irritating questions- any ideas any suggestions? linux newsgroups

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From - Fri Dec 22 15:01:34 2000
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Message-ID: <3A43B136.364BEBA@aplawrence.com> 
From: Tony Lawrence <tony@aplawrence.com>
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Subject: Re: Any suggestions?  Any ideas? (Cranky old farts)
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Bob Willey wrote:

> This newsgroup is one of the most helpful, but also has some of most cranky
> and "word Sensitive" old Curmudgeons.
> (This statement alone will infuriate at least one of you, most assuredly).

I plead guilty to being word sensitive, but am not infuriated at
all.  I think my objection does boil down to the pointlessness-
it would be more than passingly strange to describe a problem and
NOT be looking for ideas or suggestions (there are certain
exceptions, of course, but in general..)

And remember, I said "mildly annoyed".  Inclusion of such
verbiage doesn't cause me to bang my desk, kick the virtual dog,
snarl at the non-existent secretary, or even treat the poster
harshly.  I just think it's strange how certain things annoy some
of us and not others- for example, the cardinal sin of top
posting is a complete non-issue with me- in fact, in some
circumstances I think people SHOULD top post (though, like the
deliberate use of incorrect grammar, the occasion for such is
limited and the practice should not be attempted by the
inexperienced).

Words are important- as any devotee of the Unix command line
certainly understands.  I'd like to direct your attention to
something I wrote some time ago:
http://aplawrence.com/Opinion/control.html and to note that
just as those adept at writing cringe inwardly when presented
with sorrowfully constructed prose, folks adept at the similar
skill of using command lines don't like to see wasted effort-
"unnecessary use of cat" awards and the like.  So, while
certainly not claiming any extreme mastery on either front, I
think that my objection to including the obvious "Any ideas?" 
stems from at least WANTING to write well, to script well, to
generally just communicate efficiently, whether with computers or
humans.

The article noted above also makes mention of the different
writing or communication abilities found in newsgroups.  I made
the claim then that Windows newgroups seemed to me to be
populated by less literate people than those found in groups like
this.  Recently, however, my reading of Linux groups has caused
me to see that bad writing and truly feeble communication skills
are unfortunately highly represented there also- something we
never saw much of here.  Unfortunately, as much as I really need
to immerse myself in the Linux culture for seemingly obvious
financial reasons, it's jaw-clenchingly difficult to filter the
rantings of yahoos that are so common there- making "Any ideas"
welcome and comforting by comparison!  Of course, I'm not
speaking of the folks ANSWERING questions there; just the great
unwashed doing the asking.

Whenever I have feelings like this, I become afraid that I really
am turning into a Cranky Old Fart, so I ask my 20 something year
old son-in-law for his geekish impression (carefully not
revealing my opinions first to avoid any danger of sucking up to
the father-in-law).  His opinions of the general stupidity of the
Linux newsgroups are even less friendly than mine, so I must
still have some of my marbles.

So, while Linux may be the salvation (hoped for just as dearly as
any other salvation, I think) for we Unixoids, I'm afraid that it
may only fill our bellies and ignore our  need for clarity,
precision, and general goodness. 

Any suggestions ?  :-)


-- 
Tony Lawrence (tony@aplawrence.com)
SCO/Linux articles, help, book reviews, tests, 
job listings and more : 

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