Mike Jackson wrote:
Several years ago, one of my staff members was caught plagiarizing a review. The evidence was plain as day, and he confessed to doing it. He (and I) happened to be part of a film critics society. After I terminated the staff member, I presented them with the evidence. They did nothing; they wanted to see a pattern of behavior, and one obvious act of plagiarism wasn't enough for them. I wound up resigning; I didn't want to be part of a group that didn't hold its members to a high enough standard.
It's not uncommon for enforcement systems to allow lesser penalties for a first offense. While I agree that "doing nothing" is unacceptable, zero tolerance on a first offense tends is not usual.
Allowing leniency for a single error of judgment does not necessarily render the whole process invalid, providing it's accounted for in the enforcement policy. Not having this set in policy allows for inconsistent and unfair outcomes, which present their own problems of acceptability.
- Evan _______________________________________________ BSDCert mailing list [email protected] http://lists.nycbug.org/mailman/listinfo/bsdcert
