Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!ccwf.cc.utexas.edu From: clouds@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Kathy Strong) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.apps Subject: Re: BLATANT ADVERTISING!! Try Nisus ;-) Message-ID: <40570@ut-emx.uucp> Date: 3 Dec 90 04:15:39 GMT References: <4088@network.ucsd.edu> <1990Nov28.145957.10136@rodan.acs.syr.edu> <4098@network.ucsd.edu> <1990Nov28.213026.12340@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> <40336@ut-emx.uucp> <1990Dec1.090922.29061@world.std.com> Sender: news@ut-emx.uucp Reply-To: clouds@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Kathy Strong) Lines: 64 In article <1990Dec1.090922.29061@world.std.com> boris@world.std.com (Boris Levitin) writes: >clouds@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Kathy Strong [that's me!]) writes: >>If Joe User says "I need to do X in Word," then >> If you know how to do it in Word, post >> Else, email ^^^^^^^ ^^^^ >> ^^^^^ >>Else if Joe User says "Is there any way at all to do X?" then >> If you know how to do X, post >> Else, shut up. :-) >> ^^^^^^^ > >The effect of this would be serious restraint of progress. There are too >many features out there chasing too few packages, and the one or two that >can do X are often at risk of being killed off by the status quo that >we'd only be encouraging if we did not discuss alternatives here to products >that people already own. I, for one, do not intend to comply. Constantly >seeking better ways to do things is what made this country great. > >Remember, at first no-one wanted to hear about the Mac either. Hmm, Boris... you make me sound like some sort of net.authoritarian.nazi or something. ("Ve haf VAYS of makink you comply!") My message WAS labeled "a suggestion" or "a compromise" or somesuch, and that smiley isn't there just for decoration. :-) Your point about the Mac is well taken; however, I think you missed the idea behind what I was saying, which is that, as many have pointed out, USUALLY when someone says "how can I do mumble in Product X?" it's because Product X is what he/she has to work with. I know that when I've asked how to do something, say, in Windows, I'm not exactly thrilled to hear that Desqview will solve all my problems. (I'm trying to be diplomatic by using DOS products as examples--no flames, please!) If you read the "else" to mean that everyone not strictly on-topic should shut up, you could certainly infer that I'm trying to impede discussion--but that definitely ISN'T what I wanted to say. Rather, that bit was thrown in as a reminder to folks who post things like "I heard that there was a way you could do something like that with Sidekick, or was it QEMM? Anyway, it was in a computer magazine about a year ago--hope this helps!" :-) I exaggerate, but you get the idea... Such postings generate, at best, sarcastic responses, and at worst, long threads of misinformation, attempts to correct the misinformation, flames on mis- information in general, flames on people who followup to a question that's been answered a dozen times already, and so on. As a relative newcomer to the net myself (though an old hand at BBSing), I try to err on the side of tolerance--see the thread on "dumb questions by newcomers," for example, in which I said that the only "dumb" question is the one that isn't asked. (Inappropriate is another matter entirely...) All I was trying to say is that, in cases where a SPECIFIC restriction to the question is given, it's courteous to observe that restriction in replying. Yours for free speech, even in the Amiga groups, ;-) --Kathy -- ........................................................................... : Kathy Strong : "Try our Hubble-Rita: just one shot, : : (Clouds moving slowly) : and everything's blurry" : : clouds@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu : --El Arroyo : :..........................................................................: