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On Saturday 18 May 2002 7:41 am, Lyvim Xaphir wrote:

> One thing that the veteran lists and IRC channels lacked was
> civility. This was something I ran into that ran rampant on the IRC
> channels; the problem is still out there; and I think it stems from
> the misperception that a person that considers themselves technically
> proficient is somehow better than "the little people."  Today it is
> becoming increasingly apparent to such individuals that it is not
> enough to have technical skills; you also must be mature in a mental
> way and possess a modicum of social skills to complement your
> technical skills.
>
> Especially today, when Microshaft is such a threat; we need all the
> personnell on this side of the fence that we can get.  It's stupid
> for a Unix sysadmin to run off new recruits simply because they have
> a psychiatric deficiency that causes them to leech off the positive
> attitudes of newbies.  The practice of RTFM can be construed in a
> civilized way first; and then if the hint is not taken, you can
> always go to hammertime.

Bravo!

As far as I'm concerned the arrogance and superciliousness of a small 
minority of users is the most serious problem Linux has; I first 
started with Mandrake 18 months ago and couldn't solve a problem with 
the Alcatel Speedtouch USB modem, which was then not well understood, 
despite much searching. I asked a few questions, got my head knocked 
off, put it back on my shoulders, thought 'well, I'm damned if I'm 
being spoken to like that', wiped Mandrake from the PC and went back to 
Win2K.

Now I'm back and things are better (although not perfect), but I wonder 
how many people vowed _never_ to go back after that sort of treatment?

The 'newbie', a word I hate because of its slightly patronising air, 
could well be in an influential position 'in real life'; flaming 
_anyone_ is potentially a lost sale, or a lot of lost sales ...

Alastair
- -- 
Alastair Scott (London, United Kingdom)
http://www.unmetered.org.uk/
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