Just because this person did not bother to find out about backups from her IT does not make it ITs problem.
It was IT's problem before this person ever came along. That's the whole point.
A few quick questions:
1. Are you capable of implementing an IT infrastructure where it is impossible for a user to lose mission critical data? If not, then you're incompetent. Move along, please.
2. Are you willing to implement an IT infrastructure where it is impossible for a user to lose mission critical data? If not, then you're
insubordinate. Move along, please.
3. Is it possible for a user to lose mission critical using an IT infrastructure that you have implemented and administer? If so, then you have a problem. Fix it.
Again, in an institutional environment, it is not the user's responsibility to safeguard mission critical data. By definition, this is one of the primary responsibilities of IT.
(Here's a hint: Mission critical data ever on a c: drive = IT failure)
I'm sick of this attitude of ...
And your customers are sick of your attitude. Thanks for demonstrating my point far more effectively that I could ever verbalize it.
Bullshit. The vehicle fleet manager doesn't make it impossible to run out of gas. The accounting department doesn't make it impossible to max the corporate credit card you have. They provide infrastructure, you have responsibilities in it too.
Further, and I'm really really suggesting you read this slow, and look up words you don't understand in the dictionary, universities just don't work this way. There is no central authority that can force this sort of behavior in them. The researchers themselves push for it, and the people who pay IT then demand it be set up that way. No matter how nice it would be to force backups -- IT can't override the fucking dean. Researchers are to be given autonomy is the usual directive. This leaves IT to provide easy access infrastructure, but not go that last step, as they are forbidden.
Are you sure your customers love your "DO AS I SAY IT IS THE ONLY WAY DAMMIT" attitude? Having dealt with sanctimonious asshats like you many times, and further talked to the mormons and jehovia's witnesses at my door, I realize my words won't sink in, but I will make a futile attempt anyway: Give up the judgemental bullshit. Your way is not the one true way. Your smug little smirk makes lots of people fucking hate you, and you know what, you don't even realize they smile and agree with you just to get you to shut up and go away.
tl; dr- go jerk off to your authority some more, the rest of us have real worlds to live in.
It would be nice if you could channel that energy into something more constructive than personally insulting me. Others far more influential have tried and failed to do much with that.
I do care, however, how your behavior affects this community. Others smarter than either one of us have worked hard to keep it what it is. Please remember the guidelines:
2. Follow the guidelines yourself, the condescending crap doesn't fly too well, and is no more or less insulting than anything I said. Further look at the insults you directed towards me. Do you really think your insults don't count but mine do? That act you are committing there, it's called hypocrisy.
3. It is sad you must fall back on pointing out the guidelines instead of addressing the parts about how authority doesn't work according to your claims. It is either an admission of ignorance of how things really work, or a diversionary tactic to avoid having to admit wrong. (PS -- continuing hte diversion about guidelines doesn't change this set of conclusions, no matter how you justify it, the deduction doesn't change).
4. I've been here about as long as you have. Feel free to peruse my comment history. I gladly contribute nicely to non-moralizing discussions, and I call people out when they act disingenuous or jerky. Your attempt to change your moralizing into some sort of "look at me I'm a pillar of the community" is at best an attempt to pull some dirty politics style trick. This loses you even more of the moral high ground you pretend to argue from.
Any tools you use you should learn how to use first. That goes for a knife as well as a laptop. When I see people use stuff with sharp edges I invariably cringe as they point them at themselves and at others while putting force on them. Even passing the scissors from one hand to another comes with a protocol (sharp end towards the giver).
Laptops are powertools, use them well and they'll do you good, abuse them and they'll eat your research data.
Odds are the researcher messed up and uses the 'theft' as an excuse for something or other, otherwise that reward would have been a bit higher, $1,000, $500 of which is probably the second hand value of the laptop, that can't have been much data.
I agree with your basic premise that we collectively should help to make stuff like this impossible (dropbox is a nice step in the right direction making it easy to have multiple versions of your stuff) I just don't believe this particular case is a good example of what happens when 'we' fail. This user carries the blame and responsibility, not the IT staff there, nor the manufacturer of the gear.
Smart enough to use a laptop? -> Smart enough to burn a DVD once a week or so. Maximum loss is one week of data, and that's assuming you place those DVDs in a different physical location from the laptop.
Of course that's too much of an investment for such valuable data.
>. Are you willing to implement an IT infrastructure where it is impossible for a user to lose mission critical data? If not, then you're insubordinate. Move along, please
Bosses don't always let you stick truecrypt on everything, especially if they say, have macs.
Most companies aren't run by the IT guy, and no universities are. You don't get that authority most places.
Are you capable of implementing an IT infrastructure where it is impossible for a user to lose mission critical data?
Impossible? Why is perfection the standard? At a minimum she could have bought a $50 external drive at Best Buy, used the back-up software included in the OS, and the probability of this outcome occurring drops substantially.
This is basic stuff that anyone doing cancer research should understand. The fact that she admits to feeling guilty is an indication that she knows better.
Blaming the IT department, in this instance, would be like not brushing your teeth and blaming your dentist when they start falling out.
It was IT's problem before this person ever came along. That's the whole point.
A few quick questions:
1. Are you capable of implementing an IT infrastructure where it is impossible for a user to lose mission critical data? If not, then you're incompetent. Move along, please.
2. Are you willing to implement an IT infrastructure where it is impossible for a user to lose mission critical data? If not, then you're insubordinate. Move along, please.
3. Is it possible for a user to lose mission critical using an IT infrastructure that you have implemented and administer? If so, then you have a problem. Fix it.
Again, in an institutional environment, it is not the user's responsibility to safeguard mission critical data. By definition, this is one of the primary responsibilities of IT.
(Here's a hint: Mission critical data ever on a c: drive = IT failure)
I'm sick of this attitude of ...
And your customers are sick of your attitude. Thanks for demonstrating my point far more effectively that I could ever verbalize it.