Baslinux mailing list

[sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>]

On Wed, 27 Dec 2006, Greg Mayman wrote:

> On Sat, 23 Dec 2006 01:33:23 +0000 (UTC), sindi keesan wrote:
>
> > I wonder how many newbies gave up without letting us know why.  We should
> > thank this one.
>
> I wondered that too.
>
> I apologize to anyone I have offended with what I said. I have
> tried to point out that I felt frustrated --- make that *V*E*R*Y*
> frustrated --- with my inability to make BL3 work with the
> add-ons that I wanted to try.

When you feel frustrated and upset, it is not the best time to post 
answers.  Wait a day.  You may be correct that the user instructions are 
inadequate, but they are not intentionally so, and nobody appreciates 
being told they did a lousy job with their documentation.

Several of us have BL-related packages at our own sites. Perhaps you could 
write up solutions to the problems you ran into, let the rest of us 
suggest modifications (for instance, point out that your question was 
already answered some place), and post the result at your site and ask 
Steven to link to it.  Or I can host what you write up.  You do have some 
valid points.

> What also frustrated me was the repeated suggestion I got from
> several people that I delete it once I have installed enough to
> fill it up, and start again. And this advice from people who had
> advised me to try it in the first place.
>
> SHEEEEESH! How utterly maddening to keep hearing that, when it
> should be obvious how STUPID that method would be for any OS that
> was supposed to be usable for proper work.

You should choose your advisers more carefully.
> And as for looking through the archives of the list:
>
> 1. I did not know there were any archives, nor do I know even
>   now how to find them.

There is a link from the support page that you reach from the BL website, 
but it is not at all obvious where to find the archives.  I also would 
appreciate a direct link to the archives from the BL site, rather than 
just a suggestion to search with Google.


> 2. Since at that stage I did not know enough even to frame
>   questions on the subject, how should a new user search the
>   archives? Should he read through them in their totality?

I would not know how to phrase the right questions either.  Lots of people 
write into this list with the same basic questions.  If you have the time, 
you could collect some of the more commonly repeated problems in the 
archives and write up the solutions.  Steven may not have the time for 
this, he does have another life, though he does try to help all newbies 
immediately (even the more frustrated and less polite ones).

Sindi

 .   ,-./\
> .  /     \     from Greg Mayman, in Adelaide, South Australia
> .  \_,-*_/     "Queen City of The South"    34:55 S  138:36 E
> .       v