Who's the troll? (was: Where is FreeBSD going?)

[Rahul Siddharthan]

Paul Robinson wrote:
> All I'm suggesting (and no, I'm not the troll, but I'd thank him, 
> whoever he is),

I would not thank the troll -- anyone with legitimate concerns can air
them under their own names (like you did), otherwise they don't
deserve to be taken seriously.

That said, I have a bigger concern.  Let me point you to this mail
from a year ago on the "troll's identity":
   http://docs.freebsd.org/cgi/mid.cgi?29127.1044803212
where Poul-Henning Kamp claims (in rather abusive terms) that the 
troll was Bill Huey. 

In reply to doubts raised by me,
   http://docs.freebsd.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20030209181722.GA19704
Mark Murray replied that "he admitted to it":
   http://docs.freebsd.org/cgi/mid.cgi?200302091826.h19IQBaX035066 

Now you can argue that PHK is a private individual who speaks only for
himself.  But Mark Murray is a core member and presumably takes
responsibility for what he writes, so I saw no reason to disbelieve
him back then, though it did not fit BillH's pattern at all.  Recently
however in private mail to me, BillH denied it totally and added that
he has denied it in private mail to FreeBSD people too, but it refuses
to die down.

I don't have a position since I know nobody personally.  But such
unsupported public accusations against someone's character are a very
troubling matter. 

So will Mark and PHK either supply the proof, or retract the claim?

Why accuse BillH anyway?  In fact, he had recently annoyed the powers
that be.  He had exploded in violent language on the lists, after what
he saw as a slight to him over the FreeBSD Java project, to which he
had contributed immensely -- check the archives.  His grievance may
have been legitimate, but I don't condone the language he used; but
the point is that he did it all in his own name, whereas the troll is
clearly embarrassed to reveal his identity.  Anyway, to an outsider
like me, it seems possible that someone decided to get even with BillH
by accusing him in this way.  I'm not saying that's the case, but you
must admit that it's a fair conclusion to jump to, and make amends for
it.

Or else, any of us could be next, simply on the grounds that someone
in the FreeBSD hierarchy doesn't like us.  

- Rahul

(NOTE: I exchanged some private mail with Bill Huey, and checked with
him that it's ok to mail the list, but this mail is from me, not from
him.)