> 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