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List:       ubuntu-users
Subject:    Community response of new ubuntu artwork
From:       list () ubuntuforums ! org (Ubuntu Forums Post)
Date:       2004-10-17 19:10:09
Message-ID: E1CJGPx-0004ps-1a () perseus ! lunarpages ! com
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This is not aimed at any previous post. I take time to do it because I \
think Ubuntu is worth the effort.

I'm 63, a retired newspaper editor, and I find this to be similar to \
something that sometimes happened in our profession. We referred to it as \
the "typo" syndrome. We would work extremely hard to produce a good \
newspaper, with stories and photos that would have the potential to inform \
or change things for the better. Everything was done correctly, except . . \
.

In the rush of meeting deadlines, someone might reverse some letters or \
words when they typeset a headline.

The public focus most often became the typo, clouding the usefulness of the \
informative, meaningful, good things that were the rest of the newspaper. \
We would all feel terrible, torn, disillusioned. Is this how people regard \
our work? we would ask. What point is there to strive for excellence when \
what people are really most concerned about is monitoring our mistakes.

Letters would pour in about what fools we were to make such an important \
issue trivial by allowing a typo in the headline. Phone calls would \
question our professional capabilities and say that the typo changed the \
meaning of the entire story.

We would feel terrible about our typo, even though we knew it was a mistake \
born within the passion to do the correct thing.

I would hate to think that the staff at Ubuntu now feels like we would feel \
on such occasions, that we tried so hard, did so well, but the nature of \
some humans to look for a weakness and exploit it had prevailed.

I am sure the artwork in Ubuntu is and will be reconsidered, now that such \
a firestorm has erupted -- the longest continuous post on the site, over \
the most easily-changed of all aspect of the distribution. But I am also \
sure that reconsideration would have taken place if all the remarks had \
been absent of challenge, threat, insult, or debasement of others who have \
gathered around this remarkable Linux platform.

I am from the USA, but I admire, among others, Nelson Mandela, who came out \
of prison with ample reason for vengefulness, but who chose reason as the \
best tool to make things better. I admire any person who, in the face of \
human challenge, smiles and says, "Let's work this out together. We can, \
you know."

Will you join me in trying to be such people, here and elsewhere? Please? \
If we don't, who will?

Ubuntu is a good thing.

Thank you for allowing me to speak again.

Toward peace,
Wil


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