>>"David" == David Pastern <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
David> I will 100% stand by my original words on elitism being David> present in linux and its users. I know not everyone one of David> you guys is like this. The vast majority are nice, helpful David> and patient from what I have seen on the posts so far, despite David> seeing the same questions being asked time and time again. Why is elitism supposedly so bad? Elitism - ie a high standard of technical excellence - is *exactly* what we're here for, and continue failure to recognise that will lead and is leading to problems. Indeed, I support measures which raise the bar to new maintainers, provided they concentrate on qualities that are valuable in a developer - chiefly, a very high level of technical competence. Of course, this does not apply to users, but there is a spillover effect. Since most people working for Debian are working to scratch their own itch, (remember, I said most, not all), Debian ends up being targeted to people similar to the developers, for the most part. Reaching maximal market share has never really been a goal for a significant number of developers. Now, recognizing the Debian should be lead by those who are most capable, rather than those with blue skin or with seniority -- does not imply that one has to be rude to people, or sneer at them. But one does not have to turn the other cheek at rudeness either, since support is on a voluntary basis, and one does not _have_ to deal with rudeness. Unfortunately, one of the corollaries is that since support happens on a voluntary basis, interesting problems, or reports that point to flaws in packages tend to be more interesting (ulterior motive -- fixing flaws improves my own experience with the software). David> I maintain that RTFM is not a suitable response. Teach a man to fish .... manoj -- He who hesitates is sometimes saved. Manoj Srivastava <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <http://www.debian.org/%7Esrivasta/> 1024R/C7261095 print CB D9 F4 12 68 07 E4 05 CC 2D 27 12 1D F5 E8 6E 1024D/BF24424C print 4966 F272 D093 B493 410B 924B 21BA DABB BF24 424C -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]