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Verified: Kundra Did Receive an M.S. in Information Systems Management

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Re: Verified: Kundra Did Receive an M.S. in Information Systems Management

#51

Post by randallsquared »

krschultz wrote: post #14

The shocking thing to me was that 1) People trusted a random blogger over people getting paid full time to vet people. Understandably vetters miss things such as taxes (complicated) or illegal immigrant maids (hidden), but something as simple as a degree will get checked. 2) Dvorak didn't call all the campuses, there are multiple UMD campuses just like there are multiple Penn State campuses etc. 3) Dvorak trusted it…

Dvorak's pretty well known (for better or worse); I'm not sure "random blogger" is the right pejorative, here.

Re: Verified: Kundra Did Receive an M.S. in Information Systems Management

#52

Post by leviathant »

huherto wrote: post #26

In any case it is fair to raise those questions. Government should be ready answer to public scrutiny. If there are good answers for them: Good.

I think it's important that if you are going to raise questions about someone's reputation, you make a real effort to find answers before throwing those questions out into the public. An irresponsible question can still be very misleading.

As an example: Do you still beat your wife?

Re: Verified: Kundra Did Receive an M.S. in Information Systems Management

#53

Post by Rawsock »

AndrewO wrote: post #7
calambrac wrote: post #2

When in doubt, always remember that John C. Dvorak is a complete jackass.

Yeah, let's not forget this is the guy we're talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAWDYaWAVQQ ("John Dvorak admits to baiting Mac users for hits") Keep those clicks coming in!

Exactly. John C. Dvorak is a professional internet troll disguised as a tech journalist. He uses misinformed rants ( or "controversial opinions" if you like the euphemism better ) as a source of hits. He has trolled the FLOSS and Mac communities for years. But trolling the White House ?. That's effing crazy.

Re: Verified: Kundra Did Receive an M.S. in Information Systems Management

#55

Post by socratees »

jhancock wrote: post #9
DanielBMarkham wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't attack the messenger, even for a bad story. Unless you have proof that Dvorak was purposely lying, slandering him doesn't make your case any better. After all, if he screws this one up, he's going to have a very hard time getting respectability and credibility for future articles. That punishment is enough.

I hear you, but Dvorak did publish a slander against Kundra based simply on his rudimentary queries. This is hardly good journalism. from the article: "But I was able to verify Kundra's degree with just a few phone calls in under two hours." If your going to publish something so incendiary, you really must do your homework.

Its dishonest to imply the degree is from University of Maryland. UMUC is not UMCP. It is in the University of Maryland system, it is not "University of Maryland".

Re: Verified: Kundra Did Receive an M.S. in Information Systems Management

#56

Post by sophacles »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #44
gruseom wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know anything about him either. My opinion has nothing to do with Dvorak. It has to do with your painting him as a victim of defamation when he obviously was the one doing the defaming.

This gets directly into motivation, as I pointed out. If Dvorak purposely defamed somebody, that's one thing. I'd love to hear evidence about that. If, on the other hand, he was just being sloppy, then it's a mistake. Let it go. All this name-calling says more about the name-callers than it does about Dvorak. People who are sloppy and get slammed don't "deserve" it. Screw-ups happen. I'm perfectly willing to let some…

Dvorak has a reputation for publishing these screw-ups. It has been going on for years. The guy is the shock jock of tech columnists, or maybe a Bill O'Reilly, or at least that has been his reputation for a long time. This sort of history, going back years, should be taken into account when people judge the most recent actions. This is just common sense.

Your personal ignorance does not mean you are correct to chide those who do know of Dvorak and his history.

Re: Verified: Kundra Did Receive an M.S. in Information Systems Management

#57

Post by sophacles »

pavs wrote: post #42
DanielBMarkham wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then politely point out the times he did beforehand. Did he not do enough research and make a politically-charged article in the past? Then that's germane to the conversation. We'd like to hear about it. But calling somebody a jackass is not.

Someone already pointed out his "screw ups" so I will not repeat them. Anyone who "screws up" quite a lot I think it is fair to call him a jackass. ie, Arrington

No, it's ok to call them incompetent. However it is ok to call self-admitted trolls jackasses, so you're safe :-P

Re: Verified: Kundra Did Receive an M.S. in Information Systems Management

#58

Post by socratees »

luigi wrote: post #3
calambrac wrote: post #2

When in doubt, always remember that John C. Dvorak is a complete jackass.

Tim O'Reilly agrees: http://twitter.com/timoreilly/status/3270411756

Yes, he got his degree from University or Maryland University College in 2001. And what about the biology degree?

Re: Verified: Kundra Did Receive an M.S. in Information Systems Management

#59

Post by DanielBMarkham »

sophacles wrote: post #56
DanielBMarkham wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This gets directly into motivation, as I pointed out. If Dvorak purposely defamed somebody, that's one thing. I'd love to hear evidence about that. If, on the other hand, he was just being sloppy, then it's a mistake. Let it go. All this name-calling says more about the name-callers than it does about Dvorak. People who are sloppy and get slammed don't "deserve" it. Screw-ups happen. I'm perfectly willing to let some…

Dvorak has a reputation for publishing these screw-ups. It has been going on for years. The guy is the shock jock of tech columnists, or maybe a Bill O'Reilly, or at least that has been his reputation for a long time. This sort of history, going back years, should be taken into account when people judge the most recent actions. This is just common sense. Your personal ignorance does not mean you are correct to chide…

So if I understand you correctly, you're saying once you get to know Dvorak, he really is a jackass.

Let's grant your point. Then still, why call it out? Let's suppose Dvorak is the worst jackass in the history of jackasses. Let's also suppose that anybody who knew Dvorak would agree that he is the epitome of jackasses. Proper response: "Remember when Dvorak did X, Y, and Z? I'm not sure what the situation is now, but this looks like it might be one of those situations."

Why get so emotional? It's just a web column, for chrissakes. The truth was outed almost immediately. Whatever damage happened happened for about 2 hours. Do you guys live some kind of perverse emotional life through these tech columnists? If so, get a life already. Words are cheap. That's why we always ask for links, and double-check sources.

When you call somebody a name, you're attempting to shut down anything useful they might have to offer in the future. It's the ultimate ad hominem argument: no need to listen to anything Dvorak says because he's an X.

I think it's completely idiotic to go there. Everybody has something useful to offer at some time or another.

In those Frankenstein movies there always was a large crowd with torches and pitchforks who stormed the castle looking for the monster. I'm sure there was some guy in the back who was going, "Hey guys, couldn't we just send the sheriff? Why all the yelling and panic?"

I feel like that guy.

Re: Verified: Kundra Did Receive an M.S. in Information Systems Management

#60

Post by ironsam »

krschultz wrote: post #14

The shocking thing to me was that 1) People trusted a random blogger over people getting paid full time to vet people. Understandably vetters miss things such as taxes (complicated) or illegal immigrant maids (hidden), but something as simple as a degree will get checked. 2) Dvorak didn't call all the campuses, there are multiple UMD campuses just like there are multiple Penn State campuses etc. 3) Dvorak trusted it…

So what about the Bachelor's in Biology that he might not have, yet has claimed?
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