General Apology,

[Jonathan Hutchins]

On Tuesday 08 May 2007 06:08:21 pm Earle Beason wrote:

> I didn't realize how much of an impact that last message would have, 

Like a rock dropped in a cave of sleeping dragons?  Hey, about time we got 
some life showing around here.

I could've been more clear about my concepts.  Let me say in my defense that 
one of the reasons I chose to vent was that I spend several hours a day in 
IRC support channels helping people who do want to learn how to make their 
computer work for them.  Unfortunately, this is also where I meet a few with 
bad attitudes who expect someone else do do the work for them.

One other thing I see is a surprising lack of initiative.  People will log on 
to IRC and ask "what will happen if I ...".  Did it occur to you to just try 
it and see?  Today it was "If I burn a bootable CD iso to a DVD, will it 
still be bootable?".  Is it worth the cost of a blank DVD to find out?

It does seem like there are some areas of Linux where people think that those 
with knowledge are superior to those without.  Slackware definitely has that 
reputation.  I've encountered developers who's attitude is "if you can't 
figure it out from the source code, you don't deserve to run our software".  
Guess what?  I don't.  There are also attitudes that if you aren't a c0der, 
you're a luser.

Some people claim that the learning curve of *nix has always been steep 
because those at the top consider their knowledge as a form of elitism.  I 
admit that it is difficult to distinguish their grumbling over GUI 
configuration tools from my own (which is (of course) based on a desire to 
have people learn the command line so they understand what's going on).

That said, the members of the KCLUG mailing list have consistently been one of 
the best resources for learning linux and solving linux problems, as well as 
general technical info.  They're also generally friendly and polite, although 
some of us do enjoy a good argument now and again.

I hope there are no ruffled feelings anywhere, it's all in the spirit of good 
life and communication.  Oh, and welcome to the list!