Civileme....well conceived, well thought out, and well stated.
Alan
Civileme wrote:
>
> It is a clear and distinct message to me when other distro users
> show up on this mailing list for help... A very hopeful message
> for the future of amicability.
>
> By george, I'll help them with no distinction. Of course my
> advice may not be as well researched, because I haven't seen the
> other distros in a while and I don't know immediately where to
> look for the tech support doc, but then they should know free
> advice is well worth what they pay for it.
>
> So why are those folks here?
>
> 1) Their distro has a "cathedral-style mailing list", with
> _bona-fide_ "experts" instead of users struggling to help each
> other out. We all have seen what happens to people who become
> too impressed with themselves and their own knowledge.
>
> 2) The mailing lists for their distro are flame magnets.
>
> 3) Their own distro has NO mailing list
>
> As long as they don't advocate their distros here, I don't think
> I have a problem. If other distro users are showing up here and
> they are well-received, they'll be with us soon enough. Now is
> not the time to deviate from a winning strategy, or from being
> our friendly selves. I really don't think helping out people in
> need is raising the entropy of the universe, nor do I believe it
> constitutes tortious conduct.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Civileme
