On Sun, Oct 03, 1999 at 07:29:15PM -0400, Raul Miller wrote:
> On Mon, Oct 04, 1999 at 08:13:02AM +1000, Craig Sanders wrote:
> > it may be an important tool, but that doesn't give you or anyone else
> > the right to pester people in their own homes. it really does no good
> > to apologise or even to promise not to call back - by that time, the
> > damage has been done...the interruption/disturbance has been made, the
> > invasion of peace, solitude and privacy has already been perpetrated.
>
> Huh? I'd rate such (genuine survey) phone calls as more pleasant to
> deal with than any of your recent emails.
there is a huge difference in the nature of public spaces and private
spaces, and a huge difference in the acceptable uses of each.
debian-devel is a public forum, i.e. public space. an individual's phone
number is private space, for personal communication.
if you enter a public forum you have to expect to occasionally hear (or
read) things you'd rather not hear/see. e.g. i have a right to say what
i like in a public space...if you don't like what i say, then killfile
me or find another public forum more to your tastes. if what i say is
objectionable to enough other people then it is i who will have to find a
forum which tolerates me.
a person has the right to expect that they will not be pestered in their
private 'space'. e.g. i don't have any right at all to invade your
private space. if you don't want me there, i have to go. if i have no
reason to believe that i would be welcome then i shouldn't attempt to
enter it in the first place.
> I've gotten phone calls from telemarketers, and I've gotten phone
> calls from survey folks. The survey folks are incomparably more
> polite.
relative politeness is not relevant. what matters is that it is
unforgivably rude to invade someone's private space without invitation
or without reasonable belief that you will be welcome. it is not
reasonable for a tele-{marketing,sales,survey} caller to believe that a
complete stranger will welcome them without invitation.
tele-{marketing,sales,surveying} is organised and automated rudeness,
scheduled invasion of private space. it's a numbers game: call enough
people and you're bound to find a few who aren't annoyed. cold-callers
don't give a damn about the majority who are annoyed...they aren't any
use to them anyway. that callous disregard for people's private space is
highly objectionable.
> On the other hand, I've got a decent sized buffer (voice mail) on my
> phone and don't feel compelled to answer it if I'm in the middle of
> something else (which is most of the time).
part of my job is to be available for emergencies at any hour, i have
to answer calls just in case it is something that requires my immediate
attention.
these anecdotes aren't particularly relevant though. what is relevant is
that these unsolicited calls are an invasion of private space.
craig
--
craig sanders
