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.
 
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:: Bert Bruner                     BITNET: OSAKB@EMUVM1                ::
:: VM Specialist/Postmaster        Internet: [log in to unmask] ::
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