John -Gerald has a very good point that you may have missed.
To further emellish, turning people off to Java or Linux with impolite
messages raises the bar for adoption of both. From this, no one
benefits.Common netiquitte calls for RTFM first. However, Gerald's point reminds
us of something more fundamental: the word netiquitte is derived in part
from "etiquette."Good etiquette (and hence by extension netiquitte) demands a minimum
level of manners and politeness.In Java parlance, netiquette extends etiquette and does not override the
base class' properties or methods.Ignore the messages if you like. I hope that every once in a while,
some kind soul will point the newcomer to the information they need and
gently remind them to RTFM next time.
Although the storm of "Where is java 2?" messages was certainly
annoying, people shouldn't lose their temper.
This port is supposed to be here, in order to *help* people use java
in their Linux boxes.
If we are aggressive to them, they'll probably think "What's wrong
with thos people?" and just stay and play with windows (which has 1.2 now
and also has moft's extremely fast virtual machine).
Is there any particular problem with being polite?
After all, if you don't like it, you can still filter out messages
that contain "Java 1.2" in the subject. Is it that hard?
I don't think so...
And I am pretty sure that most of the people in this list feel the
pressure of time - it is no excuse!!!
Chris has a point.
Dimitris
