Re: Linux is not for consumers!
On Thu, 11 Dec 2003 at 22:12 GMT, David Palmer. penned:
> On Thu, 11 Dec 2003 15:50:11 -0500 "H. S." <greatexcalibur@yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Paul E Condon wrote:
>>
>> > Documenting software is like writing a good text book. The author
>> > must get in touch with his "inner Dummy" and speak to his needs.
>> > Some geeks have this ability, but many do not.
>>
>>
>> This is *so* true!! And the troubling part is they simply refuse to
>> understand this. ->HS
>
> They simply don't want to. I'm still considering taking up doc
> writing myself. I've started a thread at another site to deal with
> basics for other newbies like myself. If you request help,
> terminologies like 'chown' and chmode' or somesuch are thrown at you
> without any effort toward fuller explanation, and it goes further than
> assumption through long familiarity, there is some sort of
> supercilious ego factor involved also.
chmod, not chmode =P
It's easy to forget that text is a lossy form of communication. The
author has a mood and voice they assume while typing out their missive,
but the mood and voice are stripped from the email as soon as they hit
"send." Sure, there are some oversized egos in every community, but
it's easy to read ego into an email where none was intended.
>
> This is not right across the board. There are some genuinely helpful
> personalities, but the incidence is high. This is not an opportunity
> to condescendingly assume that this is an incidence of some newbie
> demanding a spoonfed situation, I haven't got where I am in life
> through charity reliance, I enjoy doing my own research. All I am
> doing is pointing out that this attitude is diametrically opposed to
> the terminology 'community.' Regards,
>
The problem is, everybody has different limits at which they consider a
response to be terse, perfect, or condescending. Without knowing you, I
can't possibly know what all needs explaining. In the interest of
brevity, I think most people answer with the fewest words possible, then
expect the original poster to come back with further questions if
necessary.
--
monique
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