Re: [cobalt-users] Majordomo

[Jeff Lasman <jblists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sir (okay, let's see you find fault with me for that salutation
<smile>):

I'm taking the liberty of responding, even though I don't usually get
involved with flame-wars because many people on this list respect me, my
contributions to the list, and the signal-to-noise ratio in my posts.

So perhaps I can head off a flame war...

Dom expressed a point that's valid.  You made a mistake.  In fact, you
made several.

Before I make my suggestion, I'll point them out to you if you don't
mind.  If you do mind, you can just delete this post.  Later on in this
post, I point out why Dom's "flame" is easier to accept than yours, so
you might want to read further, just to know how I feel, since I'm as
much likely to help you with your questions as anyone.

andy may wrote:

> Ok, DOM, you are having a bad day are you?  Well, I am having a bad day so I
> guess that gives me the right to bitch to you (yes, DOM, you may take this
> personally because this is directed to you).

The mistake you made in THIS post was to let us all now you're having a
bad day.  Whether or not Dom made the same mistake is totally
immaterial.  The fact is that we're not interested in the kind of day
you're having, except as how it affects us.  And none of us have said it
affects us, so we're probably fairly disinterested.  A reply to Dom
would have been more reasonable.

You're probably asking, then, why Dom wrote to you publicly on the list,
rather than privately.

Well, I can't speak for Dom, but I know why I occasionally send messages
to a list that might be said privately, and I'll tell you: it's so
others may learn as well.

> When I made that posting, I
> hit reply and forgot to erase the pre-existing text (as you call it an
> unrelated question).  BIG FRIGGIN DEAL.

Another mistake is to presume that it's okay to use any kind of
profanity, even disguised profanity on a professional list.  In fact
it's not.  In fact, I usually ignore it, but since I'm pointing out
mistakes (yes, I know, I'm setting myself up; oh well), I decided to
point out this one at well.  Using profanity is akin to shouting, and
precious few of us have time to deal with shouters on a mailing list. 
My nine-year-old godson has recently started to use profanity when he
wants attention.  He usually gets bad attention for it, if any.

I deal with over 400 email messages a day, and I have to carefully pick
and choose who, and whose messages, I answer.  I do choose, and I choose
carefully.  I leave it an exercise to the reader to figure out how I
choose.

> I changed the subject to
> 'Majordomo', thus making my question realted to the subject.

You asked a new question without creating a new thread.  Since you use
hotmail to read the list, and since hotmail doesn't thread, you may not
be aware of what topic threads are.  But you still need to honor them;
it's how busy people, helpful people, decide which emails to read and
which not to read.  When you've got a new question you need to start a
new thread, and NOT just post a new subject matter.  We (many
professionals) don't sort by subject, we sort by thread.

The way to start a new thread is to write a new post, rather than reply
to one.  I know that requires either knowing an address, having it in
your hotmail address book, or doing a bit of a cut-and-paste.  Yes, it's
easier to hit reply.  It's also less effective, and more likely to
negatively impact the very people from whom you're requesting help.

> YOU ARE THE
> ONE who made a FLAME posting to the list, about 'clueless' people with this
> subject : Re: [cobalt-users] Majordomo. So everyone on the list that expects
> to read about majordomo has to read your BS.  who need a lesson in
> nettiquette here?  You need to get a grip if something as little as a little
> extra text at the bottom of a posting is gonna piss you off that much.  And
> btw, I will use as many DAMN SMILEY FACES as I damn well please, and if you
> don't like it you can complain to someone else.   You should take a lesson
> from one of them, and stop wasting everyone's time.

Looking only at my own archives, which don't go back that far, I find
well over a hundred posts from Dom, many of them quite helpful.  From
you I find three.  All of them requesting help, and none offering any.

While I understand you're in a different place on the learning curve
than is Dom, or even me, for that matter, I still ask myself, who would
I be more likely to excuse for an occasional flame?

> With the kindest of regards,
> Andy May
> ;o) ;o) ;o) ;o) ;o) ;o) ;o) ;o) ;o) ;o) ;o) ;o) ;o) ;o)

With all due respect Andy, you're being a bit childish.  I expect this
from my godson (although he doesn't do it too often).  I don't expect it
from a professional adult.

Jeff
-- 
Jeff Lasman <jblists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
nobaloney.net
P. O. Box 52672
Riverside, CA  92517
voice: (909) 787-8589  *  fax: (909) 782-0205