George R. M. šŸ‡©šŸ‡ŖšŸ‡ŗšŸ‡¦Apr 12, 2024
Chris Hanson

Jason Scott is stirring up some drama on the eve of #VCFEast because he donated some stuff to #VCF but doesnā€™t actually understand how ā€œdonationā€ and ā€œarchivingā€ work. Heā€™s also taking at face value that someone was ā€œdriven outā€ of the organization when they actually ragequit rather than work within proper governance.

VCFed is a decent organization, especially now, and the VCF events are great. This drama is a tempest in a teapot, and absolutely not a reason not to participate or attend.

Apr 12, 2024 at 10:02pmIceCubesApp
Show threadJason P šŸŒˆApr 12, 2024
@eschaton ya it's interesting timing at best.
Show threadFRANK.MCCONNELApr 12, 2024

@eschaton OOO, "IEEE magazines!" Last I looked, IEEE serials since about 1988 are in IEEE's digital library, which is paywalled (which may mean its retention is funded).

Anyway I know how those things work at the Friends of the Library where I volunteer: a box full of them is heavy, they are mildly annoying to shelve, they sell poorly, they are taken away for free about as poorly, and the customers make a mess of them.

Show threadChris HansonApr 12, 2024
@hairyvisionary And at VCF, they were in a non-climate-controlled warehouse near the ocean!
Show threadFRANK.MCCONNELApr 13, 2024
@eschaton Sounds almost as much fun as shipping containers on a gravel lot!
Show threadbitsavers.orgApr 13, 2024

@hairyvisionary @eschaton

said shipping containers had roof leaks, and were exposed to San Jose temperatures, where they became mushroom farms

it is easy to acquire collections, and extremely expensive to preserve them.

Show threadFRANK.MCCONNELApr 13, 2024
@bitsavers @eschaton It's even more fun than that, the floors were wooden planks, so you were getting moisture and other stuff from below too; the containers worked OK on an asphalt parking lot but not so much on loose gravel on earth
Show threadWilliam D. JonesApr 13, 2024

@eschaton >when they actually ragequit rather than work within proper governance.

You willing to elaborate on this? I was/am part of the Vintage Computer forums, and Evan is- was?- head admin for as long as I remember?

Guess I haven't been paying much attention.

Show threadChris HansonApr 13, 2024
@cr1901 This is my understanding based on talking with others who were there when the steering committee was established. (Oh yeah, and Federation ā‰  Forums ā‰  Festivalā€¦)
Show threadWilliam D. JonesApr 13, 2024

@eschaton I uhhh, am definitely out of the loop yes.

I was thinking of Erik Klein, who founded the VCForums (which are at vcfed.org now), not Evan. I don't know anything about Evan, it seems lol.

No comment on the relevant blog posts (other than seems like the posts made a mountain out of a molehill).

Show threadChris HansonApr 13, 2024
@cr1901 Indeed.