On Mon, 11 Sep 2000, David Dyer-Bennet wrote:
> Scott D. Yelich <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes on 10 September 2000 at 21:14:31 -0600
> > The favorite is always:
> > Q: I would like to do "XYZ"
> > A: WHY do you want to do "XYZ"
> > Who cares why? STOP trying to think for me, ok? If I want to do XYZ, I
> > want to do XYZ. I don't care if you group-think and are simply a number
> > in society -- some people don't care to be that way.
> Very often, people new to an area get really dumb ideas. I've done it
> myself. Sometimes wanting to do "XYZ" is a warning flag for one of
> these. Telling them how to do "XYZ" is likely to not help them reach
> their actual goal. Of course, since I can't read their minds, I can't
> know this for sure. So my options are to answer the question, while
> suspecting I'm not being helpful -- or ask a question of my own to
> determine what answer would be useful. Seems an easy choice to me.
Yes, sometimes. But should one really assume that everyone is just
nothing but a clueless qqqq'n newbie and thus simply assume to have the
right to think for them and proceed to do so?
How about... another example. Perhaps this one is clearer and/or more
close to home:
Q : How do I install qmail?
A : You install postfix by blah blah blah.
QQ: I asked about qmail.....
AA: No one uses qmail, everyone uses postfix because it's better. Hell,
use sendmail, if you have to, just don't use qmail. No one uses
qmail... see, even FAQs say don't use qmail.
Understand? There's just, what I perceive, as a growing tendency for
people to answer a question with what they want, regardless of what they
were asked. This doesn't just mean that a person is asking about qmail
on a qmail list and is only being told about qmail -- this is just a
general observation. Sometimes corporate or clients demand something...
sometimes people want to experiment or try things out. Sometimes one
size just won't fit all. Sometimes people may just have to make their
own mistakes. After all, if shouldn't we all just be using mircosoft
solutions... and exchange? It *is* the best MTA, right? :-/
Anyway, it's no biggy... just a little something to chuckle at. It's
like ending a sentence with a preposition.
Scott
ps: have you noticed that LES's address bounces? I wonder if he's
having difficulty with qmail. I struggled with qmail yesterday for 3+
hours... I followed a FAQ/HOWTO to the letter... it's faulty. Yes, I
finally figured it out and I even resisted asking the list.
