[geeks] Common IP lease?

[Kurt Mosiejczuk]

On Wed, 3 Apr 2002, Amy wrote:

> this is an observation. from what i've seen and experienced, mind. outside
> of a very few people (i can name them, they're that few) the various bsd
> and linux communities have fallen to the whole open-souce home-depot
> do-it-yourself egotistical plague. if you dont have x amount of knowledge
> or clout, they don't and will not help.

[...]

> as far as they're concerned, they didn't get any help in the beginning so
> why should anyone lower on the clue-tree who comes looking for answers
> expect more?

I see multiple reasons for this, some of which I feel shouldn't happen,
some of which I understand but don't think should happen, and some I
agree with.

First, a lot of "experts" forget how much they really know and how long it
took them to master it.  So, when someone new doesn't understand something
very basic, they are annoyed.  This is a lack of empathy AND patience.
Sometimes I myself fall into this, and catch myself.  It's something I can
understand happening, but not in the case of people hanging out on
help lists and/or in a support role.

Second, a lot of times "experts" don't really understand how something
works.  They just do it "this way and it works".  This one dovetails with
one that irritates me.  If someone asks them a question about why it didn't
work they get annoyed because it's always worked for them...  even though
they don't understand why it worked for them.  The part that annoys me
is those who WON'T admit they don't understand it.  I always try to be
up front if I don't know something and say so.  People who won't admit
they don't know piss me off.

Now, a lot of users that complain about the "lack of decent help" are the
same ones that email Bill and say "my monitor won't work with my sun.  Help."
Some may not realize they aren't providing enough detail, and deserve that
chance to do the work to get the help.  Alas, many expect omniscient free
help without any work on their part.  These people, I feel, need to go
pound sand.

This transitions into one attitude that I feel is reasonable, probably because
I agree with it.  Computers really require people to do some learning to use
them, and a fair bit to use them well.  Too many focus on the reward of
"increased productivity" that all the suits promise them, but refuse to
put any mental effort into it.  All tools require some knowledge, and a
big general purpose tool like a computer requires a fair bit.  Fine, if
it's some "information appliance" like an email appliance or the like, it
shouldn't require too much (Although email etiquette should be required
knowledge, like that's gonna happen).

Also, many feel that the person who wrote the code, on their own time, and
provided it to the public, out of the goodness of their heart, owes them
something.  That's crap.  They've given us more than we deserve, the code.
If they've given us documentation to, great.  They DO NOT have to support
our thousands of email questions that are spelled out in the docs or
source.  And those that do often get shit upon.  But when this coder tells
people to get bent after they are grabby/needy/abusive, open source
people get labelled as "unfriendly".  Bullshit.  Not wanting to spend
every waking moment helping people who won't help themselves is not
unnfriendly.  It's smart.

Ugh, this turned into a big rant.

Ah well =)

--Kurt