Re: debian and women? from DWN #10
On 2004-03-25, timg penned:
>>
> i know exactly what she means and dont think it is a male/female
> thing. i'm a programmer, partly responsible for our main servers and
> development servers in house, happy to repair/build computers but
> still find that I do have a certain amount of trepidation when posting
> technical difficulties. I dont know why tho. probably looking an ass
> in public when you discover the answer was right under your nose (and
> fifty people point it out) is the main concern. I dont particularly
> like standing up in front of hundreds of people and asking questions
> either, I dont think this is really that different. Aside form that
> does anyone know how disable the mousepad when typing?
I know what you mean, which is why I try to take my time in composing a
question. At least half the time, while typing out my post, it occurs
to me that "someone's going to ask me if I've done X" -- so I do X, and
voila, there's my answer! Composing posts to d-u and other technical
forums has on occasion been more enlightening to me than actually
posting =)
I think part of this whole issue is learning how to build onesself up in
online communities. Once you're solidly part of a community, it is much
easier to gloss over occasional blunders. Granted, if you suddenly post
only blather after having enjoyed a solid reputation for a few years,
after a while people will start to associate you with blather ...
I definitely have a strategy for approaching new online forums. My
first post tends to be a question, but I work very hard at making sure
that all my i's are dotted and my t's are crossed. After that, I try to
prove my worth to the community by contributing where I can, without
trying to sound like a representative of the community -- people tend to
get cranky when they think you're presenting yourself as a member of a
group and they don't think you qualify. It's also important to never be
off-topic in the "initiation" phase, as certain grumps will see it as
their job to put you in your place. That part -- balancing utility with
humility and topicality-- is tricky, and I actually think I biffed this
one on d-u a bit, at least at first. If things go well, after a while,
you begin to be accepted as a community member, and you start to get
more slack when you ask a dumb question or post something off-topic.
It's worked for me in a number of online hangouts, including the EQ
guild Afterlife, where I was Recruiter for over a year. It hasn't
worked in some -- notably alt.mountain-bike, where there are some
seriously grumpy gusses. But I guess in their eyes, I'm the equivalent
of someone continuously asking about their printer icons and never
getting a clue.
--
monique
Reply to: