[thelist] Is this a list?

[Luther, Ron]

Shawn K. Quinn wrote:


Hi Shawn,

How's it going?  Just chiming in here to note that I think you owe a
WHOLE bunch of tips for hosing the signal to noise ratio here, but I'll
explain that more later.

>>Do you call your car a Champion car because that's who 
>>makes the spark plugs?

Actually, I call mine "Betty" cuz she's black and she goes, like,
'Bam-a-Lam'! ... and you'll never proselytize enough to make me change
that.  ;-)

You're "It's GNU/LINUX, dammit!" rant reminds me that a number of years
ago Acura produced a very successful model known as the 'Legend'.  They
don't make that model anymore.  Know why?  Cuz the execs were annoyed
that everyone called it the 'Legend' and not the 'ACURA Legend' and,
although it was successful, it didn't promote brand recognition. So they
stopped making it. I'll say that again: the car was a success, it sold
very well. The company stopped making it because they didn't like what
people were calling it.  I thought that was stupid then and this portion
of the thread reminds me a lot of that.

Personally, I don't give a crap if you call it "Lih-nux", "Line-ux", or
"Lean-'ooks".  However, you're constant carping about it, IMO, lowers
the signal to noise ratio here and adds no value for me whatsoever. 


I feel you are missing the main point of a discussion list.  Discussion
lists exist so folks can ***LISTEN*** to other viewpoints and
suggestions.  Hey, if you want a pulpit - build a blog.  Don't fill up
my in-bin.

I learn more in 3 emails where Aardie and .jeff pull off the gloves to
spar on a technical issue, (I really really enjoy it when they decide to
share those with the list - that's very nice of them), than I have in 30
of your emails.  That's one of the reasons I think you owe a bunch of
tips.

You've also taken swipes at some very good people who have provided a
lot of help and shared a wealth of information to others on this list
over a number of years.  Joel, Joshua, .jeff ... [Hmmm ... you've
obviously got some 'issue' with the letter "J".] 

They've got enough positive karma here not to care, but that still
doesn't make it right.

If you've provided the same amount of help here then I'm afraid I've
missed it ... for me at any rate, it's been drowned out by your preachy
monologs.


I've never plonked or bozo-filtered anyone on this list before ... but
dang, dude ... this ain't your IM buddies list ... this is a world-wide
group of some of the top practitioners in the world.  We've had at least
eight different authors of popular web-tech books on this list.  Some
very prominent people.  Let's keep that in mind.  It's okay if you step
up to the plate - but don't forget who's out here listening.  You wanna
build a reputation here?  Fine. Help others.  "My way or the highway"
doesn't play in this league.  Present more fact-based and less
faith-based arguments and you'll build a positive rep.

Okay?


Sincerely,

RonL.