Lyvim Xaphir wrote:
--- FemmeFatale <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:In my search for knowledge and some tidbits & support I found and IRC channel as you describe. I know at least one MDK employee hangs out there. The problem? They are not very newbie friendly & far too ready to kick ban ppl for "Stupid questions". I left when one of the ops got really pissy & anal retentive. He muted the channel & de-voiced everyone who was in it b/c ppl like me were asking too many dumb questions. The channel? #MDK-Newbie or something similar. It was made strictly for MDK newbs to come & ask for support/questions.
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FemmeFatale
Femme,
Jeezus, that is so outdated. I thought in the early 90's that that kind of
behavior would die out. Is it an integral part of human nature to put others down
in order to increase the perception that your status is getting better, or is it
learned behavior? I certainly hope it's the latter.
In any case, it's this personality type that helps to advance the cause of M$. I've heard of users encountering creeps like this on IRC b4, and then getting
discouraged and going back to Winblows. This is exactly the reason why distro's
like BSD are not at the top of the list like Mandrake is. They make an "inner
sanctum" with a cadre of the "initiated few" and then attempt to maintain the
illusion of an elite society by denigrating (innocent) others that ask open frank
questions. It's quite repelling. IMO, mostly the result of either immaturity or a
social skill lobotomy (sometimes self applied).
Because of the attitude and spirit of the Linux community, they now have more apps
than any other non-Linux distro. In fact the non-Linux distros have been leeching
application source code (and cross compiling) from the Linux world for a long time
now in order to get glimpses of the nirvana that Linux distro's provide. Mandrake
more so than any others! And it's no wonder; look at these lists here and the
community atmosphere therein.
There is a huge cost for elitism and bigotry.
I normally cut posts I answer (good netiquette) but in this case I'll leave it intact, just in case anyone didn't read it the first time. This is the most intelligent thing I've read on the various lists I'm subscribed to for a long time.
Remember the Japanese proverb: "Zen mind is beginner's mind". I became an expert in linguistics when I got my MA many years ago, and haven't learnt much since. I'm a beginner in Perl, and am still learning useful things.
There is no such thing as a "dumb newbie question". If you're a newbie, it is acceptable - nay, necessary - to ask questions that would be dumb coming from a Perl-monk, kernel-hacker, TeXpert, sysadmin or whoever. I have answered questions with "Click on 'Help', then select 'User Guide', then go to section 6.2". If you know your stuff, it doesn't take that much longer than typing "RTFM", and it wins friends.
Quick test:
If you think vim is a cleaning agent, you're a newbie and shouldn't be ashamed of it. If you think vim is an attempt to dumb down the crystalline purity of vi, then you should think very carefully before responding to newbie questions with "RTFM" or the like. Remember, there are hearts to be broken out there, and every dissed linux-newbie is a potential XP customer.
Sir Robin the Humble
--
"Do unto others what you would like others to do unto you. And have fun doing it."
- Linus Torvalds
Robin Turner
IDMYO,
Bilkent University
Ankara 06533
Turkey
www.bilkent.edu.tr/~robin
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
