On Fri, 15 Jan 1993 12:12:56 EST Wes Morgan said:
>
>[ I promised myself I wouldn't get into this, but....... ]
I know exactly how you feel Wes. I generally do not like to get involved
in this type of discussion either, but ... my nerves were touched a bit
today as well.
First of all, I want to support Eric and the fine work he has done for me
and for all of us. He has created an extraordinarily good product; he
provides it to us all without charge; he continues to add extremely
useful features and he provides very quick response to those logic errors
that are an inevitable part of all software.
Sometimes, he is a little sharp with his words, but he puts up with an
awful lot of crap from the people he tries to help. Eric gives us a
better product for free than many vendors do for a high price. If I were
in his shoes and created something as valuable as LISTSERV and then found
that every time I added something new, a lot of people complained because
I hadn't done more, I would certainly not continue to add features. I'd
probably be pretty unpleasant about it too.
Eric, I very much appreciate what you have done for me and for everybody
on the network. There are always things that can be improved upon and you
do that consistently. Thank-you.
To anybody who feels shortchanged because they have to use LISTSERV and
deal with Eric: I know where you can find some books and learn how to do
what Eric has done. Of course, it may take you many years to get to be as
good at it as he is, but then you can write your own list server and
you'll have earned the right to make it do what you want. I think we need
to understand a little better that Eric does not have to do these things
for us. He doesn't owe us the time of day, but he gives us a lot more and
we often don't even appreciate it.
>>I think his rudeness is inexcusable, as common as
>>it is to see it in the technical world where people assume personal
>>superiority out of possessing particular skills.
>
>Did you ever consider how those skills were gained?
Exactly. People are not "blessed" with technical skills. They are not
community property that someone like Eric just gets to use for the
benefit of others. Acquiring such skills takes many long years of hard
work. They are totally and completely the property of the person in whose
mind they exist except to the extent that he/she chooses to make them
available to others. And after putting forth the kind of effort that is
necessary and accomplishing the goal, I think such a person IS SUPERIOR
and has a right to be proud of his/her accomplishments. If fact, I would
be concerned that someone who did not feel this way did not have a full
understanding of what he/she had done.
I will, however, agree that acting superior generally implies the lack of
an important social skill. That's a separate issue entirely and does not
necessarily relate to a person's actual technical skills.
> .
> .
> .
> I can't even get my users to read the online
>help files! Many, if not most, users, expect to be spoonfed; that's
>ridiculous.
I have exactly the same problem. Many people expect support people to do
their work for them! And if they have the same problem next week, they
come right back and ask the same question again.
> If some user came to me and said, "I've read the manual,
>but I don't understand this part", I'd spend *hours* helping that
>person simply because they made the effort. The people who say "I
>don't want to read the manual; just tell me what to type" tend to get
>on one's nerves after a while.
I wanted to learn when I was just starting, but in my 15 years of
providing technical support, I have found only a few people who wouldn't
really prefer for me to just do it for them. It really disgusts me!
>
>>Ms. Tillyer's comments about the purpose of what we do being service to the
>>using community remains relevant.
>
>Agreed; however, lumping us into categories such as "you wizards" and
>"all the 'computer professionals'" remains both irrelevant and, frankly,
>a bit insulting.
Absolutely! But remember, it's a two way street. I'm here because people
who use computer systems need people to help them solve technical
problems. But I am not here to do their jobs for them and I'm not here to
read to them. Let's face it; If someone isn't willing to spend some time
reading documentation, they really haven't taken responsibility for
getting the job done.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:: Bert Bruner BITNET: OSAKB@EMUVM1 ::
:: VM Specialist/Postmaster Internet: [log in to unmask] ::
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
|