What's happening on ubuntu-users , and why it's normal

[Jay Ridgley]

ubuntu-users-request at lists.ubuntu.com wrote:
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:33:02 +1000
> From: Peter Garrett <peter.garrett at optusnet.com.au>
> Subject: What's happening on ubuntu-users , and why it's normal
> To: ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
> Message-ID: <20080612193302.39d1b9df.peter.garrett at optusnet.com.au>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> I've just spent some time reading through recent threads, and decided
> to throw in some thoughts about the ubuntu-users list over the last few
> years.
>
> Just to forestall the inevitable: yes, I know about sounder ;-)
>
> Some people with long memories might recall that I used to answer quite
> a few questions here, once upon a time. ;-) Lately other projects and
> concerns have meant that I have not contributed much.
>
> This post will probably be seen as off-topic by some... So be it.
>
> I think that we are seeing the usual evolution of a list as the project
> becomes ever more popular. In 2004-6 (roughly), this list really was
> mostly about technical help and discussion, and I think the
> "demographic" was *similar* to that on, say, a Debian list. As Ubuntu
> has become more and more popular, we have seen an influx of people who
> don't come from the "traditional" Linuxish/*nixish backgrounds. The
> kinds of questions have changed, and the level of discussion has perhaps
> dropped in quality somewhat.
>
> That's a nice way of saying that the signal-to-noise ratio has
> deteriorated ;-)
>
> Fortunately, there are some excellent posters who continue to provide
> good advice and help. Inevitably, there are now more of the other
> variety than there used to be.
>
> The reason for this post may not be immediately obvious, so here is my
> take on what is seemingly happening. (This appears to be true for other
> communication channels like IRC as well).
>
> *  We are going through the period during which a relatively new
> project sorts out what it is actually for, and who actually fits that
> need.
>
> * We are likely to see some people disappear, because the nature of the
> "community" has changed in ways that don't fit their perceptions of
> what "should" be happening, or their interests no longer fit the
> changes.
>
> * We are going to suffer from the loss of people who are simply tired
> of repeating the same answers again and again. If you spend enough time
> trying to help, you eventually get to a stage where it often seems
> better not to say anything, rather than be seen as "arrogant" or "a net
> nanny" or a "self-appointed expert", and so on....
>
> * All of this is perfectly normal and part of the expected changes in a
> large project that has a wide variety of participants.
>
> * Lest this be seen as a long-winded illumination of the obvious - the
> point of sending it is to try to summarise the reasons for recent
> *cough* long threads dealing mostly with very "human" issues - like
> "why are we getting irritated by a few loud and obnoxious posters with
> no clues", and so on.
>
> To those who dislike terse and to-the-point answers: get over it. Those
> terse but accurate answers are the life blood of a project, and usually
> come from the people who know the most, and are willing to communicate
> their knowledge.
>
> To those who are used to giving terse-but-correct answers: Ubuntu is
> not Slackware or Debian, and a few more warm-fuzzies won't hurt you when
> you deliver your knowledge ;-)
>
> It is interesting to note that a number of those who have been singled
> out for criticism by complainers in the recent sagas are actually the
> very people who make this list worth reading.
>
> So in summary: 
>
> * the hard-line "teach a man to fish" crowd - sit back and laugh at
> yourselves a bit.
>
> * the "people on this list are rude" crowd - read a little bit about
> Unix and Linux history, and stop expecting everyone to be polite all
> the time.
>
> Ubuntu doesn't mean "don't tread on anyone's toes" - if your toes hurt,
> think a bit about why, and you might come to some interesting
> conclusions.
>
> Here endeth the sermon ;-)   
>
> ( For those with limited humour - this is a good-natured post from an
> Ubuntu supporter who thinks storms in teacups are entertaining, but not
> to be taken so seriously.)
>
>   
Very well said and I might add right on target, I have gotten a great 
deal of help from the list.

Unfortunately, however, even though I have a long background of software 
development I have not been able to return the favor. I am still 
learning Ubuntu and as I become more knowledgeable I too will begin to 
post possible solutions to problems.

Cheers,
Jay

-- 


Jay Ridgley
jridgley2 at austin.rr.com
Registered Linux User ID - 9115

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