[aprssig] Fw: Is WXSVR Permanently Defunct???

[Dick]

 Quote from Steve...
 >The final two percent are the ones ruin it.
 >You cannot please them, and they feel like you have some
 >sort of obligation to bend to their wishes and needs. Dave
 >Anderson, who was one of the brightest and most generous
 >APRS sysops was driven out of APRS by that two percent.
 >There are times when I get fed up, and I try to focus on the
 >the 98%. One day it may not be enough...

 I don't buy it. Two points here...

 While it's depressing to learn that we can be so powerfully affected
 by the worst tendencies of a few APRS authors, it's heartening to
 know that a skilled leader, if you're lucky enough to have one, can
 intervene and potentially control the situation so we can move on. <g>

 WXSVR is Dale's sailboat... we used it knowing the risk that someday
 we'd be looking for alternatives. The same happened with Ui-View and
 it's bound to continue to happen with a majority of the programs we all
 use today. Most of us are using other peoples toys and it won't likely
last forever.

 Open-source groups have a very strong potential of having problems.
The larger they become the greater the potential of problems. So I
 don't agree that open source is necessarily better than authors that have
compete control over their own source for public service. Besides,
if I code a program to work a loose spec. then I can potentially dictate
how APRS should be administered. And, that's not a terrible thing.
Is it? <g>

 Second point...

 If our success/failure rate is going to be determined by only 2%
 (bad apples), then why? What else is going on?

 The obvious solution is to address the problem at its source: get rid
 of the bad apples, even if it's you (assuming you're in the 2%).

 My APRS experience is limited to being the co-author of the Tier 2
 Network. Today, we have about 60 regional servers world-wide and
 it continues to grow. None of this happened listening to all the negatives
 and engaging into worthless conflicts or listening to the 2%. If people
 wanted to be jerks we used amazing diplomacy to move on. And we
 did move on Steve <g>.

 I have no idea 'what may be enough' or when that might happen. Will
my ego handle a 2% hit? I hope so, because this is still fun after
many years.

 Has anyone talked to Dale? There are many of us that would love
an opportunity to run WXSVR or even develop the tools to do it.
It could be a case that he needed a break, without wearing a flame
suit.

 Dick Stanich, KB7ZVA
APRSWest