I top post. I don't think it helps to beat on people for their posting styles. It helps simply to respond to the issue under discussion.
Bob On 01/17/2010 11:13 PM, Patrick Horgan wrote: > Have you ever noticed that people's progress in using, supporting, > writing bug reports for, and sometimes even developing for, writing > documentation for, or translating for open source software is paralleled > by their progress from top-posting to bottom posting to interlinear > posting, to intelligent elision with interlinear posting? I see it on > the gimp, and on other lists all the time. > > Beginners don't know what top posting is. They don't understand that > there's no business to bitch too about open source software. They don't > understand how few people keep open software going. They're completely > ignorant about our culture. They don't know how happy people will be if > they write intelligent bugs, or offer to make documentation better. > They don't understand that the people providing support for them are > potentially them. > > I guess the point is that it's easy to be annoyed by an ignorant > beginner, (definitely speaking from experience), and they make > themselves even more annoying by top posting when responding to > messages, not knowing that it looks like they are deliberately making it > harder to follow the conversation. If we kindly educate them instead of > attacking them, (and when appropriate, privately, instead of > embarrassing them publicly on the list), we might over time convert some > of them to useful human beings. > > I really like the way Sven invites people to contribute. For people not > used to open source it's startling, and sometimes his invitation to be > part of the solution is mistaken for an unwillingness to help. They've > got this strange sense of learned helplessness. Even though few of > those invited will ever contribute, some do, and some of those who don't > contribute right away, have been started thinking about it by Sven and > eventually will contribute. On the lilypond list, it's Graham the > curmudgeon that keeps inviting people. It works. > > If instead we attack them, we make of ourselves boors, and drive away > people that might have been of great help eventually. Some of those > driven away are lurkers not even involved in the communication. I know > that some have more patience than others, but if you can't stand > beginners acting like beginners, it's only necessary to ignore them. > One of my favorite proverbs is, "Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, > is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of > understanding", or the more modern proverb "Better to be thought a fool > than to open your mouth and remove all doubt";) > > People that are going to insist on being idiots go away pretty quickly > if ignored. I know people that have been around for years already know > all this, but there might be one or two on this list who need a gentle > reminder. > > Best regards, > > Patrick > > _______________________________________________ > Gimp-user mailing list > Gimp-user@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU > https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-user > > > _______________________________________________ Gimp-user mailing list Gimp-user@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-user
