I am disgusted

There have been a lot of matters discussed in this work group over the
last couple of weeks.

Much of the information that both Stephen Burley and myself have been
privy to has, admittedly, come from RIPE NCC hostmasters themselves.
We are not talking about disgruntled employees spreading tales about
their organisation, but rather dedicated individuals who wish to see their
daily lives improve and be able to offer a good service to the members of
this community. They could not contribute directly to these discussions
because of the internal policies of the RIPE NCC.

Now, many companies have non-disclosure agreements with their employees and
rightly so. Many of the allusions I have made in my emails has had as it's
source,
emails from employees of the RIPE NCC. However, without their express
permission
to reveal this information, I have been necessarily circumspect with the
information
I have emailed to this list.

Nevertheless, the RIPE NCC management have obviously taken great pains to
ascertain
the identities of these individuals since two RIPE NCC hostmasters have been
sacked
over this matter. Since there is now nothing more for them to lose, I am
going to reveal
the manner in which they were dismissed in order that the RIPE NCC have a
chance to
explain their actions. Before I do this however, I would like to pount out
categorically that
this email is not be to taken as being the views of my company, but rather
as that of an individual
who does not like to see people persecuted.

The first person to be sacked, was not done so for revealing information to
persons outside of
the RIPE NCC. He was sacked for daring to take the managers to task and to
try and
get someone to improve the situation for the other hostmasters. I am not
entirely certain
if this person was already working his notice period, but the end result was
that he was
asked in to a managers office, fired, escorted home in a taxi whereupon his
PC was
confiscated.

The second person to be sacked was done so for discussing internal RIPE NCC
matters with
a member. The internal matter in question was the internal policy that
no-one gets any training
whatsoever. She was off work sick when they sacked her, and although I won't
give you the
full story, it is going to take her a long time to put her life back in
order I'm sure.

I cannot imagine the feelings that the other RIPE NCC hostmasters must be
feeling at this
moment in time. Needless to say they are all probably scared sh*tless about
losing their
jobs, and you never know, I may even lose mine over this, since I have also
dared to speak
out. The difference however is that I am no longer trying to be constructive
in my criticism and
am openly condemning the gestapo-like tactics of the RIPE NCC management.

I would like to point out to the RIPE NCC that I did not receive this
information from a RIPE
NCC hostmaster this time, but from a personal friend of those involved (that
doesn't work for
you) so you can call off your witch hunt.

I am sure that many members of this list will be surprised at the vehemence
of this email and
dubious of the material that it contains. I would like to say that this
situation has been brewing
for several weeks, and has come to a head because I take the sacking of
valued hostmasters
seriously. Not just for the fact that they discussed internal matters with a
member, but also for
the manner in which the deed was done. At the end of the day, the
hostmasters work for the
community, at least they used to.

It is time to get everything out in the open and demand that the RIPE NCC
management remove
their restrictions on letting their hostmasters contribute to this list so
that you can ascertain the
truth for yourselves and not have to rely on my heresay.

Your truly,
Gareth.