I'm curious about something. I went to ASSP about a month ago as the result of a comment on the Postfix discussion list.
The tone of that list is typically if you ask a "dumb" question, you're going to get it shoved back down your throat by most of the group. However, intelligent questions regarding features and functions, or *detailed* requests for help along with enough configs/logs to document you tried, usually result in positive results. There's a substantial number of people involved with supporting Postfix - and while I believe the primary developer uses it in his day job - this is yet another example of a highly successful "donation" to the open-source community that has netted very little money for the programmers. The first weeks I was subscribed to this list, I saw a program that was developed by a handful of people, continue to evolve through the efforts of one or two dedicated programmers who are donating their time and work to the community. The initial requests for features were immediately met as a challenge and implemented. Problems were fixed. Intelligent questions were answered. The past two or three weeks have degenerated to nearly the point of a flame war. I don't understand how someone can take a gift (which is how I look at most open-source projects, and ASSP in particular) - and then bitch to the developer about how it's broken - and then wonder why things might not get better. Even if common courtesy has deteriorated to the point that asking respectful questions is a lost art - I would think a simple sense of self-preservation and motived self-interest might get people to PRETEND to ask a developer nicely about something they're providing for free! I'm still trying to get to the bottom of problem reported to me by Postfix's author - and I think he could provide me a bit more information to try to track things down - but I'm not about to tell him to go fly a kite over it. I use his product, I never paid him - I have no right to speak to him as if he were an indentured servant. The same applies to my ASSP issues - if I don't like the answers I get, I go find my own, or find some other way to solve the problem. I don't mean this to start a new thread, and it's certainly off-topic. But reading the last few exchanges is really starting to irritate me, and I wanted a chance to vent. I also wanted a chance to say thank you to the ASSP development team. -- Daniel ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by DB2 Express Download DB2 Express C - the FREE version of DB2 express and take control of your XML. No limits. Just data. Click to get it now. http://sourceforge.net/powerbar/db2/ _______________________________________________ Assp-user mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/assp-user
