RE: Authorizing program access -- MIDRANGE-L

On Thu, 2008-09-18 at 08:46 +0200, David FOXWELL wrote:

I feel that we all need to make allowances for the fact that although we are all using the same language (roughly), we may not all understand messages in the same way, because we don't all live in the same country.

Moreover, we may not think of the same words for a google query. I once
was googling for "remote command" or "remote execution", I forget which,
but I was wrong. A short response on a mailing list set me right, and I
am grateful for the help.

Was my question stupid? Well, at least the answer was abundantly
obvious once I saw it. Still, an explanation of the difficulty should
earn some psychologist his PhD, and a remedy merits the Nobel prize, I
think.

Cheers,
Terry.

I have seen a poster be accused of being impolite when it was obvious he didn't speak English very well. I myself once made a comment that seemed to offend although I had no intention to do so. I have also been at the receiving end of Simon's sarcasme. Now, without meaning to offend you who live west of the Atlantic, you do seem to be a bit touchy sometimes. An Australian, however, ( I have met a lot and have family there ) is famed for calling a spade a spade. And also for being rather vulgar and drinking lots of lager and liking cricket. Australians are basically descendants of those who were banished from England during the 18th century, maybe that has something to do with it.

Back to my first point : read Simon's post again and you will see that he was not implying that another poster was stupid. He thought the question was stupid so he said it. How many of us think a question is stupid but DON'T say it?

I would say to Simon "Good on yer mate" for spicing up the list as well as sharing his valuable knowledge with us all.

-----Message d'origine-----
De : midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] De la part de Joe Pluta
Envoyé : mercredi 17 septembre 2008 15:02
À : Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Objet : Re: Authorizing program access

Simon Coulter wrote:

I didn't know you could disable *STATUS messages in the profile.
What would the parameter be to do that?

Now that's another example of what I consider a stupid question (and
NO, it's not unprofessional to say so).

If you've only been wrong twice on the lists in your entire life, Simon, then consider this the third, because it is indeed unprofessional -- hugely so -- to call a question "stupid". The question itself obviously cannot be stupid, so you are instead saying the questioner is stupid, and that's about as unprofessional as you can get.

The question might be unnecessary and the answer might be available; at that point you can simply answer RTFM or some other equally flip anti-social catch phrase; that's at least on the very fringes of acceptable behavior. But to say a question is stupid is beyond even the most basic tenets of professionalism.

Although your knowledge of the system is obvious, your condescension is unparalleled in the list and I consider it to outweigh the value of your posts. Here's why: If your attitude causes even one newbie to not ask a question because they don't want to be the brunt of your verbal tantrums, that negates all the positive your answers bring to the list.

But that's my opinion. And as I am loathe to get involved with opinion threads, I'll drop it here. Take it or leave it.

Joe