RE: Why mailing-lists? Usenet have been invented, I hear. ;-)
Although you may have a point, I'm still with Debian (after a year or two
with Slackware, and several years with RH) _partly_ because of the
extremely helpful folks on this list. I have observed that even people
who ask stupid questions (yes, there _are_ stupid questions) are treated,
for the most part, with the utmost respect here. The only people I've
seen treated mildly harshly are those who don't tell us enough about what
the problem is (e.g. "Sound doesn't work. Help!"). And although RTFM is
sometimes seen here, it's seen rather less than I think is frankly
warranted.
On Tue, 10 Sep 2002, David Pastern wrote:
> You guys are goddamn rude. If this is linux helpfulness at it's best god
> help linux and open source.
[silly lyrics excised]
> Please note the phrase "elitist nerdy schmucks". I've fucked around with
> Debian linux now for nearly a week, spending countless hours trying to get
> it to work and it's still rooted. MAN pages are pathetic. They're great if
> you're a really experienced user. If not, they are just downright plain
> confusing, quite often not even touching on the subject that you want to
> know about.
Have you even tried respectfully asking here about what you want to know
about? I confess that when I'm busy with real life I tend to delete this
list's stuff without paying it much attention, but I don't recall a
question from you in the last week. Apologies if I missed it and all the
rude replies.
[...]
> The RTFM attitude that most experienced linux users pervay [sic] is
> pathetic.
It may be, but it just doesn't seem to me to be characteristic of this
list.
> And counter productive to open source' image. The thing is this
> attitude goes way to the top of linux developers, so it's not going to
> change.
You obviously haven't spent much time here. There are several Debian
developers who spend a fair amount of their time on this list helping
people out. And there are lots of ordinary endusers such as me who try to
help when we can.
[...]
> Linux and open source is not just a o/s etc. It's a hobby. Treat it
> like one and have some respect for other users. Offer a helping hand
> - it's polite and it's good PR. If you guys want to persist in
> elitist attitudes, fine. In ten years time linux will be dead, open
> source will be dead and people will remember it all as "god they were
> rude elitist bastards".
Not if they spent any time here. And I hesitate to make a prediction, but
I think that it's Gates' "OS" which will be gone 10 years from now.
[...]
> This is all about atttitude, and quite plainly, the attitude of most
> experienced linux users SUCKS.
You really _haven't_ spent any time here, have you?
[...]
> Some are outspoken, like myself.
Good for you. I've been known to stir it up a bit myself. But you're off
target here.
[...]
> > if you don't like it, looks like you've gone away, you won't be missed!
> >
> > nate
Yeah, well, that was maybe a bit harsh. It happens here occasionally.
It's the nature of the beast.
Patrick
--
Patrick Wiseman pwiseman@mindspring.com
Linux user #17943 *Google First, Ask Later*
With 21 left to play, and up 21 in the loss column,
the Braves' Magic Number is 1!
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