On Saturday, June 20, 2009, Tomer Shalev <[email protected]> wrote: > > It's becoming somewhat clear to me that I'm not able to relate with normal > people in a reasonable way. I lack the basic understanding of how people will > read "tone" in things I type, where for me they're written word and should be > read based on the specific meanings rather than anything implied. The latter > method seems to depend too much on the emotions and even specific mood a time > of reading of the user. > > Paul, you contribution to Rockbox is undeniable, and I think most people > appreciate it very much. It will be pity if you resign from your duties and > contribute less than you would have done otherwise. > > My impression from you was that you are indeed an arrogant person, which > lacks basic human skills. Thank you for clarifying yourself in this honest > letter. I don't think you are arrogant anymore, but I have confirmed you lack > human skills :-) > > I think that you deserve a positive feedback from others in this community. > We all now how much time and energy you invested on Rockbox, in the purpose > of making the Rockbox resources (forums, flyspray, etc.) more organised and > consistent. I thing deserve at least that amount of energy to be put on > keeping you an active Rockbox contributor. There's no reason to think > otherwise. > > I would like to give you a feedback myself, something that I wanted a long > time ago, but didn't, since I thought it is pointless, wrongly thinking of > you as an arrogant person who is not open for feedback. > > Many times you responded newbie's questions: "Support question belong to > XXX", "Bug reports belong to XXX" etc, closing the issue. > I would suggest a more friendly approach: You should provide a short and > simple answer, and following it, write "If you would like further assistance, > please open a new support issue for this question in XXX, as this is not the > right place to ask." > You can even open that issue yourself, refering to the original post. > > When a user asks an RTFM question, don't tell them "It is in the manual, why > did you post this question when you obviously agreed to the forum rules which > mention that you have to read the manual before you ask question" etc. > > A more human friendly approach would be to quote the relevant text from the > manual (yes, it takes more time to do), which should answer one's question, > and afterwards mention: This text is taken from the XYZ manual, page 123, > which is available in the manuals page: http:/bla_blah. In the future please > try to find your answer in the manual before asking here, as it consumes > people time. Please take in mind that people in the Rockbox community are > volunteers, spending their free time supporting other Rockbox users without > being paid. Asking questions which are in the manual prevent them from > working on other issues.". People would understand that, and appreciate you > for providing them with an answer, despite the fact that you could just point > them to the manual. People do appreciate order, and would understand when > their 'support issue' is blocked due to not reading the manual before, or > asking in the wrong place, but they do expect to be given a quick and to the > point answer, if there is such, which would save them a lot of time getting > to know Rockbox or reading tons of manual pages. If the answer is short, they > know someone has it and can write it down for them in 10 seconds, in contrast > for them wasting an hour. They'll appreciate it! They also expect to be gived > a link rather than being given an 'it's in the manual' response. > > When a user is arrogant and expecting Rockbox volunteers to work for him, > answering his questions or fixing his bugs, as if he pays them, there is no > reason to start an argue with him, adding fuel to the fire. One can just > ignore, or block the thread. It is wrong to answer "we will gladly give you > back the money you paid Rockbox". This is indeed the correct answer, but it > is not the smartest. We are here to make as many people as possible like and > use Rockbox. > > The most important thing IMHO, is that people hate when one tries to prove > things to them. People don't care who started the argue, or why they are > wrong, or how they are mistaken. You can just tell your opinion, and let them > do the math themselves. No need to have the last word. > > Paul, it would be best if you keep doing your great work. People in the > community can be more aware of this issue, and provide you with an immediate > feedback once you do something that is considered offensive, which you are > not aware of. You deserve it. > > Regards, > Tomer > >
This is my first post to this list even though I have been following it for about a year. I think Paul is a very methodical man and every project needs someone like him. Having said that I don't think that is a arrogant person and I agree with him when he says he writes very literal answer. I think it is horrible to see people assaulting each other verbally (because i guess you cant fisically ;) ) and lately there's been too much of it on this list. I hope the IRC isn't like this at least. This is a FOSS project which I love and even though I can only help for now with translation for my lovely native language, Portuguese, I hope that someday I can too join you as a developer. I think Paul's work has been amazing and I would be deeply sorry if Paul leaves like this. I only wished that more lists had a moderator like him. I have only one advice, start using smileys as people find them very cute. :p As for the noobs questions, I like the "look in the manual" answer but it seems that people find that offensive nowadays so I guess you have to waste some more time answering those. Keep up the good work, Paul. Rui Araujo ps: and please, Rockbox developer community, stop arguing so viciously about the project. It is just a hobbie. Discussing in an educated manner isn't that difficult , right?
