Unfortunately, my attempts to be diplomatic made my message easily
mis-interpretted, so I am clarifying below, and hope that no offense
is taken from any of it, as none is meant.
My responses marked with initials.
At 04:56 PM 7/15/2006, you wrote:
Yes, sounds nice, but, at least for indefinite future, it is just a
proposal. Gabe has put his money where his mouth is.
JL: Given that this most recent round of discussions only started two
days ago, I'm not following you here. Screenless Switchers has
hardly had a chance to do anything in that time, and that site has
existed for an extremely short period of time.
I do not follow. The BlindTechs.Net wiki is wide open. One doesn't
even need to register to edit. One arbitrary domain is as good as
another isn't it? Unless you get Apple or some already established
organization to sponsor the VO wiki.
JL: An established site, like MacVissionaries, especially, but
Screenless Switchers too, that is devoted to Mac, will be more
visible to struggling VO users in the beginning. I think that's important.
Ah, now we get to the matter. You would deny Gabe this opportunity to
redeem himself? He is offering something up, rather unselfishly it
seems to me. How is it not in the same spirit that Saqib sponsored
MacVisionaries?
It sounds to me like you have already judged and condemned the effort.
JL: I am not condemning the effort at all. As I said right from the
start, I appreciated the effort, but an wary of it. As someone who
develops games that Gabe used to publicly boast about pirating, I
think wariness is understandable. I am hopeful that Gabriel has
outgrown that, and am offering up the benefit of the doubt. The fact
that I am doing so, though, doesn't mean that everyone will. I know
many enemies he's made in the accessible game community, and don't
want that to negatively impact a project like this one. I was hoping
not to have to drag all that out again, and so was vague in my
previous message. Gabe's response and understanding goes a long way
toward redeeming himself.
Can you cite some rants or other controversial bits on the
BlindTechs.net domain which should make us worried?
JL: In the past few days, on this list, Gabriel has posted a horribly
rude message he sent to the folks who recently reviewed VO, and
showed hostility toward those of us who were interested in having
iTunes made accessible. Included in those messages was reference to
a site whose legality was also questionable, so that also raised some
alarm bells with me due to the above. All you need do is read the
messages that have come across this list this week.
I fail to comprehend why a volunteer wiki site needs to be
administered by someone with a spotless public relations reputation.
JL: That may be, in part, because you have picked my message apart
piece by piece, rather than looking at the whole of what I am
saying. As I said, we already have an uphill battle, and due to the
scarcity of such resources as this, I am concerned it could further
negatively impact what we are trying to accomplish. There is no need
for a spotless PR record, and that is exaggerating the point I was driving at.
I and relieved Gabe was not insulted. I am inclined to reward those
who do the work rather than those who are polite and kind and but not
actually useful. I suppose the world needs both types.
JL: By at large I agree with you. That does not mean that one should
disregard past events though. I am willing to give Gabriel the
benefit of the doubt, and only expressed concern, not an open boycott
of his WIKI.
Okays, write a wiki article or two! I wrote three new ones today.
JL: As time permits, I will. I already have multiple non-profit
projects in the works for blind computer users in addition to my
business of developing audio games for the blind, so have my hands
full. I intend upon contributing when it is possible. I
unsubscribed from this list for nearly a year because I didn't have
time to devote to it. I'm hoping that will change now...at least a little.
I am sure you have the best intentions. We need more than intentions.
I also recognize that, since I have drawn more than my fair share of
criticism, I can empathize with Gabe more than most.
JL: Well, drawing criticism is very different. I do sense that you
are implying that I'm rather useless and contribute little if
anything, so I'll let this drop from here on out. I expressed a
concern and apologize if that concern offended anyone. I am
extremely impressed and pleased that Gabriel, with whom I have
concerns, was very levelheaded about my comments. His three line
response, in fact, has gone much further in comforting me on his WIKI
than your disection of my message. *grin*
"The rich declare themselves poor
"But most of us are not sure
"If we have too much, but we'll take our chances
"'cause God stopped keeping score..."
Praying for Time -- George Michael
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