer. As such, one of my uses of the Internet is the same as hundreds of other VMS programmers, users, and system managers around the world: I read the comp.os.vms Usenet newsgroup on a regular basis. There are many experienced people who contribute to this forum, assisting dozens of aspirants daily by answering questions, writing code, or referring to other sources. Mr. Lydick has a far-flung reputation as one of the most knowledgeable and helpful participants; unfortunately, he also has a long history as the most abusive and vicious harasser. Mr. Lydick regards himself as the "guardian" of the newsgroup, and does not hesitate to immediately belittle --- almost always with foul language and defamation of character --- anyone who asks for help in a manner Mr. Lydick regards as "stupid", such as not including enough information or phrasing a question incorrectly. He does the same for anyone who answers a question incorrectly, or even incompletely . . . even when such an omission is moot. His attacks, which have been made off and on over at least the last four years, are deliberate; when he is wrong, he does not apologize. His stated goals are to intimidate anyone who does not measure up to his standards from the newsgroup, and to "prevent" a low "signal-to-noise" ratio. With respect to the former, he has certainly been successful: several people of my acquaintance have forsaken comp.os.vms due entirely to Carl's reputation. Any success in the latter topic would be only in Mr. Lydick's mind, since limiting participation cannot be a positive result. He conveniently ignores the fact that he can only frighten away legitimate users; "spammers" and other such flotsam will continue to pollute the newsgroup regardless of his tactics, and they are definitely more damaging than "newbie" articles. And *he* has no problem of posting content-free off-topic emotional messages. I realize that this letter may not accomplish anything. In fact, some may see it as merely a sign of petulance or wounded ego on my part. The truth is that I am simply tired of a bully frightening away newcomers, I am tired of posters being referred to publicly as incompetent "shit-for-brains" for minor mistakes or ignorance, I am tired of the bi-annual "what can be done about Carl" threads, I am irritated that Mr. Lydick hides behind the technical limitations which prevent others from "locking" him out of the newsgroup (he has already been banned from the mailing list), and I am tired of his claim that "to allow bad code to be posted is unprofessional", when the reality is that his conduct is by far the most inappropriate, if only because his efforts negate those of more mature posters. But he refuses to allow that other viewpoints may be valid, he cannot be reasoned with, his technical expertise has won him a small but noisy following who clamor that his assistance universally overshadows his abhorrent actions, and writing this letter is all that is left for me to do. And, frankly, I would like to know that his employer and co-workers are aware of his behavior. I merely ask that you decide for yourself. I've attached a recent thread begun by myself in its entirety, along with a sample response from Mr. Lydick to a newcomer's request. Read the vulgarities and obscenities. Observe the crude insults, the misinterpretations, the accusations of incompetence. Review the articles currently on your own news feed. Think how appropriate it is for such verbiage to be seen as originating from a caltech.edu site. Debate the odds of Carl someday publicly insulting a programmer, his company, and his software, only to find himself facing a libel lawsuit. Consider whether or not his "disclaimer" prevents people from forming opinions about CalTech itself. Decide whether his posts are the normal "flaming" endemic to most newsgroups, or an intentional, hostile campaign to force people to conform to his notion of what comp.os.vms should be, regardless of the charter. And as to why I've copied this letter to the other members of the Technical Support Staff: I would not want to work with someone who would so maliciously express such self-righteous satisfaction over the death of a child-to-be. Sincerely, (signed) David P. Murphy