On Mon, Sep 11, 2000 at 02:18:05AM -0500, David Dyer-Bennet wrote:
> Scott D. Yelich <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes on 10 September 2000 at 21:14:31 -0600
>
> > The favorite is always:
> >
> > Q: I would like to do "XYZ"
> > A: WHY do you want to do "XYZ"
> >
> > Who cares why? STOP trying to think for me, ok? If I want to do XYZ, I
> > want to do XYZ. I don't care if you group-think and are simply a number
> > in society -- some people don't care to be that way.
>
> Very often, people new to an area get really dumb ideas. I've done it
> myself. Sometimes wanting to do "XYZ" is a warning flag for one of
> these. Telling them how to do "XYZ" is likely to not help them reach
> their actual goal. Of course, since I can't read their minds, I can't
> know this for sure. So my options are to answer the question, while
> suspecting I'm not being helpful -- or ask a question of my own to
> determine what answer would be useful. Seems an easy choice to me.
I think that the crux of the issue is that some people don't realize that
they are ASKING for help. They act as if they are entitled to it.
The yelich problem described above is a classic example of biting the hand
that feeds you. I am pretty sure that any reasonable person would welcome a
better way of doing something if one were presented to him. Especially if it
involved less work and had a smaller chance of problems along the line.
But I guess there will always be people who would rather learn the hard way,
and that is why yelich remains in my procmail filters.
--Adam
