[hpsdr] Why?
John Ackermann N8UR
jra at febo.com
Wed May 13 10:41:53 PDT 2009
Chris, I'm not aware of any facts that were withheld during the
discussions about how to respond to the hpsdr.org shutdown. I'm not
going to get into a tit-for-tat argument, so suffice it to say that I
don't agree with Phil's characterization of events, and perhaps that is
the crux of the issue.
I do need to correct one statement that you made: As Bill noted in the
first message of this thread, nothing was done to Phil's access to the
mailing list before the domain shutdown. Whatever grievances he had
could have been discussed on the list at any time prior to that event,
and would not have been subject to moderation. The actions regarding
Phil's access to the system were taken *after* he pulled the plug on
hpsdr.org on April 12.
Finally, I will leave you with one thought before I get back to ham
radio: If you think what was done to Phil's privileges was "drastic,"
how would you describe disabling the entire hpsdr.org system --
including access to the mailing list to discuss the situation -- without
warning? Because that is what happened, and that is what we were
responding to.
John
----
Chris Down said the following on 05/13/2009 11:36 AM:
> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
>
> Phil C, thanks for posting the clarification. It certainly raises a lot
> of questions as to why these drastic actions were taken by the "core
> group" instead of trying to resolve the original cause of the problem in
> an open and democratic fashion.
>
> John, you stated: "I'm one of the people who was involved in the events.
> We don't really know what led Phil to take the action he did; it came
> out of the blue, which was one of the troubling aspects."
>
> What I find more troubling is that from what you are saying, it appears
> that you (and maybe others) made these decision without all the facts to
> hand. Surely it would have been common sense to talk to Phil and get his
> side of the story before taking such drastic actions. It is pretty
> obvious to me that at least one person new the reasons. Are you saying
> that you and others involved in the decision making were not informed of
> this?
>
> I am trying to remain neutral in all this, however the responses from
> the people who have taken these decisions seem to be lacking in openness
> and clarity. The justification was that Phil C took down the web site
> without notifying the 'core group'. My question is; if his emails were
> prevented from being published because the actions of the list
> moderator, how could he have put his case forward?
>
> Regards
>
> Chris G8MXW
>
>
>
>
>
> On 13/05/2009 15:06, Philip Covington wrote:
>> If this actually makes it to the list, my responses to these "claims"
>> are posted to:
>>
>> < http://hpsdr.org/why.html>
>>
>> I will post my responses there (with updates) to avoid being
>> "moderated" here again.
>>
>> Phil N8VB
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, May 13, 2009 at 7:46 AM, John Ackermann N8UR<jra at febo.com>
>> wrote:
>>> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
>>>
>>> I'm one of the people who was involved in the events. We don't
>>> really know
>>> what led Phil to take the action he did; it came out of the blue,
>>> which was
>>> one of the troubling aspects.
>>>
>>> Phil later gave some explanations in private email. In my view, they
>>> in no
>>> way justified the action he took. Further, Phil's email gave no
>>> indication
>>> that he wouldn't do the same thing again if he disagreed with the way
>>> the
>>> HPSDR project was being managed. As a result, I felt the existence
>>> of HPSDR
>>> was being held hostage by one person, and that something needed to be
>>> done.
>>>
>>> There is no formal HPSDR organization. I guess that's a blessing or a
>>> curse, depending on the circumstances. I can say that the people who
>>> were
>>> involved in the decisions of the last few weeks represent most of
>>> those who
>>> are associated with the main HPSDR project set and with the
>>> administration
>>> of the web site and mailing list.
>>>
>>> openhpsdr.org is currently being maintained by TAPR at the request of
>>> that
>>> core group.
>>>
>>> To my knowledge, none of the people in that group have a personal
>>> financial
>>> interest in any of the HPSDR projects. I am a TAPR board member, and of
>>> course TAPR has had a financial involvement in production of HPSDR
>>> boards;
>>> as I mentioned in my post yesterday, that happens on a case-by-case
>>> basis
>>> solely at the developer's discretion.
>>>
>>> John N8UR
>>> OHL and NCL Author
>>> Pandora Project Manager
>>> ----
>>> Chris Down said the following on 05/13/2009 04:34 AM:
>>>>
>>>> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
>>>>
>>>> Unfortunately this explanation lacks any detail as to what led Phil
>>>> C to
>>>> to take such drastic action. Would it be possible for someone to
>>>> explain the
>>>> sequence of events that led to this unfortunate and unnecessary
>>>> situation.
>>>> As I said in my previous email, I am not taking any sides (I have
>>>> never had
>>>> any contact with Phil C), it is just that a lot of people have
>>>> invested
>>>> time and money into the HPSDR project.
>>>>
>>>> I have been passively following this project for a while and
>>>> contemplating
>>>> getting involved in the project, however after recent events I have
>>>> some
>>>> concerns.
>>>>
>>>> Who makes the decisions on the direction of the project?
>>>>
>>>> Do any of these people have any commercial interests that could
>>>> influence
>>>> the direction of the project? If so this should be stated publicly
>>>> on the
>>>> web site.
>>>>
>>>> Who owns and controls the domain name openhpsdr.org? Unfortuantely the
>>>> owner as opted to protect the details by using a private
>>>> registration proxy.
>>>>
>>>> What safeguards are in place to prevent a similar situation
>>>> occurring in
>>>> future?
>>>>
>>>> How many people have administration rights to the wiki and website
>>>> and who
>>>> are these people?
>>>>
>>>> Do you intend to allow registered members to edit wiki pages?
>>>>
>>>> Perhaps the answers to the above should be documented as an overview of
>>>> the project administration structure on a wiki page.
>>>>
>>>> Is there anything that can be done to reconcile the parties involved in
>>>> this? Perhaps people on both sides have acted impulsively and said
>>>> and done
>>>> things that with hindsight could have been presented differently and
>>>> maybe
>>>> now is the time to admit that, shake hands and move forward in the
>>>> interests
>>>> of the community.
>>>>
>>>> Sorry to ask so many questions and I know we would all rather be
>>>> dealing
>>>> with technical issues. However I feel it is important to understand
>>>> why this
>>>> situation occurred and what we as a community can do to prevent it
>>>> happening
>>>> again and also prevent a split in the community.
>>>>
>>>> Regards
>>>>
>>>> Chris G8MXW
>>>>
>>>> On 13/05/2009 00:01, Bill Tracey wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
>>>>>
>>>>> The actions that Phil C. mentions on his web page all occurred after
>>>>> Phil disabled hpsdr.org on or about the 12th of April, by
>>>>> redirecting it
>>>>> to a "dummy" site. In addition to disabling the web site, this action
>>>>> also disabled the mailing list so it was impossible to communicate to
>>>>> the group what was happening. This was done with no warning to the
>>>>> webmaster or system administrator, and with no explanation as to
>>>>> why it
>>>>> was done. As a result of that action and further communications with
>>>>> Phil C, there was great concern that the web site and mailing list
>>>>> were
>>>>> at risk, and that a similar disruption could occur in the future.
>>>>>
>>>>> With great reluctance it was felt we had no choice but to put controls
>>>>> in place that would limit the damage that could be done to the HPSDR
>>>>> Internet resources. That included transition to a new domain
>>>>> (openhpsdr.org) that Phil C. does not control, as well as
>>>>> protecting the
>>>>> wiki from unlimited editing by someone who had clearly indicated he
>>>>> was
>>>>> at odds with the direction of the project. Finally, Phil C. is
>>>>> incorrect
>>>>> in saying that he was blocked from posting to the mailing list; he was
>>>>> put on moderated status to allow review of his messages before
>>>>> posting,
>>>>> but not unsubscribed or otherwise blocked.
>>>>
>>>>> I do not believe anyone is trying to deny Phil C's significant
>>>>> contributions to the HPSDR project. However, his recent actions
>>>>> endangered the project itself and actions were taken to protect the
>>>>> project that we've all invested much time and effort in.
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I was involved in the discussions among many of the HPSDR contributors
>>>>> behind these actions and support the actions that were taken.
>>>>>
>>>>> As to why this was done 'behind the scenes' - it was felt it would be
>>>>> better to try and do this without having a nasty ugly fight in public.
>>>>> In hind sight that may not have been the best approach.
>>>>>
>>>>> I hope this answers everyone's questions on what has happened, and we
>>>>> can soon return to working on the HPSDR projects.
>>>>>
>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>
>>>>> Bill (kd5tfd)
>
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