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Henrik Brix Andersen posted <20051128094800.GA32340@××××××××××××××××.dk>, |
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excerpted below, on Mon, 28 Nov 2005 10:48:01 +0100: |
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|
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> So I fired up a web browser and there it was - first section in the GWN |
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> [1]. Seems the GWN authors have read my blog entry [2] and decided to |
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> bring their own version of it to the public. |
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> |
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> * The GWN talks about WiFi Protected Access (WPA). My Blog talks about |
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> IEEE 802.11/wired authentication in general. |
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|
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Prefacing my comments with a big **IN** **MY** **OPINION** as a Gentoo |
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user and (now) reader of that blog entry and this thread, for whatever you |
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take such reader/user opinion to be worth (or not worth). |
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|
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Your blog does indeed mention IEE 802.11/wired authentication. However, |
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it parallels xsupplicant and wpa_supplicant, saying they do the same |
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thing, without making clear that (implied) wpa_supplicant does more than |
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wpa. |
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|
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Thus, a reader not familiar with the technical details (such as myself, |
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and apparently the GWN folks) could very easily fail to account as |
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important the "general" reference, and equate WPA to the general case, |
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where you (above, but not in the blog) make clear there's some difference. |
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|
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This certainly doesn't excuse their not running it by you, as they should |
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have done, to clear up exactly this sort of error, if any, but it's a very |
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reasonable error to make. Reading the blog, I made exactly the same |
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error, and Grobian says he came to more or less the same conclusion. |
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|
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Not running it by you is a serious mistake, but given you asked for |
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comments in the blog entry, you are now getting them, even if part of them |
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have to do with a misunderstanding /of/ that blog entry. |
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> * The GWN talks about "my plans" for deprecating xsupplicant. My blog |
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> doesn't say anything about this. |
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|
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Not in so many words, no, but the meaning is clear, <quote> |
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|
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To justify having to maintain two packages (along with rcscripts) with the |
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exact same purpose, |
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|
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</quote>. Reading between the lines, as one in a newsweekly may |
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legitimately need to do in ordered to summarize a statement, what /other/ |
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meaning could be taken from that, than that should such justification not |
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be forthcoming from the feedback/discussion, deprecation of the now |
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unjustified package would be the result? |
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|
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Again, no excuse for not running it by you, certainly no excuse for not |
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linking the blog entry directly (that one I can't see at all, as sourcing |
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is /always/ a mark of reputable journalism, and it would have been /so/ |
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easy, in this case), but it's certainly what your blog implies the |
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ultimate result will be, barring something legit coming up in the feedback |
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you are now requesting. |
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|
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> * The GWN talks about removing xsupplicant from Gentoo Portage. My |
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> blog certainly doesn't say anything about this. |
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|
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Same as above, the ultimate result of deprecation would be removal, altho |
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with open source, where one never knows what else is out there depending |
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on something, ultimate removal of deprecated items is normally something |
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done on a timeline of years, not months, so this could reasonably be |
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assumed to be well in the future. |
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|
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> * The GWN doesn't even link to my blog entry, from which they must |
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> have gotten the initial idea for this article, thus not allowing their |
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> readers to see that the information provided is incorrect. |
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This, IMO, was the gravest error. I believe they reproduced the gist of |
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the blog entry entirely faithfully (note that said gist of what's actually |
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there may differ DRASTICALLY from what was intended, the reason running |
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any official commentary by the original author is a VERY GOOD idea), but |
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there remains /no/ excuse for not linking it, however faithful their |
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summary may have been and regardless of whether it was run by you or not. |
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Again, quoting source is one of the marks of reputable journalism, so |
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failing to do so /also/ has strong implications on the reliability of the |
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journalism. |
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|
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Failure to link the source is IMO inexcusable. The take appears to be |
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entirely logical and reasonable, and what I got from reading it as well. |
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However, that doesn't change a journalist's responsibility to at least |
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link the source, where possible (as it was here), and to run the article |
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by the subject in question where time and opportunity permits. |
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|
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I'd say chalk it up to a learning experience. GWN, as is customary with |
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such things, should print a correction and apology next issue, and one |
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would hope such a mistake isn't made again. |
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|
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Again, the above is simply IN MY OPINION as a reader of all three |
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locations (this thread, the GWN entry, and the blog entry, in that order), |
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and a Gentoo user, simply trying to "read the tea leaves" <g> well enough |
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to get some sense of what's ahead for him on this journey that is Gentoo. |
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|
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-- |
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Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs. |
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"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master -- |
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and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman in |
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http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2004/12/22/rms_interview.html |
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-- |
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