[CentOS] OT: Top Posting

[jleaver+centos at reachone.com]

> And, yes, I know there's an archive of posts to this forum, but the question
> is one of focus:  Do you  hold more value for a lively (virtual) meeting
> with lots of participants, or a quiet library where information is archived?
> This medium feels to me more like the latter.
>
> --Carol Anne
>   
It's a pretty rowdy library, as the archives might indicate.  If I might 
engage in generalism, it gets much more lively when we're not really 
talking about CentOS. 

I'd guess that a large set of the folks subscribed to this list aren't 
here to be social, and aren't really interested in being excruciatingly 
social in a, "Hi, I just dropped by the list to say 'Hi!'" sort of 
way.   I don't see this as a meeting with many virtual participants.  I 
don't really think many here do, nor would I expect that the majority 
would even see meetings as anything more than time wasting when they 
could be getting something technical done.

I'm not sure what the CentOS Leadership envision, but I'm pretty sure 
that the uber-for-the-users-ubuntu-facade isn't really what they're 
aiming for.  The general tone as I perceive it is more of a "If you're 
here, you should already mostly know what you're doing.  We were all 
newbs once, and we'll answer beginner questions grudgingly, but if you 
didn't bother to do your homework, we don't have much use for you."  And 
that might not be such a bad place to be.

If you haven't used Google before you ask on the list, you're missing a 
good bet.  Since the mailing list archives and forums are both 
searchable via Google, and probably permanent fixtures on the internet 
(as permanent as anything is on the internet), Google to me acts as the 
central repository of all the accumulated knowledge on this particular 
topic.  My guess is that most folks do something similar.  I recommend 
it as a course of action. 

Emailing the list with the expectation that someone else is going to do 
your thinking for you will likely be met with an extra dose of caustic 
and grump, for that is, at best, begging, and, at worst, outright theft.

Sincerely,

Jacob Leaver
Sr. System Administrator
ReachONE Internet