[Fsfe-ie] Abusive caller to Proinsias De Rossa MEP

James Heald j.heald at ucl.ac.uk
Wed Mar 9 18:30:26 CET 2005


A suggestion that has been made on the UK list is

> perhaps we can pass on FFII contact details 
> to the MEPs so they can direct those angry callers to the FFII, and get the 
> MEPs to encourage them to contact us so we can help defuse and redirect the 
> energy in a more positive way.  Perhaps this will might paint a picture with 
> the MEPs that we don't accept the behavior and wish to help police it.

> If they are just a frustrated engineer perhaps they can be talked around to be 
> more reasonable when contacting MEPs.


That way, if there was a clueless and abusive caller, the assistant 
could just say "I don't think you've got this quite right.  Can I put 
you in touch with the Irish Free Software Association for clarification? 
  They've got a website with information, or if you would like to give 
me your name and telephone number / email, they could maybe give you a 
ring to discuss where things are at".


Could this be worked up into something that would fly ?



Glenn Strong wrote:

> On Wednesday, March 9, 2005 at 15:28 +0000, James Heald wrote:
> 
>>Fwd'ing this I've just seen from an FFII person in Brussels.
>>
>>
>>Personal contacts with MEPs are *vital*, if we're to win the vote ahead.
>>
>>We mustn't let idiots like this poison them.
>>
> 
> 
> At the moment the ILUG (Irish Linux Users Group) are organising an
> email campaign. There is only circumstantial evidence, but it seems
> possible some list members overreacted. I've sent a separate mail to
> ILUG about this in an attempt to keep it from happening again (I'm
> sure many folks here are also on that list, and will have seen it).
> 
> It would be very easy for a few phone calls like that to give us all a
> bad name.
> 
> I got a phone call earlier today from an assistant of de Rossa's. I
> assume that was a result of him being directed to our site by the
> message below. I tried to make it clear when I spoke to him that we
> don't consider this behaviour acceptable, and that IFSO was not
> advocating it.
> 
>  
> 
>>-------- Original Message --------
> 
> 
> [snip]
>  
> 
>>Anyway, it is not unthinkable that this person is also calling other
>>Irish MEPs, but I doubt many more will contact us about it. I don't
>>know how to react to this kind of things, or how to prevent (reduce) it
>>though.
> 
> 
> I've tried to reduce the likelihood of this by making the point on
> ILUG that it's counterproductive (not to say downright rude). 
> 




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