[aclug-L] Re: I am a smeghead (Letter of apology)

[John Alexander <john.alexander@xxxxxxxx>]

Who needs to be humble when you have all of the power of the universe at
your fingerti.......oh, wait, wrong list.

ja

> -----Original Message-----
> From: discussion-bounce@xxxxxxxxx [mailto:discussion-bounce@xxxxxxxxx]On
> Behalf Of Jonathan Hall
> Sent: Monday, April 24, 2000 12:13 PM
> To: discussion@xxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [aclug-L] Re: I am a smeghead (Letter of apology)
>
>
> Yeah... well, I may not be a guru, but I know I'm more humble
> than you are!
>
> :P
>
>
> On Mon, Apr 24, 2000 at 11:02:38AM -0500, John Alexander wrote:
> > Just a real quick, possibly unrelated, point. Any time somebody
> tells you
> > that they are a guru, they are probably lying to you. If
> somebody tells you
> > that somebody else is a guru, they could be, relative to the
> person telling
> > you, but not relative to yourself. Always keep these precepts in mind
> > whenever you hear that word.
> >
> > ja
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: discussion-bounce@xxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:discussion-bounce@xxxxxxxxx]On
> > > Behalf Of Greg House
> > > Sent: Friday, April 21, 2000 4:55 PM
> > > To: discussion@xxxxxxxxx
> > > Subject: [aclug-L] Re: I am a smeghead (Letter of apology)
> > >
> > >
> > > On Sun, 19 Apr 1998, you wrote:
> > >
> > > > I think the reason that many of the people think that ACLUG
> > > does not cater to
> > > > newbies is because it doesn't really. I see that the reason may
> > > be that you
> > > > all (original ACLUG) started out together as mostly newbies.
> > > Those newbies
> > > > have now done one of 2 things, 1) become gurus (or experenced
> > > users at least)
> > > > 2) left.
> > >
> > > I still see lots of questions on the discussion list that sound like
> > > newbie-type things. I don't think that all the inexperienced
> > > users have left.
> > > And I don't think that those of us that have been around a little
> > > longer have
> > > all become gurus. I sure haven't. I've gotten better, but nowhere
> > > near guru
> > > status.
> > >
> > > > It problably started out where you were "all" newbies who
> > > started moving on to
> > > > a little more advanced items, and a little more, until now
> where either
> > > > newbies learn very quickly(as I have done), or leave.
> > >
> > > When I started, a couple of years or so ago, I was a total newbie. I'd
> > > installed Linux a couple of times, trying different
> > > distributions, but still
> > > hadn't gotten a system fully functional. Some of the meetings I
> > > went to were
> > > way over my head, but they always sent me home thinking, with
> > > some notes to go
> > > study things about. I'd come home read some HOWTOs, man pages, or
> > > maybe some of
> > > an LDP doc and things would make more sense. I never felt like
> > > anyone demeaned
> > > me for being a newbie. In fact, people were generally very helpful.
> > >
> > > Now, that doesn't necessarily mean ALL my questions got answered.
> > > There were a
> > > couple I asked that were never answered by the group. I always
> > > figured this was
> > > because they dealt with something that nobody had any
> experience with. If
> > > someone asks something on the mailing list that I don't know
> > > about, I don't
> > > answer (rather then writing back and saying that I don't know
> > > about it, that
> > > seems like a waste of bandwidth). If I see a question that
> hasn't gotten
> > > answered in awhile, even if I don't know the answer, I may
> > > respond with some
> > > additional questions or directions that someone might look to try
> > > and find the
> > > answer themself. I'd appreciate it if someone did that much for me.
> > >
> > > > I think that a sister group that starts with basically all
> > > newbies and starts
> > > > working up might be a good idea, and if some of the gurus drop
> > > in to give
> > > > presentations sometimes, then all the better. But, it should
> > > basically be a
> > > > seperate group whose members  organize things and go on their
> > > own voyage of
> > > > discovery. The ACLUG should try to recrute as many people from
> > > the community
> > > > as possible, and get them together and let them go on pretty
> > > much their own.
> > >
> > > I don't personally think this is a very good idea. Going to a
> group where
> > > NOBODY knows the topic at hand very well isn't going to help
> > > anyone learn it.
> > > I've learned a lot by going to the ACLUG meetings and reading the
> > > list because
> > > there are so many people here that have good experience that I
> > > can learn from.
> > > If everyone was where I was at, it might be a nice social group,
> > > but for the
> > > purpose of education, it would be limited.
> > >
> > > I haven't been to the meetings in quite awhile, since Monday &
> > > Tuesday nights
> > > have gotten very busy for me, but I never noticed the meetings
> > > being unfriendly
> > > to new users. In fact, the Q&A sessions for the half hour before
> > > the meetings
> > > were usually pretty interesting when I was going. Have things changed?
> > >
> > > Greg
> > >
> > >
> > > -- This is the discussion@xxxxxxxxx list.  To unsubscribe,
> > > visit http://tmp2.complete.org/cgi-bin/listargate-aclug.cgi
> > >
> >
> >
> > -- This is the discussion@xxxxxxxxx list.  To unsubscribe,
> > visit http://tmp2.complete.org/cgi-bin/listargate-aclug.cgi
>
> --
> "Everything that can be invented has been invented." -- Charles H. Duell,
> Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.
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