KCLUG?!?!?!

[Sam Clippinger]

What follows is rather long and is not really directed at Mike Coleman.  His
is just the one message I replied to in a rather long thread of flames that I
couldn't ignore anymore.

This message is directed towards every Linux "advocate" who thinks that flaming
newbies is the best way to promote Linux.  This will probably generate a ton of
flames -- you should probably read it just so you'll understand why everyone is
screaming at me for the next three weeks.

When last we left our heroes, Mike Coleman had just said:
> You and I must live in different universes.  My painful experience with
> Exchange is that it is a shoddy piece of crap.
<snip>
> Repeat after me: Don't use Microsoft for anything that matters.

Wow.  Sometimes I wonder to myself, "Linux is great, but why don't more
people start using it?"  Then I read stuff like the rabid messages in this
thread (or ANY post in c.o.l.advocacy) and I have my answer.

<CLUE LEVEL=25%>
Let me make an analogy to explain what I see.  Imagine you're going to buy a
car off a dealer's lot.  You drive up in your old car and start looking around.
A salesman walks up to you and starts chatting with you.  He asks you what
kind of car you're interested in, nods sagely and proceeds to show you a few
models that he says he thinks are best.  Now somewhere in the conversation, he
has asked you what kind of car you drive now.  If you've ever been in this
situation in real life, you know how car salesmen respond to your answer.
They nod and ask, "How do you like it?"  If you liked the car, they'll agree
with you and praise you for being smart.  If you hated the car, they'll be
sympathetic and help you find a better one.

You will never hear a (successful) car salesman say "Oh, you have one of
those?!  You must be some kind of MORON!  Only a complete IDIOT would buy one
of those!  That's the WORST car you could have bought!  Everything about those
things are HORRIBLE!  They don't have a SINGLE redeeming quality!"  How fast
would you leave if you heard that?
</CLUE>

<CLUE LEVEL=50%>
Now imagine you're a new computer user.  Or maybe you're a sysadmin.  Perhaps
you're even a CIO.  You're using Microsoft because it appears to work for what
you want to do.  Whether it does it fast, does it cheaply or even does it well
is IRRELEVANT TO YOU.  You have something that needs doing, so you got a
product that does it.

Imagine you've read about Linux in the newspaper.  You did a little surfing
online and you read some good stuff about it.  You even read CatB.  Even though
you didn't understand everything it was talking about, it made a good argument.

You decide to participate, but the first contribution you make to the community
gets STOMPED ON by some asshole who has NOTHING BETTER TO DO than attack your
choice of TEXT EDITORS!  "You must be an IDIOT to be using Frontpage/Exchange/
Outlook!  That's the WORST decision you could have made!"
</CLUE>

<CLUE LEVEL=100%>
This is basic human psychology.  NO ONE likes to be made fun of in an unfamiliar
arena.  NO ONE likes to be held up to ridicule in front of strangers or their
peers.  And most importantly, NO ONE likes being made out to be an idiot.

How many new users do you think you're attracting by criticising their EMAIL
CLIENTS before they've even had a chance to ask two questions?  How many CIOs
do you think will take you seriously if the ONLY thing you have to say is that
they've made all the wrong decisions?

If you're really serious about advocating Linux, you must behave like a car
salesman.  NO MATTER WHAT the new guy is driving, praise him for showing up
on the lot.  DO NOT make fun of his old car, even if he decides he doesn't
like what you're selling.  You think Linux advocacy is a war?  It's not, but
feel free to continue fighting if you want to.  Just get some new weapons.
Instead of venom, spite and anger, try patience, sympathy and kindness.

"You can attract more flies with honey than with vinegar."

It all comes down to credibility.  Why will ANYONE trust ANYTHING you say if
their first impression of you was belittling?

After the school bully beat you up and picked on you every day for a year,
were you willing to accept half of his sandwich on the last day of school?
No!  In fact, HELL NO!  Even though you knew there was nothing wrong with it,
you wouldn't take HIS offering to save your life.

Consider THAT the next time you're flaming the new guy.
</CLUE>

<DISCLAIMER>
Your first impulse is to hit 'R'eply and flame me into cinders.  Go ahead.  My
skin is plenty thick, and I've been using both Linux and Microsoft long enough
to judge the validity of your arguments for myself.  I don't need any examples
of ways in which Microsoft products suck -- I've got my own list of examples
that's a mile long.

I also realize the hypocrisy here.  I'm STOMPING on you for what you wrote and
expecting you to suddenly see the light just because I say so.  The (marginal)
difference is what I'm stomping on.  I'm criticising the WAY you're delivering
your message, not your fundamental message.  Linux needs advocates now and
always will.  But Linux is better off without the white-hot anti-Microsoft rants
that every newbie gets greeted with at the door.

On behalf of all the future Linux users out there, all I'm asking you to do is
THINK before you flame a newbie.  Once you're done flaming, they'll still be
a newbie, but they won't be interested in Linux anymore.
</DISCLAIMER>

                                -sam

 Sam Clippinger               For PGP public key (KEY ID: 431C5529), see
samc at silence.org          http://www.micro.com/~samc or http://pgp.ai.mit.edu