This is the mail archive of the cygwin mailing list for the Cygwin project.


Index Nav: [Date Index] [Subject Index] [Author Index] [Thread Index]
Message Nav: [Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next]
Other format: [Raw text]

Re: Cygwin Mailing list


On Tue, 17 Feb 2004, Jani Tiainen wrote:

> Chris Jefferson wrote:
>
> > Gareth Pearce wrote:
> >>
> >> As obviously you're a mailing list professional, I'm sure you checked the
> >> mailing list archives before posting on this topic.
> >>
> >> Hence there is no need for me to reply.
>
> Still, you replied..? =)

<http://cygwin.com/acronyms/#WJM>. ;-)

> >> As implied by my above statement, the topic has already been discussed.
> >> Therefore given the subject line of this email, you don't even need to
> >> check
> >> the mailing list archives to work out the previous answer!
> >
> > I apologise for replying to this, but I feel I must.
>
> Well, no apologies because you just pointed out biggest flaw in this
> kind of a lists. This is not unique feature, it happens everywhere where
> lifespan of list grows, people come and go, but that small, set of
> people - the core, stays same from year to year. People just get
> overwhelmed with "stupid" questions.

Very true.  The core people *are* overwhelmed with the queries that repeat
over and over without any attempts to search the archives.  I wouldn't
call this a flaw, though.  I also wouldn't call those queries "stupid" --
just sent off without thinking.

> > As a "casual" reader of the cygwin mailing list, I feel there has been
> > an increasing number of mails sent to the list like this one, where
> > various members seem to be competing to see who can come up with the
> > most patronising and sarcastic replies to newbies. Such messages I feel
> > serve no purpose, and I find it ironic that these people are generating
> > more "pointless" on-list messages than the newbies who they are correcting.
>
> Myself being just "casual" reader also, from time to time I read this
> NG. Not all the time, most of the time I just skip all messages.
>
> Now if you just think of "quality" of posts where just is said "This has
> been discussed, search archives". Well if bother to reply at all, why
> not bring some content, e.g. title of thread that discussion were. Oh
> wait... but that would take few more words to type, and of course, it
> would be too informative, note that still this is _cygwin_ list, an
> cygwin is not for newbies. (*evil grin*).

Ooh, ooh, have we got ourselves a new catchphrase here?  CGF?  Maybe even
an acronym: "CINFN"? :-)

> > While I do not claim any kind of authority, could I suggest perhaps a)
> > being a little nicer to newbies (it isn't that hard really) and b) if
> > you feel the need for a post without any useful content (perhaps just
> > saying "search the archives") to send it just to the author of the
> > mail in question?
>
> Well, it's not anything about authority, just basic manners when
> dealing... Hmm, you could say "customer support" here...

Yep, customer support is worth every dollar you pay for it.

IOW (to summarize all of the above): Cygwin is a volunteer effort.  If you
want "nice" support by a pretty girl in a headset who doesn't know char*
from std::string, I'm sure you and RedHat can work something out.  The
"core" people mentioned above are too busy fixing Cygwin bugs (or
shielding others from repeated questions so they can fix Cygwin bugs).
Cygwin "core" is a community, and, as any community, it has its own
traditions (<http://cygwin.com/acronyms/>, <http://cygwin.com/goldstars/>,
etc) and its own inside jokes.  Please allow us those. :-)
	Igor
-- 
				http://cs.nyu.edu/~pechtcha/
      |\      _,,,---,,_		pechtcha@cs.nyu.edu
ZZZzz /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_		igor@watson.ibm.com
     |,4-  ) )-,_. ,\ (  `'-'		Igor Pechtchanski, Ph.D.
    '---''(_/--'  `-'\_) fL	a.k.a JaguaR-R-R-r-r-r-.-.-.  Meow!

"I have since come to realize that being between your mentor and his route
to the bathroom is a major career booster."  -- Patrick Naughton

--
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/


Index Nav: [Date Index] [Subject Index] [Author Index] [Thread Index]
Message Nav: [Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next]