Re: [Gimp-user] Completely off every imaginable topic;)

2010-01-18 Thread Patrick Horgan
jolie wrote:
> I'm not sure if English is your first language or not but do you realise what
> you are saying? "Convert people into useful human beings?" 
>   
Nope, Texan is my first language, C/C++ my second and Spanish my third.  
I tend to get overly ironic in all three.
> I get what you mean though, you want beginners to get a warm welcome and when
> they are here a bit longer they will realise what the customs are.
>   
Yes, please.  Interesting that some seem to have taken the post as an 
attack/flame on top posters, instead of a plea to not attack and to 
instead realize that they just don't know about effective email 
communication styles.  Glad you got it.
> I'm all for it. New GIMP users can become developers later on or contribute
> to GIMP in some other way. So I say, be nice, welcoming and understanding to
> them. Besides, it's good to be nice to others. 
>   
Thank you:)

Patrick

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[Gimp-user] Completely off every imaginable topic;)

2010-01-18 Thread jolie
>  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. 
>

>Best regards,
>
>Patrick
>


I'm not sure if English is your first language or not but do you realise what
you are saying? "Convert people into useful human beings?" 

I get what you mean though, you want beginners to get a warm welcome and when
they are here a bit longer they will realise what the customs are.

I'm all for it. New GIMP users can become developers later on or contribute
to GIMP in some other way. So I say, be nice, welcoming and understanding to
them. Besides, it's good to be nice to others. 

The forums on GIMP are very welcoming to newbies, the mailing list a little
less so, but it's not that bad.  

-- 
jolie (via www.gimpusers.com)
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Re: [Gimp-user] Completely off every imaginable topic;)

2010-01-18 Thread Jon Cosby
On Sun, 2010-01-17 at 20:13 -0800, 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.
> 

There's worse. At work, people have started dropping the entire context
at the support desk. We've been getting some replies as ambiguous as "It
didn't work."



Jon Cosby


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Re: [Gimp-user] Completely off every imaginable topic;)

2010-01-18 Thread Jon Cosby
On Mon, 2010-01-18 at 05:45 -0800, Ken Warner wrote:
> Luckily, that's just your opinion -- and your problem.
> 



It's the same on nearly all mailing lists, Ken. Patrick is being far
more polite about it than some.



Jon Cosby


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Re: [Gimp-user] Completely off every imaginable topic;)

2010-01-18 Thread Programmer In Training
On 1/18/2010 7:45 AM, Ken Warner wrote:
> Luckily, that's just your opinion -- and your problem.


Unfortunately when you top post, you make it everyone's problem. It's
lazy and inconsiderate. Top-posting breaks the natural method of reading
(top to bottom) and that's the only reason against it (and should be the
only reason not to top post).
-- 
PIT



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Re: [Gimp-user] Completely off every imaginable topic;)

2010-01-18 Thread Ken Warner
Luckily, that's just your opinion -- and your problem.

phanisvara das wrote:
> On Monday 18 January 2010 06:53:26 pm Alexandre Prokoudine wrote:
>> Dude, I never ran any related research, but I 'm sure as hell that I
>> do all sorts of posting depending on situation. Does it make me Dr.
>> Jackill and Mr. Hyde? :) I'm also quite sure that I'm not alone in
>> this.
> 
> in my opinion, as long as you actually do think and choose your posting 
> style according to the situation, that's fine. what's obnoxious is 
> people using whatever defaul their email client comes up with, 
> subjecting others to scrolling thru' tons of unnecessary stuff, or 
> making it difficult or impossible to find out what they're talking about 
> because there's no context to be found.
> 
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Re: [Gimp-user] Completely off every imaginable topic;)

2010-01-18 Thread phanisvara das
On Monday 18 January 2010 06:53:26 pm Alexandre Prokoudine wrote:
> Dude, I never ran any related research, but I 'm sure as hell that I
> do all sorts of posting depending on situation. Does it make me Dr.
> Jackill and Mr. Hyde? :) I'm also quite sure that I'm not alone in
> this.

in my opinion, as long as you actually do think and choose your posting 
style according to the situation, that's fine. what's obnoxious is 
people using whatever defaul their email client comes up with, 
subjecting others to scrolling thru' tons of unnecessary stuff, or 
making it difficult or impossible to find out what they're talking about 
because there's no context to be found.

-- 
phani.
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Re: [Gimp-user] Completely off every imaginable topic;)

2010-01-18 Thread Alexandre Prokoudine
On 1/18/10, 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.

Dude, I never ran any related research, but I 'm sure as hell that I
do all sorts of posting depending on situation. Does it make me Dr.
Jackill and Mr. Hyde? :) I'm also quite sure that I'm not alone in
this.

Alexandre
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[Gimp-user] Completely off every imaginable topic;)

2010-01-17 Thread Patrick Horgan
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

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