Re: [SLUG] Answer + Disappointment

[Rick Moen <rick@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

begin Jeff Waugh quotation:

> Is everyone suddenly so overcome with Mr. Moen and Mr. Raymond's essay
> into the "correct way to show respect to those groovier than thou",
> that random flamings of eager learners on the SLUG list are now
> acceptable?

I may regret speaking up, since I _wasn't_ Jeff's target, but I doubt
that saying "Please learn how to find out the information yourself via
google/HOWTOs/etc." could be reasonably labelled "flaming of eager
learners".

And whose /dev/ass are you pulling this whacked-out rhetoric about
"correct", "show respect", and "groovier" out of?

(Again, it wasn't *I* who said that, but rather somebody I don't even 
know.  I'm just trying to apply a little perspective to this matter.)
 
> For all your haste to judge Phillipus' email, you've missed the
> opportunity to answer the bloody question (ie. using winbind).

Well, nobody stopped _you_ from answering any and all off-hand
questions, either, Jeff.  Perhaps all such should be referred solely to
you, in the future.

> Phillipus may not have come up Rick and Eric's high-falutin' standards....

This of course assumes in error that I aim to impose "standards" (never
mind how or why) on somebody or other.  All I did was explain how to
most-effectively approach the problem of getting help.  (I don't speak
for Eric, but, as to me, that's a rather blatant caricature, Jeff.)

> Just be kind, please. [1]

Indeed.  The question, of course, is how most effectively to be kind:
In some cases, I find that helping people learn how to help themselves
is much kinder than getting them accustomed to not doing so.  (My view;
yours for a small royalty payment and waiver of reverse-engineering
rights.)  That is of course a broad generality, whereas reality is a
collection of messy specific cases that tend not to neatly collapse into
conceptual boxes.  Life is complex.

> Unfortunately, it now comes across to me as an excuse for otherwise
> kind and normal people to act like selfish wizards-in-towers, and
> demand some kind of pathetic respect due to their uncanny ability to
> hoard their knowledge.
> 
> Sorry, but if that forfeits my right to be in "the leet hacker's cool
> group" with the likes of Rick and Eric, I'm still not going to play
> the part.

Are you quite done self-righteously painting me as some sort of villain,
for the horrific crime of trying to help newcomers get more-useful and 
more-reliably-provided help, to _prevent_ them from being ignored or
flamed?  Have I said something to annoy you personally, let alone
deserve this?

Or were you perhaps just having a bad day, and wanting to share it?

-- 
Cheers,                Linux:  It is now safe to turn on your computer.
Rick Moen
rick@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx