I don't feel it's insulting, people post to the list all the time whether being newbies or not asking for help, (I'm one of them!) offering nothing in return (I would try to help if I could but I feel that my "help" would cause more problems than solutions which is why I signed up to learn!). But he's offering compensation for their time since he doesn't want to learn Linux and has a Dentist practice to run instead. But isn't this what we want as whole, more people using open source? I feel that if the group can pitch Open Source to businesses as a viable alternative, it wouldn't make sense to discourage them from asking for help here. I understand that this is a "user" group but what about the idea of the Back Office Linux Server? Isn't that so that people can switch to Open Source without having to notice the effects on their desktops? I know it would be nice to get everyone to be a competent desktop Linux user, but if you can get more people using it behind the scenes even if they don't learn it, isn't that at least one victory for Open Source? From that point, if they know that their servers run Linux even if they don't use it themselves, and that they realize that they are saving money on proprietary licenses and that it works and works well, wouldn't they be more likely to look at Linux as a viable alternative for their everyday use? Especially when they have to upgrade and look at the cost of "closed" software?
Just my .02, -Todd -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of linuxdan Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2002 4:21 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [luau] List Policy I agree with what you depict as Spam. I believe in most situations like the "starving students" declaration, people are looking for a cheap way to get someone to do their dirty work and get free training in the process. I particularly dont like that people would abuse the list by resorting to such tactics just to save a few bucks. Its rather insulting. _______________________________________________ LUAU mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://videl.ics.hawaii.edu/mailman/listinfo/luau