[mrtg] Re: List abuse

[SHOLAAS Margaret G]

Justin Shore wrote:

> Dave Wolfe (the LinuxPPC* list mom) use to make users to read 
> and accept (simple form) that outlined list usage, rules, and general 
> list etiquette.
> <snip>
> http://lists.linuxppc.org/rules.html
>
I like this idea. As well as having behavior enforcers, desired behavior
should be publicized in such a way that it is difficult to be ignorant of
what is expected. I especially like the last rule in the list:

"Be nice. I get very upset when someone assumes my authority to be rude and
annoying, so just ignore miscreants or kindly direct them to the appropriate
resource and leave it at that."

Long time subscribers to this list find it aggravating to read the same
questions over and over again, especially when the answers are easily
available in the FAQ or elsewhere on the site, and *very* especially when
the message seems to carry an attitude of entitlement, as if the writer were
paying for a service not being rendered.

It is tempting to flame the writer, even more so to return flame for flame.
But while I understand the impulse, I think flaming is ultimately
counterproductive. Have you noticed how many people post to the list very
tentatively? They say, "I apologize if I've missed this on the site" and
then spend 1000 bytes explaining how they searched for the answer and didn't
find it. You can just feel them flinching. They are afraid of having their
skin ripped off, having observed it being done to someone else, by a list
member who thinks they're stupid or lazy. How many people resist asking what
would be perfectly good questions, helpful for the rest of us to hear,
because they're afraid of the response they're going to get?

Do we really want to be having this effect on each other? 

Also, flaming seems to be inconsistent with the spirit of what this list is
about. One of the things that has totally impressed me about MRTG as a
product and this list as a resource is how, unlike in most areas of our
mercenary world, people are so willing to help each other without monetary
consideration. I have no idea how Tobi manages to provide such an awesomely
useful and elegant and easy-to-use product without compensation [apart from
the occasional CD ;-) ] from us who are the beneficiaries of his labor. Man
does not live by CDs alone! It amazes me: he's always working on improving
it, and I've seen evidence that many of you out there spend significant time
helping each other, for no other reward, it seems, than the delight of
helping.

But then someone asks a "dumb" question or appears to want to be spoon-fed,
and someone has had enough of this kind of thing and lets him have it with
both barrels. In most cases, most of the energy behind such an explosion
doesn't even belong to the poor target, having been stored up in the shooter
by many other previous contacts with the "dumb" and "lazy." This means that
the response is excessive and therefore unjust, because it's wrong to punish
one person for another's behavior. It's like when you were a kid, and after
your younger brother had been obnoxious all day and your dad is really
steaming, you come along with some little infraction and he roars at you and
grounds you for a week.

But flaming can be unjust for another reason: we may be mistaken about
what's going on in the post. Recently Gabrielle Roth (who I don't know,
except from this list) rightly cautioned me about assuming I see a
particular attitude behind someone's post, when it could be a language or
cultural thing.

I'm not saying we shouldn't be straight with each other. Gabrielle was
straight with me, and I appreciated it. As someone else has pointed out, it
is a disservice to someone not to tell him the information he needs is
easily available on the site. But we can do that without the "You jerk, get
a clue!" subtext, respectfully and kindly, as Gabrielle did with me. Perhaps
the questioner really is lazy, but perhaps he's just naive and needs a
gentle nudge. It's hard to know for sure; it's best to give someone the
value of the doubt, even if there's not such doubt. Anyone can flame, but
restraint shows a lot of class.

We were all newbies at some point with MRTG, and we're all newbies in
*something* right now. Thank God for people with patience!

Margaret

Margaret Sholaas, System Programmer
Regional Information System (a department of Lane County)
125 E. 8th Ave.
Eugene, OR  97401

VOICE (541) 682-4565
FAX (541) 682-2345
EMAIL Margaret.G.SHOLAAS at RIS.Lane.OR.US




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