On Sun, 28 Sep 2003, Pier Fumagalli wrote: > Pushing the idea of a "guru" (IMVHO) is exactly the opposite of pushing the > idea of a community. It's a single individual over the bazillion of people > behind this or that project, and I wouldn't want it to be seen as a > "serious" figure promoted by the foundation...
Hmm. This is monumentally far from what I'm trying to do. A lot of people come to the conference with real-world problems that they want solutions to, or at least suggestions that they can pursue in their own time when they get back home. I'm certainly not trying to promote myself as a guru. I'm trying to do, in person, what I do on IRC for several hours almost every day - that is, to help people solve their problems. This is not self-promotion in any way, it's merely saying, hey, maybe I can help you solve your problems. If you've hung out on #apache at all, you'll know that I'm the first to admit when I don't know the answer to a question. But if I do know, I try to help folks out. This is what I contribute to the community, and it's what got me into working on the documentation in the first place. Likewise, folks like Joshua Slive donate ungodly amounts of time to answering questions on the user mailing lists. I don't get the sense that he does this in order that the world will recognize him and adulate him as a hero. (Joshua, please correct me if I'm wrong ;-) If a different word is preferred, that's fine with me. I'm not entirely sure how serious you're being in your remarks, but I surely don't want to convey the wrong image by naming the event. I don't suppose I gave it much thought, but shamelessly stole it from events conducted at the O'Reilly conference where folks like Larry Wall and Guido van Rossum very humbly helped folks sort out their difficulties and solve their practical problems. -- And everyone said, "If we only live, We too will go to sea in a Sieve - To the hills of the Chankly Bore!" (The Jumblies, by Edward Lear) --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
