On 6/5/07, Vihan Pandey vihanpandey@gmail.com wrote:
I am refering particularly to the latest email sent by roni and the subsiquent bashing and flaiming by other lister.
i think that issue was regarding the fact that everyone knows what Wikipedia is and also know how to get there and do not need to be repeatedly reminded of the same.
Those of us who have the information-seeking bug have known about wikipedia (and sometimes contributed to it too) since long. However, and surprisingly, I have come across many professionally qualified people who only realized when somebody told them there was an online resource of such nature. They were amazed, and overjoyed. If somebody hadn't hit them with a cluebat, they would still be groping around.
We should therefore not base our judgment on our own experience, but accept other situations and views too. That is the F/OSS way.
In fora such as this one, we get repeated questions about the same thing over and over again, and keep on replying to them ad nauseam. People board the same train from different stations and ask for directions. Do we tell them off just because we gave directions to somebody else in March on the [FOO] thread?
Hell, if I had just to RTFM every time I needed help, I wouldn't even be online today. Different people have different abilities and awareness levels, and if we have a more positive attitude, we can attract and retain outsiders to what we consider is a noble cause.
So much for arguments.