I'm curious what the flat-file/ISAM solution is. It sounds like a product of my former employer as well.

This was covered well on ServerFault yesterday as someone noticed sudden system instability across their servers.

That's what I'd be very interested to see.

This shouldn't have needed to go beyond university punishment. The university housing should have handled this. Unfortunately, this blew up because he left too big of an online trail.

That is correct. It was not streamed publicly, recorded or posted anywhere. It'd be a different story if it ended up on YouTube... But nothing was recorded.

The sexiling is the biggest thing for me. I would not be happy having that happen twice in such a short period of time. It's tacky, to be honest (at least that early in the schoolyear) As I posted above, this really seemed to be a communication issue, coupled with bad practices. Bringing dude home from hookup website; bad. Getting crafty with webcam; bad. Blathering about it all on non-private social media; bad... But look at the examples. How many times have we seen this type of behavior on MTV or Tosh.0?

Santorum, Bachman, etc...

I think it's relevant because the story played itself out on social media (Twitter, Facebook) and involved *scary* technology like webcams! Note how many people still use the term "videotape" in describing the events of this story...

I've followed this case with interest mainly because it seemed to be a perfect storm. The timing coincided with highly-publicized teen suicides and increased focus on (cyber) bullying. The initial media reports implied the existence of a "sex tape", an outing and broadcast video. There was a terse suicide status update posted on Facebook. It tapped into people's fears about and unfamiliarity with technology. The mystery surrounding the older hookup, M.B. (that part of the story really didn't seem to be examined) Perhaps the story resonated with me because I remember pranks like this in my college years... It's interesting to see lives ruined today over something I would have potentially done or experienced when I was younger.

Reading through the New Yorker article and other accounts since the incident, it seems that Dharun Ravi's actions and tone were consistent with how kids interact with each other these days. Being jackasses online, boasting to his peers and just juvenile behavior. But isn't that reflected in popular culture (Reality TV, Tosh.0, TMZ, etc.)? He and Tyler did not communicate well, and I think those soft-skills are missing among today's youth. In a world of tweets, Facebook, blogs and other online communities, we also leave quite a trail... Maybe that's the biggest lesson here. Neither of them seemed to have a filter. Unprotected Twitter accounts, posting openly in webcam/porn/sex communities, bringing an older hookup back to the dorm... I think there needs to be more education about maintaining your online identity.

As to the case, it seems as though Tyler was troubled long before college. There was a mention of his fascination with the G.W. Bridge, as well as issues coming from a conservative family life. Maybe Ravi's actions had no influence on Clementi's suicide. There's a bit of immaturity on both sides as well. I think "sexiling" your roommate multiple times so early in the school year, is extremely disrespectful. That goes regardless of sexual orientation. I had roommates in college who brought questionable partners home for hookups. But we at least had an understanding, and it was certainly after we had a chance to get to know one another. But maybe Tyler was experimenting and taking advantage of his relative freedom? There's no harm in that, but it illustrates more about his home and family life than anything else.

The webcam angle also seems overblown. Dharun was most-likely venting about being booted from the room, but relishing the fact that the drama provided a attention/bragging opportunity. He may have also been trying to demonstrate his tech-prowess. But as the New Yorker article referenced, there was "no posting, no observed sex, and no closet."

Homophobic? Hate crime? I don't think so. I just think there was an extreme lack of respect and understanding between the two. But the case has been politicized and we'll have to see how it plays out...

Unfortunately, us systems/network engineers in the HFT industry don't get the same level of respect (or pay) as the developers... It's better than other industries, but yeah...