Dare I ask what the issue with "niceness" is? My understanding is that people only really want it for "the innocent", i.e. all bets are off if someone is being an asshole to start with. That said, type-3-esque fame seeking (or, more recently I think, "clout chasing") is not usually cited as asshole behaviour, when it should.

It reminds me of one interesting group I encountered about two years ago, who wanted to roll their own server software that would disseminate untrusted input read over the Web. This server was to be written in C, which seemed like an unnecessary risk to me (among some other risks), so I brought it up. They and their friends disagreed, and I was eventually accused of being inconsiderate, because apparently I should be able to believe that the group won't screw it up, with no evidence whatsoever.

Ironically, I was also trying to get the group to publish their sources, so that an independent analysis could be done. There is not much that can be done, as one is not in control, and words alone don't seem to change things. I was hoping they'd eventually release something, and make complete fools of themselves, but they instead just seemed to quietly drop the project, and no one cares now. Oh well.

Dear PeterL,

Weapons are powerless without the necessary fundamental hostility of their wielder -- triggers don't pull themselves.

Yours,
-S