Mentors? Did someone say a magic word?  Yes, sir, me, too, sir, please,
sir.  One does ask around, and one gets told "oh, running a list isn't a
lot of work, not very time-consuming" and then POW! Right in the kisser.
 
I got on the Net after five or six years of working with my own pc (as a
"user" not a "programmer"); I ventured into listownership after almost
twoyears finding my way around the net.  In each case, I entered a whole
new world, and am completely dependent on the kindness of strangers.
You'll all laugh yourselves silly when you hear that -I'm- called on as a
"network expert" by some of my still-more-naive colleagues!
 
One thing that takes a long time to really internalize is the true
fragmentation and divisions behind the nicely transparent- and
seamless-looking Net.  Eric uses the analogy of asking the Volvo folks for
help on an unrelated problem -- the very nature of the Net hides from the
uninitiated the fact that they're barking at the wrong tree.  All of
December I had a line noise problem, and the most frustrating thing about
it was that it could have been (a) my local line to PCPursuit, (b) PC
Pursuit's line from florida to Philly, (c) the local line from PCP's modem
to the host in Philly, (d) within the Philadelphia host.  I squeaked to
each of the above, each told me they couldn't reproduce my problem and it
must be on some other portion of the connection.  I continued squeaking to
all parties: the problem finally got resolved, and I *still* don't know
who/what did it.  And the awful part is, it could have indeed been none of
the above, or some combo of small glitches in all.
 
I accept the fact that there are some demanding dudes who have gotten
soured by what -they- perceive as a runaround and so approach the truly
helpful people with chips (excuse me) already on their shoulders: and
those who have been on the receiving end of such folks also acquire chips
in response.  This only makes the situation of us honest
seekers-after-truth a lot worse.
 
'Nuff said -- sorry for rambling on so long, but I thought it was important.
 
--bayla