Discussing disputes on the list

[Richard Mateosian <srm -at- C2 -dot- ORG>]

Dear anonymous -

You said

>Those who suggest this should go off-line? Well, I disagree. It's never
>just between two people. If I'd felt that way, I would have left a junior
>colleague on her own against two more experienced people with an agenda

First, I don't think the cases are parallel, and second, your own account
suggests that your intervention/support did not seem to improve the outcome.
It's hard to see how much worse it could have come out, since you said

>I feel that justice was not served, no one learned anything, and the
>woman's career was dramatically hurt by the experience.

I don't think this list is a good forum for airing this kind of issue.
There's no way to explore the matter methodically and no way to reach a
resolution. There are too many voices and not enough conversation. In fact,
even your company's dispute resolution mechanism, which I'm sure is better
suited to handling the matter than this list is, proved inadequate. You said

>In my opinion, with the benefit of hindsight, the whole thing should
>have gone to a lawyer.

Whether or not that is true, it's certainly a step in the opposite direction
from a free-for-all on this list. And as important as it is for us to be
alert to the issues this kind of situation raises, it's not a central focus
of this list.  ...RM

Dr. Richard Mateosian      Freelance Technical Writer           srm -at- c2 -dot- org
Review Editor, IEEE Micro  Vice President, STC Berkeley Chapter