LinuxSA Mailing list archives

  From: Alan Kennington <akenning@dog.topology.org>
  To  : sharpe@ns.aus.com
  Date: Sun, 9 May 1999 15:10:14 +0930

Re: Newbie/Pro list

Topics:
-   Comment on distribution list fragmentation...
-   linux/palmIIIx programming question.

> What about the Newbie/Pro lists?  JK

My response to this discussion, which I have not followed in great detail, is
that there is a simple solution which keeps the list together, and
that's to put a category keyword at the beginning of each post.
E.g. 

    Subject: PRO: difficulties with drivers for new Madge xyz5132.5 ATM card

would signify a pro question, and

    Subject: NEW: what is X windows?

would signify a nubian question.

People like myself only have the time to read about
10% of the list now. I used to read it all.
But now I skim the Subject: lines once every few days
to see if there's anything relevant to me.
This is because I'm a busy person.
If I was anti-nubian, then I would go only to the
PRO questions/answers.
I.e. my point is that then the people who think they're
pros don't waste any time at all.

There's actaully a third category of person, the person who is
a real pro at computers and programming, but who is new to
linux. They might find questions about "how do I use this
application" very challenging, but would find questions about
generic programming etc. quite trivial, while the
person who is new to computers might find the reverse.
(computing is now a _big_ subject, and linux is also a
_big_ subject. There's no such thing as someone who is
a pro in all aspects of linux, obvioulsy.)

It's all subjective. In fact, life is subjective too.
The whole universe is subjective, relativistic and
observer-dependent.

Nevertheless a 3-character category, or a level between
0 and 10 could be useful.

Cheers,
Alan Kennington.

PS. I don't expect anyone to agree with me....

PPS. I'd like special pro lists for _my_ pro topics
though, but then as Matt pointed out to me,
then I should be subscribing to the international
lists on thsoe topics. I.e. linuxsa is a regional grouping,
whose purpose is perhaps explictly or implicitly to
provide a means for people to go from beginner to 
"pro" (or just intermediate beginner).

PPPS. Professionalism is a vector in a Hilbert space,
not a scalar!!!!!!!

PPPPS. I'm starting to use linux for Palm IIIx
programming. Can anyone tell me how to compile the
"hello world" program which comes with the O'Reilly
programming book?

PPPPPS. My main point in this e-mail, if not obvious, is
that I think everyone should be extra generous with
their Subject: lines, becuase the list is so
voluminous now.

PPPPPPS.  I'm currently finishing up a perl script
to bandage the infamous Cisco router re-training bug
which makes the bigpond permanent modem connection
do unpleasant things.

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