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Re: 2.3.43, and a variety of problems.
Ryan Steele wrote:
Brandon Hume wrote:
I realize that users ask stupid questions and run ancient versions, but
I also realize that sometimes those users are experiencing a catastrophe
and have eighty thousand users banging on the door demanding explanation
(ie: me). In that kind of situation people miss parts as they review
docs and conflate symptoms and frequently make things worse before they
make it better... and, yes, ask stupid questions.
Part of the reason I'm slow moving to 2.4 is because I actually had to
work myself up to asking my syncrepl-client question. I braced myself
for one-word answers, "RTFM"-type answers, and variations on "why in the
world are you doing something like that?" I got lucky, my question was
apparently worthwhile, and I got useful information along with tangible
relief. But what does that say about the environment?
Regrettably, this has become the accepted nature of the list and IRC
channel. You either say nothing, accept it, and
hope to get some useful morsels peppered in between the chastising, or you
complain about it and risk alienation by
those in the know. I have been more vocal than most on the topic
(although,
more in IRC than the mailing lists), and
it's certainly reflected in some of the answers I've received in my recent
mailing list postings.
http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
I'm not saying that anybody is "deserving of a response" because clearly
the
list is volunteer-only, but in my case
(http://www.mail-archive.com/openldap-software@openldap.org/msg15769.html)
a
request for clarification of a technical
statement got twisted in to an accusation claiming I'd misrepresented
another individual's response, instead of an
answer to an earnest question - a side effect of being vocal about the
tone
you describe. But, things aren't likely to
change unless more people are willing to sacrifice help in return for
questioning the aforementioned resentful nature.
This is the way of the world. If you want warm'n'fuzzy "customer support" that
first requires you to be someone's customer.
When I come across technical posts, when someone decides to share their
knowledge, it's a delight. But there's never any doubt when some of
those people think you're wasting their time.
I can handle being told that my version is too old and is unsupported.
I just wish we could scale back a bit on the contempt while being told.
Yes, it's less than an uncommon request...
It's so common that someone already wrote a lengthy article about how to deal
with it. Learn.
--
-- Howard Chu
CTO, Symas Corp. http://www.symas.com
Director, Highland Sun http://highlandsun.com/hyc/
Chief Architect, OpenLDAP http://www.openldap.org/project/