On Thu, 2008-04-10 at 09:12 -0700, Marc Perkel wrote: > Being a smart ass in your answers doesn't get you any points with me.
> The problem was poor documentation. This is very bad attitude for a
> list admin.
I am absolutely not going to go through this with you again, so here's
my last word on it:
I wasn't trying to be a smart ass, as you put it. I was pointing out
what is perfectly normal behaviour on most F/OSS projects I've ever been
involved with:
Reporter: Hey, I found a bug!
Project person: Give us the details then.
R: Well, the frozzle mangles the widgetbongler when the ujermaflip is
upside down.
P: Hey, you're right, so it does. Maybe it's a race condition between
the frozzle and the ujermaflip. Anyone other project people seen this?
P2: No, not me.
P3: Me neither.
P: Hey, reporter, just whizz on over to our fancy workflow management
tool (bugzilla) over there and enter the details of this problem, then
we can work on it.
R: Sure thing! Hope you can fix it soon, my widgetbongler keeps getting
mangled.
P: Fill in the report page and enter the bug, and we'll keep you updated
through there.
R: Bug #9999
Time passes, people contribute to the bug, write code, test patches,
report results, fix the problem. The world keeps turning and everyone is
happy.
This happens frequently with Exim. There are loads of people quite
happily finding problems and submitting them to Bugzilla, even to the
extent of submitting patches themselves. There are even bugs in there
about documentation.
For some reason, you seem to break down at the step where someone asks
you to submit a bug, read something, or generally contribute to help us
(and you) arrive at a solution to your problem. This is where I have a
big problem - you are *very* loud and clear at saying "hey, this is
busted" but you frequently seem unable to offer anything positive in
order to help people help you.
I cannot for the life of me understand why you take offence (UK English
version) at repeated requests to get involved instead of just
metaphorically standing in the corner, shouting. It isn't just me -
there are a lot of people on this list who have tried to help you,
nurture you even - but you just throw it all back in their faces. I've
said it multiple times, in various ways, to try to get you to engage
with the way things happen normally. None of it has worked, so I give
up.
Everyone else is welcome to reply, even you, but that's me. I'm done
with this thread, it's broken.
Graeme
PS Thanks for your recent SPAM-L "mine's bigger than yours" thread. It
left me laughing so much I almost wet myself.
