[HCoop-Discuss] My hats

[Nathan Kennedy]

I'll just finish off by saying yes, Adam and others are right in that
there were at least two occasions that I made appointments and ended up
not showing until hours later.  That's not acceptable, even for a
volunteer, and I have and will again try to avoid that situation.  On the
other hand there have been a few times when I hauled my butt to the
datacenter at inopportune times to do scheduled maintenance and no admins
showed.  On another occasion I had a long-scheduled date with Clinton to
mount deleuze, and he ended up bailing on that morning--with a good
excuse, granted--and I had to ask a visiting friend to help me out.  In
those kinds of situations I haven't made a big stink on the mailing list,
just grumbled on IRC.  As for Frank, when I talked to him and explained
that I would have to accompany him to the datacenter anyway, he seemed not
terribly interested in going--and I did subsequently go to the datacenter
and do the best I could under the circumstances.  There's hardly a point
in getting him permanent access when he's just going to be leaving the
city.

I do believe that the "director" position is quite independent of the
"hardware-monkey" position which I have sometimes neglected.  At some
point we're inevitably going to need regular, paid help accountable for
more of these technical tasks that require immediate intervention,
especially physical access.  Until we reach the point where this is
necessary and our budget can sustain it, we're reliant on a very small,
closed gift economy of our membership, and I will continue to offer my
services as long as they are needed and as long as we have no one better
to do them.  Without any tangible compensation, when at times I have
performed these tasks in the middle or at the end of a long day at a
full-time job or in the midst of transitions and various personal woes, I
have not always been as communicative or responsive as I have intended. 
But I think there's something to be said about Michael and Graham's point
that in this kind of role some positive feedback would be helpful.  I find
Adam M's particularly biting comments in this respect more out of line
given the grief he's caused me, not just through error but on the occasion
where I was wrapping up on-site after a long day and he rebooted deleuze
(while live) after I specifically told him not to, forcing me to remain
late onsite for hours just to try to get it back online.  That's not very
respectful, and that's not the kind of thing that makes me happy to be
volunteering for the co-op.

I also recognize that there are many others who have donated time, skills,
effort, hardware, and other resources to make HCoop go, even if they are
not such easy targets, in particular Adam C's time spent on development,
the sysadmins time spent on many long tasks and meetings; including some
of those who have rightfully criticized some of my deficiencies as
hardware monkey.  Their combined contributions would make my own look
small indeed.  I hope that we can focus on creating a more positive
atmosphere for all of our volunteers and improving the co-op and its
services.  It was not the "threats" of banishing me that "got me to
respond," it was an email to my inbox.  Let's move past this.

Mire is going to need more RAM, and I would be happy to put it in when it
arrives.

-ntk