List etiquette (was: Re: [tlug] characterset in gnus)

[Josh Glover <jmglov@example.com>]

Legend wrote:
> 
 > Shaw> does it blow anybody else's mind that there are people out
 > Shaw> there using linux who don't know what the command line is?
 >
> Since it's just a text-based conversation, I think ppl should be
> more careful with the tone of language they use. Mr. Shaw's
> comment does seem to be offensive.

[I have taken the liberty of putting Ryan's quoted message *above* your 
response.]

I do not find Ryan's comment in the least offencive. When I started 
using Linux (about five years ago, tashika ni), I certainly was 
confronted with the command line straight away. Ryan's remark is mainly 
directed toward those of us who have been using *nix for a few years, 
and it certainly boggles my mind, as he says, that anyone with a Linux 
system would not have at least heard of the command line. I certainly 
understand (as Scott Robbins pointed out, earlier in this thread) that 
some people use the KDE/GNOME interface primarily, and may not know 
where to find the CLI. However, this usually changes *very* quickly. 
Most people with Linux systems learn to at least cd and ls pretty quickly.

As for your comment, I think that the main problem here is that some 
people come from the "old school" of usenet, where flame wars were 
common and skins were thick. I try to be polite and not flame, but at 
the same time, I am astounded by some of the things people seem to take 
offence to on this list and others.

I take the following steps in my own mailing list reading to avoid 
unecessary conflict:

1) Be polite in my own postings
2) Avoid personal attacks--stick to technical issues
3) If offended by something in a posting, leave it for a few minutes, 
then come back and re-read. If I am still angry, I will not write a 
response until I have calmed down a bit. If there was no valid point of 
contention (i.e. the offencive posting was a flame, not a disagreement 
on technical points), I simply do not respond.
4) Try to consider flammable posts from the poster's point-of-view

The basic mantra is this: "strive to neither offend nor be offended."


--Josh



-- 
Josh Glover <jmglov@example.com>

Associate Systems Administrator
INCOGEN, Inc.