Paul Johnson wrote:
On Sunday 27 April 2008 12:31:51 pm vitamin wrote:
David Shaw wrote:
Please do not assume that everyone knows and understands what you do and
that those who don't are dumb, Vitamin. *I* don't understand why trying
to install DirectX under Wine is a bad idea (not that I've ever wanted
to do so) and, with an IQ of 148, I can hardly be accused of being
dumb. Thank you.
David Shaw
With such a high IQ you sure should know how to use google.
Why is it if other people cop that attitude, they're threatened with being
thrown off the list, yet when Vitamin does it, he gets mod status on the
forum? Seems like there's a double-standard at play here.
First, I have been in the moderators seat and was for over ten years.
It is not an easy job, but is necessary. I've seen every thing from
whatever moderators who might as well not be there to overboard
moderators who act as complete censors. Some folks are gentle in their
moderation and some need to go to school to learn to have a sense of
humor when they try to correct others. The thing is that we have our
opinions and others theirs. What we may see has heavy handedness is in
their view 'just right'. The addition of the forums also has placed a
strain on the mailing list as this caused a change in the way we conduct
our business. Change will happen, no matter what we do. We have to
adjust to the change, even if it means leaving the mailing list, which
should be the last thing considered.
As to change, we will gain new users who only heard or seen Wine
working. These users will have many questions and we have to answer
them in a civilized fashion. To the user this is a new question, even
if we have read it fifteen times in one day. Most are going to come
from the forum, but a few will come from the mailing list as well. To
keep focus, we have to remember that we were all new once. There is the
time we first turned on a computer to the first time we ran a program to
the first time a computer crashed on us. If we were lucky, we had a guru
to go to and this person or group helped us out of the situation or
showed us how to use the program including a few 'tricks' that were not
in the manual. We also have to remember that there are many methods of
passing information along to the new person. One method is to state the
correct answer and then add "This is item #5 of our FAQ, please take
time to read through the other answers, It is located at .....".
Another is to tell the new person to 'Read the Fine Manual (RFTM).'
Which do you think is going to get users to stay and work with our
'free' product? I suspect the first will and the second will not (and
I've been there done that and abandoned several products solely on the
responses I got to my questions. This gets more attention than a simple
"This is in our FAQ, read it".
We must not loose sight of the objective of this project: Create the
best Linux/UNIX Windows API. The way we will get there is to get and
retain users who want to run Windows programs on Linux/UNIX and for them
to provide feedback on what does and does not work. Development does
not occur in a vacuum. We need to gently help the nOObs so that they can
assist in making Wine what we want it to be. Without them, there is no
growth once the existing users can use the programs they want to use on
Wine.
We have lost a few good, very knowledgeable, people because of the
complaints and complaining over assisting nOObs. This is not necessary
and harms the project as well. We have to remember that nOObs are where
we will grow as a project. We have to remember that the first answer
may result in the deletion of Linux from a hard drive and the
installation of competing software. Our attitude has to be: Help this
user and maybe we will get more users of Linux and Wine. One of the
things I learned in a Marketing class is that only four people will be
told of your product through a satisfied customer. 100 will hear about
your faulty product, even if this is not so. We need to keep this
last fact in mind as we assist others with problems. If a user states
"I don't know how to use the Bugzilla", our reply should be look at this
web page and if you still have questions, ask; not "You must be
enormously stupid to not be able to figure this simple process out".
Remember, Einenstein could not tie his own shoes, and we should not
expect the average user to pick up our product and immediately use it.
Respectfully submitted,
James McKenzie
