Re: Nathan's farewell

[Chad Choi Lin <chadlin@nyetcom.com>]

LJSilicon wrote:

> In case you haven't been to Nathan's "official" FAQ lately, he has packed up
> his tent and gone off wailing into the desert. Here is his farewell rant...
> 
> ************
> It is with great regret that I must announce that I feel that the Apple II
> community has been turned into a wasteland by pirates, thieves and liars.
> Further, a community that refuses to stand up to these scum is participating
> in their nonsense-- especially when they get suckered into believing that
> politeness is more important than the truth.
> The Apple II community doesn't give a shit about the constant piracy,
> thievery, and hate of developers. And what's worse is that more people throw
> a fit that I just used a 4 letter word instead of being angry at the pirates
> that are truly killing the Apple II's future.
> 
> I have invested many thousands of hours in Apple II creations, from
> programming to maintaining the best and most correct set of Apple II
> resources. Thanks to the jerks, this work has been constantly maligned,
> stolen, insulted and I now count that investment of time as a waste. The
> Apple II community has been given up on years ago by people with more common
> sense-- and now it is my turn to join them by turning my back on the
> "community," shaking the dust off my feet at them and moving on.
> 
> The pirates may be able to steal various works. But, the creator has the
> true power that they never can match-- the power to also destroy. To this
> end, I have low-leveled all HD partitions and backups on my machines. There
> will not be another GUPP update from me, no Twilight II 2.0. Many other
> projects in various stages of development-- previously unannounced due to my
> not wanting to promote vaporware-- will likewise never appear on the Apple
> II. All files used to create this web site have been similarly overwritten;
> I have *none* of those files in my posession anymore-- and they won't be
> coming back. And from my opinion, that's a good thing, as I won't have to
> put up with the constant barrage of lies and unappreciative users.
> 
> As long as the Apple II community is too idiotic to tell the difference
> between the truth and lies couched in politeness, to tell the difference
> between supporting pirates and developers, to tell the difference between
> meaningless talk and actually creating, it will be cursed to have more and
> more top developers leave. Less and less will be created until the platform
> lies in obscurity, only the domain of a few backbiting thieves who'll never
> create anything new again.
> 
> Special mentions of thieves, liars, and crooks who have tried their best to
> push away developers: Charles Turley (piracy and lies), Jeff Hurlburt (aka
> Rubywand and SiFan-- more lies and outright hate of developers, as the
> Wolf3D incident proved), Karl Asha (running a pirate site), Patrick Kane
> (same), Steve Mentzer (posting many pirated materials, then claiming for
> years to not have done so). The blame for lack of Apple II development lies
> firmly at their feet, but nobody seems to have cared.
> 
> And from me to the Apple II community: goodbye and good riddance. You asked
> for developers to shun you, and they're too happy to oblige. Don't bother
> contacting me; filters have been put in place to automatically toast such
> messages.
> 
> Nathan Mates
> 
> 7/14/98
> 
> ***************
> 
> A saying comes to mind... "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way
> out the door!" See ya, Matey.... AAArrrr

Reminds me of Rourke, the architect protagonist in Ayn Rand's
_The_Fountainhead_. When his superiors took control of a building
project he designed, Rourke blew it up because he felt they had ruined
whatever beauty it originally had.

However, I do not believe these situations are analogous. Nathan Mates
may have felt that we had corrupted CSA2 with our "politeness," but in
the end all he did was destroy his own tools and resources. And for
what, to make us weep over a loss that we can never understand nor
verify? Sounds like a grandiose gesture rather than anything noble.

While the record may show that Mr. Mates has demonstrated consumate
skill and knowledge in regards to the Apple II, the fact is that he
exhibited a depressingly low sense of netiquette. Competence, even
excellence in one's field, is no excuse for arrogance.

Oh, and BTW I don't particularly like Ayn Rand nor her literature,
anyway....

-- 
Peace, Love, and Na Na Na, Na / Hey, Hey, Hey / GOODBYE!
Chad Choi Lin
chadlin@nyetcom.com

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