Good points! I would add to your "stop screaming" that
people who wish help will be MORE likely to receive help if
A) they ask nicely, and
B) if they post their request in PLAIN, ASCII TEXT!
Why the latter suggestion? Because more than one "expert"
here has stated that they find it extremely difficult to
read HTML in the mail client of choice: KMail. Since
Mandrake defaults to KDE as the desktop / window manager of
choice, KMail is the obvious mail client of choice for a
large number of users.
Unfortunately, many of the people who come to this list for
help are posting either from Netscape, Outlook Express or
Eudora Light. All three default to HTML posting. At least
with Outlook Express one doesn't have to wade through all
the clutter of the HTML source code.
Brand me an "elitest" if you wish, but I, for one, feel
that if someone is coming to ME for help (most of the time,
I'll admit, I just lurk here <G>) they darn well better ask
in plain text.
I've been guilty of sending out "nastynotes" in the past,
but more often than not, I've taken the time to explain WHY
people should post in plain text. Unfortunately some people
on this list (and others) have taken it as a personal
affront that I try and change their posting preferences.
Well, doggone it, THEY'RE the ones asking for help!
Besides, I have been (lately) unfailingly polite and kind
in asking people to stop posting in HTML. If they can't
take a nice request for plain text, I'm guessing they
aren't "Linux People" in the first place.
MOST people I've sent plain-text requests to have been
quite polite about it, either saying they forgot to change
their preferences or that they didn't realize that
Netscape/Eudora/OE defaulted to HTML and quickly changed
their preferences.
I guess what I'm saying is it all boils down to politeness
-- be polite when asking for help, not only in your tone,
but also in your MANNER of posting.
My $0.02.
John
