Hello List,
My comments are not intended to start a thread or a flame. Please
contact me privately if you feel compelled to comment.
I am a newbie, a fact I do not hide. I joined this group several months
ago to learn- when I loaded my very first mdk distro and discovered how
deep the water is. You have taught me well and for that I am grateful
and I thank you for your time and patience.
During these months I've watched an ugly metamorphisis take plce. The
list then was monitored by Mandrake developers and programers. They
generously took time to respond. The list then was filled with replies
from some of the brightest minds in the Linux communtity. Combined,
these folks probably had a million years of *NIX experience they were
willing to share just for asking. So what happened?
>From my vantage point I've seen an erosion not only in the type of
question but also the attitude. This list was composed of well-mannered
men and women..what my father would call ladies and gentlemen.
The list slowly changed from a polite demeanor to one of demanding,
shouting, cursing and temper tantrums. Our Mandrake developers have been
cussed, discussed and generally trashed because some whiny baby doesn't
know how to use a new operating system. Thus the fault changed from the
operator to the program creators. [Speaking for myself I can only say
that every error message I've seen in Venus, my distro, has been of my
own making becasue I don't understand the basics yet.]
This list is for Mandrake Experts. It is not a baby-sitting service. No
one on this list is obligated to answer any question. No one is
obligated to answer instantly. Your demands, my demands and future
demands are just that: demands. The gentle members of this list
frequently ignore these messages as they should.
Lately, I've read a lot of messages with attitude written all over the
subjet line: "How many times do I have to...?"; "Mandrake Sucks"; "I've
written x times why ...?". Regardless of content the message is the
same: I am the most important person on this list and I demand an answer
right now! Guess what? You aren't the most important person on this
list. Everyone has equal standing. If you don't have a life, get one.
As far as I have been able to determine there is no perfect operating
system. Not every piece of hardware made will work on every system. Not
every piece of software written will work on every system. There are too
many machine configurations to consider. The advantage of Linux,
particularly the Mandrake distro, over Winblows is twofold: MUG and
modules. If *it* doen't work to your satisfaction you can fix *it*
yourself without waiting months for a patch that fixes your whole
system. Many times in the past a Mandrake developer would posted a small
script to fix a particularly thorny problem for one person. I don't see
this anymore.
To the people who need this list the most, I have some advice: Be
polite. Please and thank you go a long way toward getting a quick
response. Be patient. We live in every time zone in the world, please
take this into consideration as well as the fact that we all have
private lives. STOP SCREAMING!! It's annoying and a guaranteed way to
not receive a reply. Stop making demands; it's rude. Admit you don't
know how to do something and be grateful when you get the answer. We all
have frustrating issues, don't let it spill into this list.
This MUG is a great group of guys and gals, please help keep it that
way.
Thanks,
Pj
