<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Members of GRLUG...</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">I was out of the office yesterday afternoon,
so when I arrived this morning, I had 98 emails to catch up on. 92
were from GRLUG.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Some were about cat5 cables & a
few were about spam, but the vast majority were concerning a dialog about
a hostile attitude.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">While I'm neither qualified to address
the Vista issue NOR the purpose of this Linux Users Group, I do have a
few thoughts I'd like to offer.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Please be advised...these observations
are in not in support of either camp, but rather intended to offer some
helpful insight that may have been missed in the conversation. After having
read the entire thread in sequence, I've come to a few conclusions regarding
GRLUG & Linux.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">A little background.... I am extremely
new to linux. I've managed to install a version from a LiveCD and
then promptly render it unusable. I'm about 2 weeks into the entire process.
I use WindowsXP for nearly all my computing & am by no means,
a guru in THAT either. I am currently "registered" at about
5-6 forums/user groups/support sites/ etc. and this is only within the
last year or so, so this on-line collaboration is also quite new to me.
</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Now...</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">I posted a question on a linux forum
& after a week of not even a response, I "asked if I could ask"
the question on another (language) forum.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">This showed both the courtesy the site
deserved, and the preparedness on my part to abide by the forums reply.
This was not done here on the GRLUG site. </font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">I was "politely" told that
I should go ahead & ask in the chat room, but not make it a formal
post because while this was not a Linux forum, there was a lot of linux
knowledge here & they'd be happy to offer what they could. They
too, pointed me to several sites that could offer additional help. They
also warned me to "be prepared for some good natured tongue lashings".
This set the stage completely. All expectations were up front &
on the table. </font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">What this illustrated to me was a community
that is willing to go the extra steps to help a (by this time) very distressed
fellow student of the *nix world. Based on the dialog, I feel I'm
the very person the GRLUG is trying to attract. I'm attempting to
move to the Linux world, and require some "mentoring in the process".
However, I'm now left wondering if this group can... 1)really offer
the help I'm going to need, and 2) if it will be worth the price
in having to deal with the personality issues. </font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">I think the professor made some profound
misjudgements, but the groups "collective" image is at stake
with EVERY reply, & I didn't see anywhere, where that was even taken
into consideration. Sure, you think Linux is better than Windows,
and even saying so is not harmful in itself, but if the humor is not explicitly
stated, then you run the risk of offending folks. The fallout is
just not worth the risk, in my opinion.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">In the question I referenced earlier,
I was "chastised severely" for running Linux on an "such
antique box". The idea that it was all in fun, was never a
question....maybe that's just me, but maybe it's also that the folks there
understand that the written word holds no tone of voice, hence the proliferation
of emoticons. The are always 2,3,4 ways to say the same thing, and
even if someone like the professor fires the first flamethrower, we owe
it to the rest of the community to give him/her the benefit of the doubt.
When we don't "turn the other cheek" we start the downward
spiral that only can end in hurt feelings. The "Where's the
payback in it" reply was way off base. THAT is not why
we help each other.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Most people would never knowingly adopt
a belligerent attitude towards the very people they're asking for help.
We must consider this persons frustration level, before adding to
it by sending a retaliatory response. A simple "We're sorry,
but that doesn't belong in this forum" even if it has to be repeated
by 2-3 folks, is a better, more professional way of handling this type
of issue. To he "outside world" (ie. me) this dialog appeared
to be a bunch of gamers bullying the kid in the horned rimmed glasses.
</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">...& professor, you blew it. These
folks here WANT to help you, & they offered you what they could, so....
</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">if you ever do this again, "I breaka
you face". ;-)</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Just my thoughts... thanks for listening.
I hope this "opinion" neither offends nor empowers one
side or the other, but rather offers that all important "disinterested
3rd party observation". </font>
<br>
<br>
<br>