On Sat, 26 Nov 2005 19:25:16 +0000, Michael Quaintance <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>J.C. Roberts wrote: > >[snip] > >>I'm just a normal user who doesn't contribute a great deal to the >>project, so there is a *HUGE* difference between me and the people who >>actually have both the expertise and dedication needed to write quality >>code to improve the project. -To them, I'm just another loud mouth >>chatting away on misc@ rather than doing something more productive. >> >>Kind Regards, >>JCR >> >> >Point taken. I did not mean to imply you are an official spokesperson >for the project. Merely that you successfully explained the hostility >that had arisen on this thread to what seemed an innocuous original >posting by Robbert. > Unfortunately for Robbert, he is just the proverbial straw that broke the camels' back. He is not the first person to think as he does and he's not the first to produce horribly misguided "documentation" in the form of "HOWTO" steps. Though I believe Robberts' intentions are truly good, he is still trying to push his way of thinking and doing things. After my post, I honestly expected Robbert to do the usual, namely fly off the handle after reading something so directly critical. The fact that he did not throw a tantrum shows he has a lot of character and is willing to at least consider other points of view. That put the onus upon me to provide other points of view for consideration. As for hostility, check out the archives for the first five years of this list. In those days, if you were not already a UNIX expert, you may have been too intimidated to post anything, even a simple question. If you posted incorrect directions for software usage or buggy code (same thing), $DIETY couldn't save you from being tossed through a verbal meat grinder. >If I understand the Open Source development model, whilst you may not be >productive in the code writing arena, people like yourself who are >prepared to take the time to explain to us newbies where we have gone >wrong are a necessary buffer in order to allow the developers to get on >with the job of developing the project. > What may seem like a service to newbies and developers alike is not so simple or straightforward. The list *IS* read by the developers and reading the posts also takes their precious time. Each of the developers and all of the long time users are quietly sitting on the sidelines waiting for me to stuff my foot in my mouth, so they can unceremoniously toss me in the meat grinder, on list or off. If you think it's bad for a newbie, imagine what it is like for someone like me who's been around for many years and damn well ought to know better. As masochistic as it may seem, I both count on and appreciate when all the others folks on the list spend their precious time to deliver a much needed and well deserved swift kick in the pants when I've failed to think things through properly on my own. Although it is invisible to the new comer, exponentially more things happen off list with OpenBSD than on list where everyone reads them. There is a very good reason for it; excessive posts to this list, particularly the exceedingly long ones like mine, are _also_ a waste of developer time because they are read and checked for correctness like everything else around here. Kind Regards, JCR
