On Thu, May 5, 2011 at 10:02 PM, Shrinivasan T <[email protected]> wrote:
> > I am getting a lot of suggestions and requests to make our list more > users friendly. > Many people have much fear to post emails to our list. > This situation should be changed. > > To make our list more users friendly, we need to review our guidelines > and our way of communications. > > Shall we have a IRC meeting to discuss about this? > > The following are some topics > 1. List Guidelines > 2. Tone of giving suggestions to the new users > > Feel free to add more topics. > .... I am adding my opinion. I have been a member here for about 3-4 years now and the atmosphere is quite gentle. I have not come across any personal attacks or name calling. If there is anything that makes people uncomfortable from posting, e.g. being reminded to use list guidelines, then I would suggest to use it is an opportunity to improve your communication skill [1]. In FOSS you are dealing with a very diverse set of individuals. IMO, one of the paradigms of working with a FOSS groups is to develop a thick skin and be able to take criticism for what it is worth, learn from it (if there is a lesson) and move on. I see posts from people asking for "step by step" procedures for things which they can easily search for themselves on the 'Net, I see posts with complete disregard for mailing list guidelines and some do it repeatedly, some OP's fail to follow up with questions/solutions that have been posted. In any other environment, be it school/college/work, one would be reprimanded for their repeated faux pas. Expecting anything different from a mailing list is *unreasonable*; especially when the help people get, is gratis with no expectation of even a thank you or an acknowledgement once the OP's problem is resolved or the question answered. [1] Way back in the late eighties and early nineties, USENET was the place to ask questions (technical as well as social). There were people from all over the world posting questions and giving answers. The fact that all were not well versed in the common denominator lingua (English), did not deter them from participating. Newbies were welcome; those who exhibited that they had read the documentation and were stuck in some place were helped. My two cents. -- Arun Khan _______________________________________________ ILUGC Mailing List: http://www.ae.iitm.ac.in/mailman/listinfo/ilugc
