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KaVir · 03-19-2009, 06:38 AM

I'm not interested in bashing (or I'd start talking about stripped-out copyright notices). I'm interested in mud history being recorded as accurately as possible, because I think it's important for the mud community to preserve as much of our history as we can. I know how easy it is to mix up dates, because I've accidently done it myself - I even had to go back and correct my written history of GodWars once the old usenet archives were made available, when I realised I'd placed the start date several months too early.

I do think it's valuable to trace back the origins of specific codebases, and even of notable features such as OLC and scripting - but this has to be done with great care, to ensure that we record history, not revise it. It's insulting to other mud developers (such as Thoric and myself) when you incorrectly claim that our work is based on yours - but far more importantly it can also cause serious confusion should other people read those claims before they can be corrected, and potentially devalue accurate sources by providing conflicting information. That's why I felt it was important to verify the implication about the origin of DG scripts immediately.

In fairness, the 1993 reference was a post made at 7:02pm on 31st December 1993 in which you stated "I have decided that I will only be giving out the code to the single person who originally asked; and only someone else who can offer me a site...The original requester of some code, however, will be recieving the code soon, on the condition that he does NOT distribute it to anyone."

So less than 5 hours before the end of 1993 you'd decided to give the code "soon", to one person, and made clear that it wasn't a public release. Now perhaps in those 5 hours you did suddenly change your mind and decide to make an immediate public release - but there's no evidence that even suggests that might have been the case. On the other hand, there is a post you made on 29th July 1994 in which you state that you've just released The Isles 1.0 with OLC.

So while you might not like the revised article, it does fit with the verifable facts.

03-19-2009, 06:38 AM	#49
KaVir Legend Join Date: Apr 2002 Name: Richard Home MUD: God Wars II Posts: 2,052	Re: Revolutionary New OLC and Scripting I'm not interested in bashing (or I'd start talking about stripped-out copyright notices). I'm interested in mud history being recorded as accurately as possible, because I think it's important for the mud community to preserve as much of our history as we can. I know how easy it is to mix up dates, because I've accidently done it myself - I even had to go back and correct my written history of GodWars once the old usenet archives were made available, when I realised I'd placed the start date several months too early. I do think it's valuable to trace back the origins of specific codebases, and even of notable features such as OLC and scripting - but this has to be done with great care, to ensure that we record history, not revise it. It's insulting to other mud developers (such as Thoric and myself) when you incorrectly claim that our work is based on yours - but far more importantly it can also cause serious confusion should other people read those claims before they can be corrected, and potentially devalue accurate sources by providing conflicting information. That's why I felt it was important to verify the implication about the origin of DG scripts immediately. In fairness, the 1993 reference was a post made at 7:02pm on 31st December 1993 in which you stated "I have decided that I will only be giving out the code to the single person who originally asked; and only someone else who can offer me a site...The original requester of some code, however, will be recieving the code soon, on the condition that he does NOT distribute it to anyone." So less than 5 hours before the end of 1993 you'd decided to give the code "soon", to one person, and made clear that it wasn't a public release. Now perhaps in those 5 hours you did suddenly change your mind and decide to make an immediate public release - but there's no evidence that even suggests that might have been the case. On the other hand, there is a post you made on 29th July 1994 in which you state that you've just released The Isles 1.0 with OLC. So while you might not like the revised article, it does fit with the verifable facts.