Life on the Mailing List, or, "No, really: don't be afraid"(was Re: RE: filePro Programmer shortage)

[Alan Mazuti]

Ditto.

(Top Post By Design)

-----Original Message-----
From: filepro-list-bounces at lists.celestial.com
[mailto:filepro-list-bounces at lists.celestial.com] On Behalf Of tom heine
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2005 11:43 AM
To: Jay R. Ashworth; filepro-list at seaslug.org
Subject: Re: Life on the Mailing List, or, "No,really: don't be afraid"(was
Re: RE: filePro Programmer shortage)

how about if you make your next post a question about filepro,
or an answer about filepro?

tom



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jay R. Ashworth" <jra at baylink.com>
To: <filepro-list at seaslug.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2005 2:06 PM
Subject: Life on the Mailing List, or, "No, really: don't be afraid"(was Re:
RE: filePro Programmer 
shortage)


> On Tue, Mar 01, 2005 at 10:58:33AM -0500, Aljex Software wrote:
>> I hesitate to submit questions to the group because some contributors
spend
>> more time ridiculing the question than addressing them.  Nobody enjoys
>> entering a hostile environment.  If the group gets back to providing the
>> excellent service it can we'd all be better off.
>
> Now, I'd like to dive in on this particular point for a moment, and
> it's because it's a distinction that I think is important, and I hope
> that everyone -- particularly those who might be reticent about posting
> here for this sort of reason -- will take note.
>
> (I've unthreaded this, and changed ths subject, so it doesn't get lost
> in people's filters, or reflexes.)
>
> The incident that triggered this latest round, as have most of the
> other ones that I've seen in the last 2 years of being here, have one
> thing in common, no matter the specific topic over which two people are
> disagreeing (and the rest of us choosing up sides :-):
>
> They're between people who hang out here all the time.
>
> I don't believe I've ever seen one of our regulars get snotty with an
> identifiable newcomer.  I suppose I might be wrong, but I don't think
> by far.
>
> So, while things may get... spirited in here, occasionally, I don't
> think that it's necessarily reasonable to extend that to "so if I ask a
> newbie question, I'm gonna get jumped on".
>
> And it *certainly* isn't reasonable to extend it to "so everyone on the
> list do your best Caspar Milquetoast impression so we don't scare off
> the meek".
>
> People are people, folks.  We're all gonna have bad days, we're all
> gonna occasionally think that the person asking the question a) should
> already know because we already told them or b) (my personal favorite)
> should have tried it themselves, instead of bugging us with it.  But it
> doesn't mean we're all ogres, and it doesn't mean that people should
> hide in the corner if they need help.
>
> I'll quote the underlying philosophy of Wikipedia at this point, I think:
>
> Be Bold!
>
> If you have a question, ask it.  Especially if you're a newbie.  We
> really aren't trying to scare you off.  Sure we get outta hand
> occasionall; we're human beans.  But we're really a pretty nice bunch
> of people.
>
> I'm going to follow this up to the list with a document which is posted
> monthly to the remnants of the (Howard) Dean for America local mailing
> list I'm on here in St Pete.  It's instructive, enlightning, and
> downright hilarious in spot.  Hopefully, it might make clearer to some
> what's *really* going on here.
>
> Cheers,
> -- jra
> -- 
> Jay R. Ashworth
jra at baylink.com
> Designer                          Baylink                             RFC
2100
> Ashworth & Associates        The Things I Think                        '87
e24
> St Petersburg FL USA      http://baylink.pitas.com             +1 727 647
1274
>
>      If you can read this... thank a system adminstrator.  Or two.  --me
> _______________________________________________
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> Filepro-list at lists.celestial.com
> http://mailman.celestial.com/mailman/listinfo/filepro-list
> 

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