The forked elephant in the room

[Paul Backus]

On Thursday, 18 January 2024 at 01:56:32 UTC, Adam Wilson wrote:
> On Wednesday, 17 January 2024 at 18:28:33 UTC, Paul Backus 
> wrote:
>> What you (and Walter, and Andrei) could, and should, have done 
>> is spent the last 10+ years treating Adam with the respect and 
>> professionalism he deserved. What you can, and must, do now is 
>> (a) determine why you failed to do so, and (b) make plans to 
>> ensure that those failures do not recur in the future (either 
>> with Adam, should he return, or with other contributors).
>
> Professional respect is both earned and revocable. Mr. Ruppe 
> did himself no favors during the November community call (don't 
> know if I can say more than that). Extreme frustration is not, 
> and never can be, an excuse from professional decorum. Mr. 
> Wilzbach handled it much better. IMO, the leadership dealt with 
> Mr. Ruppe about as charitably as one could hope for.

I am less concerned about leadership's response to Mr. Ruppe's 
frustration than I am with the pattern of behavior, spread out 
over many years, that caused that frustration (and the 
frustration of others like Mr. Wilzbach) in the first place. It's 
good to put out fires, but it's even better to avoid starting 
them.

That said, I certainly agree that, regardless of the 
circumstances, Mr. Ruppe bears the ultimate responsibility for 
his own actions.