Win95 Post and Respect

["Mark A. Zottola" <asnmaz01 asc edu>]

As a more silent member of the list, I use the list to learn. I find it
a very valuable source of information. However, the response by this
list to the original poster on his Win95 question and the response by
Mr. MacCraw are really emblematic of the thing - a lack of respect.

After this poster naively asked a question he had to endure a rude
onslaught that was only topped by Mr. MacCraw's crudeness. It took over
a day before someone posted more appropriate newsgroups for the
individual to post to. 

The tenor of self-righteousness (we do the only OS worth doing) is only
matched in zeal the Crusaders in the Middle Ages. I find this
"bible-thumping" attitude where apparent "non-believers" are derided,
scorned or given truly hurtful advice (reformat your C: drive) is
unworthy of this list.

What are the zealots (those people who find it necessary to deride
someone for making a windows mistake in a linux world) in this list
afraid of, that we will lose our focus as a list? I do not see that
happening. The list grows and while many questions get asked over again
periodically, we remain pretty much on topic. With the number of newbies
who do come for advice, and given the poster was probably a foreign
national with a modest comprehension of the english language - why write
someone off before knowing what they want.

This is really just a level of arrogance/disrespect which doesn't
deserve to be here. Do many people on this list really need to lift
themselves up by putting others down? 

I hate even writing this letter since it further increases the noise to
signal ratio in this list. But the idea of moderator intrusion
(prescreening messages to be sure they are "proper") and other measures
to ensure ideological purity seem hollow. Why require a computer or
human moderator to allow zealots the luxury of their disrespect when it
is more proper to force them to lose their arrogance?

I can now understand better why Ramon is taking a hiatus from this list.
-- 

The opinions expressed above are solely mine and do not necessarily
reflect those of my employer.


Mark A. Zottola			Alabama Research and Education Network
119 Rust Research Center	Nichols Research Corporation
1801 University Boulevard	VOICE: (205) 934 - 3893
Birmingham AL 35294		E-MAIL: asnmaz01 asc edu