Re: you ass

Well, Daniel, Katherine, Sean, et all:

All I can say is that I've never been guilty of the behavior Katherine goes on about; on the other hand, this is not to say that I do not agree with her main point the courtesy and diplomacy could be remembered and observed by more people that do at the moment.

Daniel's an example of someone, so long as the short time I have been here since I returned, manages to walk the precarious tightrope between "OH GOD, DON'T YOU KNOW HOW TO READ?" and wasting half his life answering questions indicative of the fact the asker wants their whole job done for them.

I am still waiting for a question like:

"I need help. I need to design an airline reservations system for UAL based on an Oracle platform, front ending existing IBM BAL programs, CICS, 17 other things. Could someone design the schema for me, then the ER diagrams, the SQL to create it, all the PL/SQL and Java needed, and also the physical and logical architecture, datacomm, and system architecture."

"Oh and could you do performance tuning for it, as well?"

"It's really important. We need the system in production by the end of next week, and I don't know how to unwrap cellophane off of manuals or CD's."

"In fact, can you just fly down here on your own, pay for a hotel and expenses, and do my job for me?" 'Of course, I'll take all the credit for the work and design and be paid for it. But I really need help.'

And we have had questions very close to that, and its a wonder more people do not go off the deep end after a few of them.

I am not condoning chewing innocent people up into pieces and spitting them up; but I think nearly everyone must admit there is a differenve between "what type of screwdriver should I use on a worn bronze slotted wood screw", and, "Can someone explain what wood is, build my house, and paint and furnish it, do the wiring, the roofing, arrange the permits"?

RSH. "Daniel Morgan" <damorgan_at_exesolutions.com> wrote in message news:3CC89007.6A5FCDA4_at_exesolutions.com...
> Sean M wrote:
>
> > RSH wrote:
> > >
> > > I am not so sure that I do not resent your message more than the one
that
> > > started this whole thing. The "ramifications on your employment
future"
> > > quite gagged me, and I think represents an attitude I do not care for
very
> > > much.
> > >
> > > Doubtless your interpersonal skills shine when you are functioning in
your
> > > workplace, and this message of yours does not present a representative
> > > sample of your tact and empathy that you no doubt know are essential
parts
> > > of a successful senior DBA's skill set.
> >
> > Wow. I took Katherine's email 180 degrees the other way - I thought it
> > was one of the most sane pieces of advice and dead-on commentary I've
> > read on this forum in a long time. It wasn't directed at any one
> > individual (though it would appear that some guilty consciences are
> > reading it that way) and made no threats, implied or otherwise. The
> > perceived anonimity of Usenet makes it easy to forget that there's a
> > real person on the other end of that post. I've fallen into that trap
> > more than once, and smugness often wins out. But Katherine is right:
> > answer questions with respect, or don't answer them at all.
> >
> > If you're annoyed at yet another question asking for the password to
> > SYS, just IGNORE IT. The poster will eventually go away and/or figure
> > it out for themselves. Annoyed that someone didn't include their
> > version and OS? IGNORE THEM. If they're smart they'll respond with
> > more detail.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Sean
>
> I'm not sure that you do anyone a favor by ignoring them anymore than
children
> learn good table manners by never correcting them.
>
> Could we be kinder and gentler? Undoubtedly.
>
> Will people who are ignored ever learn why they were ignored? No!
> Will they ever get the answer to their question and solve the problem? No!
> Will they ever think Oracle forums are useless because we are all to
arrogant to
> answer them? Yes!
>
> I disagree with your advice about ignoring them. I think it an obligation
to
> point out to them that (A) it is in the documents they should have read,
or (B)
> that it is available at technet, or (C) that without including pertinent
> information they will not be able to solve the problem.
>
> Could the above things be communicated in another way? Again likely.
>
> But lets not forget that we are all volunteers here doing this, in
whatever
> manner we wish, because we want to. Any time you, or Larry want to write
me a
> check at my normal billing rate I'll be glad to behave like a trained
monkey at
> 1-800-SUP-PORT.
>
> Until then perhaps people who use the internet will learn a bit of common
> courtesy. You don't walk into a church and start selling tuperware. You
don't
> post tests in a forum like this ... you do it at alt.test. And if your
skin is
> so thin and you are so easily upset by someone saying RTFM to you that you
have
> to run for your Prozac ... likely you have other problems as well.
>
> Once again, for the record, I will repeat ... you are correct that we
could be
> kinder and gentler. And I, for one, will try. I'll put happyface emoticons
like
> ;-) after all of my sarcastic remarks. And write RTM rather than RTFM so
as not
> to offend gentler souls.
>
> Interestingly enough the emails I receive are running about 8:1 thanking
me for
> saying what I say in the way I say it. So those having the issues are the
> minority. I've no doubt Sybrand and others get similar feedback letting
them
> know what others think though I haven't asked.
>
> Daniel Morgan
>
Received on Fri Apr 26 2002 - 17:08:54 CDT