12 Jul
2014
12 Jul
'14
2:31 p.m.
I'm not saying the list has to be open for "drive-by requests for help with
free software", I don't think that's appropriate material at all; it's
totally OT... but if the liberal settings permit even one person to, say,
do a "drive-by request for someone to pick up some free old stuff that
needs a good home" personally I think that's worth it. Or a drive-by
request to help with some on-topic question, even. Maybe someone just wants
to get their old Apple II running and play some games and not stick around
and chat... that's fine. I think Mike put it well.
Best,
Sean
On Sat, Jul 12, 2014 at 2:40 PM, MikeS <dm561 at torfree.net> wrote:
----- Original Message -----
Date: Sat, 12 Jul 2014 15:07:47 +0100
From: Peter Corlett <abuse at cabal.org.uk>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
...So what you're saying is that you want to
butt into a busy community
to ask them for help, but aren't prepared to
actually participate or give
back? And you then wonder why they have their mailing lists configured to
discourage this behaviour?
----- Reply -----
Gee, I thought what he was saying is that he thought that at least some
members of this "busy community" would be generous enough with their time
and knowledge to be willing to help a fellow hobbyist without demanding
something in return (as many indeed are!)...
As Fred mentions elsewhere, it works both ways; on several occasions a
Google search has popped up a request on some list looking for a part or
documentation that I happen to have, but when I saw what I'd have to go
through just in order to reply I decided to pass...
Even if there were indeed flamewars 25 years ago, that doesn't mean that
we can't be patient, civil and even friendly today, especially with fellow
members of a rather unique community and list of which the main raison
d'etre is to share and help each other...
m