Slashdot Mirror
Debian 2.2 To Be Dedicated To Joel 'Espy' Klecker
This is the first public announcement of this intention. Some may notice two new files in our archive (or on mirrors) and on the new Test Cycle 3 CD's. This is a dedication of this release to a recently daparted member of our Project, Joel Klecker, who died unexpectedly at age 21. Here is the dedication (which also appears below)
You will also find a file with it called dedication-2.2.sigs.tar.gz, which contains close to 200 PGP signatures from our developers for the dedication.txt.
Joel's death was the result of a life long battle with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Information for donations to the Muscular Dystrophy Association can be found here and will be greatly appreciated (please make donations in Joel's name, if you so desire):
Sincerely,
Ben Collins
The contents of the dedication follows
Dedicated to Joel 'Espy' Klecker
On July 11, 2000, the Debian Project, and the Free Software Community as a whole, lost a very dear friend and developer. For most of Joel's life he had been fighting a disease known as Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Since July of 1997, Joel has been a Debian developer, and for most of that time was bed-ridden because of this disease. Joel was 21 when he died, far from the ripe age we imagine most people in our field will reach. His great dedication to the project is an inspiration to us all, and will never be forgotten.
He was known by most of us as "Espy", his IRC nickname, and also as the outspoken voice we heard on the mailing lists, never afraid to speak his mind in a way that only Joel could do, with humor and directness. He maintained a level of excellence in many important packages for Debian. His expertise and knowledge was never questioned. Those of us who have the honor of carrying on the work that he has done for us, will try to maintain it to his degree of technical perfection.
Most of us had no idea the trials that Joel endured every day of his life. Not until near the end did any of us know he even had this disease. Only now are we realizing his dedication, and the friendship that he bestowed upon us. So as a show of our appreciation, and in memory of his inspirational life, this release of Debian is for him.
* The "Joel 'Espy' Klecker" release
-- The Debian Developers
Hi Alex!
My SlashDot "nick" should make plain my thoughts about using handles. 8-) But for some people in this world, the Internet and a handle let them be known precisely for what they are not. In an evil sense that can be a 40-something bald man pretending to be a 15-year-old blonde chiquita looking for Life in the Fast Lane. But many times it can be people with disabilities who--for once in their lives--can be accepted as part of a community without anybody knowing or caring that they're different.
Years ago, on CompuServe, there was a sysop on a bunch of forums named Ed. Ed was a busybody. Ed was a know-it-all. Ed, to be candid, was something of a jerk. But Ed had some grounds to be a know-it-all--he did know it all. He was an incredibly talented guy, just a guy who seemed to have a colossal chip on his shoulder. Long story, but I came to learn that Ed had a raft of serious disabilities. It made it easier to understand the guy. But Ed didn't want people to know about his features--he wanted to be known for who he was, and what he was capable of doing. He wanted the force of his intellect and personality to be the features that identified him, not the nature of his disabilities.
People in the real world tend to joke about us--they say that geeks relate better to machines than to people. In truth, many of us participate online because we do relate better when we're writing HTML code. We can toss off witty bon mots, we can use italics to subtly shade our views, and we can use emoticons to take the edge off when we are treading the fine line between being forthright and being a flamer. 8-) For the vast majority of us, that's a matter of choice--we can get up and walk through the door out into the Big Blue Room[tm] and say, "oh, my--what a lovely day." For others of us, that isn't possible. We may not be able to walk, we may not be able to talk, we may not be able to see.
Joel Klecker evidently took advantage of that. As Espy, he wasn't a bed-ridden kid, withering away. He wasn't an object of pity, he wasn't "included" so that other people could feel good about themselves, he wasn't somebody's class pet. He mattered--and he was evidently known for the force of his personality and intellect.
I see your point. Some people use handles because they're afraid to use their own names. But some people--and probably more than you'd think--use handles as a way to express who they are, as opposed to how the world sees them. For the Eds and the Barrys that I've known--and for Joel, whom I did not know--the online community was the one place where they were not disabled.
Good for Joel.
In short, it's worth it. In addition to MANY new packages and bugfixes, Debian 2.2 is based on glibc 2.1.3 and (finally) the 2.2.x kernel series. Great pains were taken to make sure that this is the best release yet, quality- and quantity-wise.
Having known and worked with Joel over the years that I've been a Debian developer, I'm confident that he would be very proud of this release and the work that went into it (his included...he busted his a** to make sure that glibc issues were taken care of). I'm honoured to have put work into Debian 2.2 knowing that it would bear his name upon release.
In a few other non-judeo-christian [note: I may be far off of the mark as to the starting of naming individuals at birth. Please correct me if I am wring here. Thanks.] cultures (Native american tribes come to mind), the children are either given the opportunity to aquire names for themselves or are named by the tribe describing a prominent feature (he who rides with big shlong), life occurance (he who stands tall in cold water), etc.
What makes the Internet (BBS' and all other places where handles are used) is that the people in our culture remake themselves in an image that more suits them. Effectivly rebirthing ourselves as new individuals, online. We can create entire fantasy universes (in our monds or otherwise) to interact in with other people that we would never have met otherwise.
Back on topic: I think that your comment:
is way off of the mark. My handle has personal meaning for me; it was not chosen idly and has stayed with me throughout my Internet existance (about 4 or 5 years.. 8 or 9 if you count the local BBS's). I find that I am very comfortable with my handle and it is in no way a sign of disrespect to be called by it.
As for them: "..not knowing the Individual behind the curtain..", since when does anyone? This may be a naive perspective on my part (probably is, I don't care for socialising all that much), but what are you but what other people see you as. The online tech community saw Espy as a bright, young and technically gifted individual. I'm pretty sure that this is exactly what he was. Would you care to comment otherwise?
Rami James / Lonesmurf
--
rJames.org - illustration
Not knowing Espy, I won't comment on him. However, this situation gets me to think.
It is great that someone was able to use the Internet to communicate with people despite physical ailments. When I was a teenager in suburban South Florida, I had no method of transportation. In an area with no useful public transportation and spread out housing, this prevented me from interacting socially with my classmates, as I went to a middle school and high school 30 minutes from my house. While I wouldn't equate a major physical illness to being under the driving age, the age issue creates a small subset of the problems.
I met many people through a local BBS. Most of the people I keep in touch with from home I originally met online. We had the advantage of living within 30-45 minutes from each other.
A good friend of mine is actually staying with me at school. He is getting on his feet, and I am glad to be of help.
Why am I commenting on this? It took me years with this particular friend to call me Alex instead of Scorp. He still thinks of certain people by their handles. I mostly used my friends' names, and tried to get others to return the favor. But this particular friend wouldn't do it for a while.
It saddens me that people who had many conversations with this gentleman may not have known his given name. It worries me when handles constantly replace names in our conversations.
Is this not a problem? Is a handle merely a chosen name that replaces a given name? Is a handle an identity, and we don't interact with their real self, merely this persona?
Perhaps I'm ready too much into this, but I find it sad that many people that knew him knew him via handle, and not name. Maybe I'm "old fashioned," but I don't think that handles are as personal as a name.
You name is at the core of your identity. Your handle is a front, a persona we put out to shield ourselves. I would like to think that I people that know me get to know the real me, instead of a convenient front.
In this case, they knew the online personality. They didn't know the individual behind the curtain. They didn't know his name, his ailment, his problems, merely a handle and his technical savvy. While I like being appreciated for my technical skills, I'd rather be known for who I am.
Is this an unusual perspective?
Alex
My room-mate has a younger brother with Duchenne's. As I understand things, he's not expected to live beyond 20.
There's a charity which supports the sufferers of Duchennes and their families. My roommate made the webpage for it.
Have a look at www.dfsg.org.uk.
Sir, your courage in the face of adversity was remarkable. You will be sorely missed.
It just reminds us all that when you see people hobbling around or in a wheelchair, unable to help themselves, and that little spark in your brain tells you to giggle, just think for one fucking second...
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
Joel's real name was no secret to Debian developers; it appeared on every e-mail he sent to our mailing lists, in the control data of his packages, in the Debian PGP/GPG keyrings, and in his /whois information on IRC.
Debian does not permit entrance to our project by people who do not establish their real identity.
While the phemomenon you describe may be a problem in some circles, I do not perceive it as one within the Debian community.
That said, I answer both to "Branden" and "Overfiend"... :)
I personally miss Joel a great deal, and saw and spoke with him almost daily on IRC for about two years. He had a great sense of humor and appreciated the value of a good flame. I would periodically ask him if he was coming to the next Linux convention, and he'd always very adroitly manage to avoid the issue. I never suspected the nature of what was preventing his attendance. Joel kept up maintenance on glibc until literally a few days before his death; his dedication to the Debian project honors all of us, and our dedication of Debian 2.2 is a fitting memorial.
Address-collecting spam robots don't know how to crack ROT13. Do you?
Well, think of CmdrTaco, Hemos, and all the merry gang here. There real names are arbitrarily assigned at birth, and they have no say in them. But like they point out in the FAQ, their nicks / handles are very personal to them. They actually put some conscious thought into them, and try to reflect a little bit of who they are with them. I would be proud to be remembered as Espy - a person I had declared myself to be - and I'm certain that, wherever he is, Espy is proud of it as well
"I'm not even supposed to BE here today!"
You know, for all the talk of IPOs, corporate greed, and standards battles making us lose sight of what Free Software is really about, it's nice to see this.
No, Free Software isn't only about community. But it's a big part of it-- you contribute, and an entire WORLD of people will contribute back. Feedback, bug reports, bug fixes... or just an encouraging word on IRC or a mailing list... it all is part of a community. And without that, Free Software wouldn't be nearly as far along as it is today.
Sometimes, the only time we truly see a community at work is under the worst of circumstances. When the banks of the Mississippi River ran over just a few years back, we saw community at work. When TWA flight 800 crashed and killed almost 20 students from a local high school, the community pulled together.
And now we see the loss of a beloved member of the Free Software movement. And, in the tradition of bad situations bringing out the best in a community, we see the same spirit of brotherhood and comeraderie brought forth in a display of love.
It's sad to see Espy go. But it is greatly encouraging to know that his spirit of community is still very much alive. His passing is a lesson of life.
Thanks, Espy.
Google results 1-10 of about 4,860 for espy joel klecker. Search took 3.91 seconds.
It's neat with todays technology on how we all can be remembered... It's quite sad to run back and see the outline of life through your a search engine in a way, but it's also interesting to see. Espy accomplished very much through his journey...
RIP Espy, I hope Debian will still shine with his light.
Who's the black private dick, who's a sex machine for all the chicks?