Re: smartlist questions (long, opinionated)
At 7:45 PM -0400 8/29/00, Ron Miller is rumored to have typed:
And don't let everyone get to you too much, I just figured it out for myself not too long ago after asking the same question for another reason and getting no help either.
Now that's interesting; I found a question from you on 21 August (subjected "Assistance" - real descriptive, that), and _answers_ to you, on a completely different issue - had to do with changing the subscribe message. Both Rich and Francois answered you giving you good and valid information...I would count this as "help," although apparently you wouldn't. Perhaps you just didn't get the answer you _wanted._
We don't all have the superior knowledge some seem to.
If you're willing to learn, I'm willing to teach you for nothing. If you want me to do your work _for_ you because you don't have time to learn, you will pay me. It's as simple as that. Ask around...I have had long off-list teaching sessions with a bunch of people on here. I have also completely ignored questions where it's obvious the person asking never bothered to even read the installation files; perhaps that's why I didn't answer you when Rich and Francois did.
They seem to forget they had to learn somehow as well and asking a question is not necessarily being lazy some are just trying to learn.
I learned most of what I know about SmartList by 1) reading the postings in this list, 2) reading the code in the package, and 3) experimentation...not necessarily in that order of inportance, since experimentation is the most important of all, but should almost always come chronologically _after_ the other two. If you check the archives, you'll find I've asked few questions over the years, and when I did only _after_ I attempted to deal with the problem on my own through experimentation. I ain't perfect, but I expect as much (more) from myself as I expect from everyone else. So like the old saying goes, "don't teach your grandmother how to suck eggs." And on a personal note, PLEASE learn how to use your email client software to edit your quotations when you post to a mailing list; just because this list doesn't reject on over-quoting, that doesn't mean it's a good idea to simply include my entire letter for no good reason in your reply. (Especially when you send me personally two seperate copies, as well as including one copy to the list.) Charlie
At 7:45 PM -0400 8/29/00, Ron Miller is rumored to have typed:
And don't let everyone get to you too much, I just figured it out for myself not too long ago after asking the same question for another reason and getting no help either.
Now that's interesting; I found a question from you on 21 August (subjected "Assistance" - real descriptive, that), and _answers_ to you, on a completely different issue - had to do with changing the subscribe message. Both Rich and Francois answered you giving you good and valid information...I would count this as "help," although apparently you wouldn't. Perhaps you just didn't get the answer you _wanted._
Charlie, I am often stunned by the attitudes of some of these people. I saw a post earlier about how they thought of changing web hosting companies because his host did not offer support for SmartList. I have news for this gent, I have had access to dozens of web hosting providers, and not a single one of them offered support for Smart List. People seem to think that if they pay $20 for their service, they should have access to hundreds of dollars of support for their systems. In the real world of computing, this does not work. If we were to force these people to always give us free support, we would have to pay hundreds of dollars a month just to get the services we want! I have built my website around free support for users everywhere on a multitude of subjects. But, I will be honest, the people who irritate me the most are the ones that think I should stop making money to support my family to run to their aid to give them free support! I nearly cost my fiancee her best friend because her friend thought I should put away my work at 2am and run to her house to fix her computer for free. Now if she had offered me some cash to come over, I would have been more inclined to have come to her assistance. But, instead she stirred up a hornet's nest telling my fiancee that my fiancee did not have the right kind of attitude because I would not put away my work to come to her aid. People have this strange facination with the idea that if I work online, then I can just drop whatever it is I am doing to run to their assistance without any reprecussions. Then people come running to this list looking desparately for help, and they think you fine people who also are offering free support from the kindness of your hearts, they think that you should simply bend over and kiss their a***s. Sure I am venting, but I will tell you that I came to this list for assistance three times so far, and each time a solution was offered quickly and easily by those more experienced than I. But, you know why I think that is so? I think it has something to do with the fact that I gave people the kind of information they needed in order to properly handle my support request! You whiners out there, we can't help you if you are unwilling to help yourselves! I am sure we could, but we won't. I am not looking to start a flame war here, but the fact remains, if you come here looking for help... free help to be precise... then don't b***h about or whine about your lack of solutions from these kind people. It boils down to this, if you are asking for free help, then you should at least simplify the task for the person trying to help. We folks who help people like you don't always know the answers, but more importantly, we cannot read your minds! If you are not giving us enough information to work with, then we simply cannot help you at all. Charlie has done right by me, as have many of the other fine folks who monitor this list. If you want free help, then show your appreciation or buzz off. Bill Platt --- Owner of http://WindstormComputing.com , and Editor of several ezines. <bplatt@poncacity.net> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
participants (2)
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Bill Platt -
Charlie Summers