Commitment vs. practicality

[Tabinda N. Khan]

Disclaimer: I usually lurk on this list and did not participate in
this particular keysigning.

It's obvious mistakes have been made here. Probably the
biggest one was not realizing Rick's level of commitment to
fulfilling the promises he made with the community at the
keysigning. Under adverse conditions, he did the Right Thing
when most people would have delayed if their server went
down. He went through the trouble of meeting his community
obligation even though it wasn't practical for him.

It looks like he is asking the community to step up to the
plate and meet theirs as well, even if it is not practical,
in the sense that the keys have already been handled
differently. 

My suggestion is that keysigning participants ignore both Rick's
considerable testiness about the matter and the practical
matter of whether they feel their own needs have been met.
Instead, focus on stepping up to meet your original
obligation in light of the work someone put in to meet their
end of the deal.  At this point, in light of mistakes 
made, it seems useless to ask if everyone feels their needs
have been met with the alternative because it's the principle 
more than the practical matter of getting keys signed.

Bad analogy: Your friend's kitchen burns down before a party
so you kindly pick up a replacement cake on the way to the
event. While eating the replacement cake at the party, the friend 
walks in after using their neighbor's oven to bake the cake they 
promised to bring. After they'd gone through the trouble, you'd do 
the Right Thing and at least have a taste, instead of raving
about how the replacement cake sated you because your only
need was to eat some cake. And Rick: The friend would probably 
at least have the courtesy to be appreciative that someone else 
brought cake just in case, rather than accusing people of 
highjacking the cake plan. Or something like that. :-)

Tabinda

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