[BangPypers] Responding to people who lack the curiosity

[vid]

On Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 11:01, Pradeep Gowda<pradeep at btbytes.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 12:31 AM, Sridhar
> Ratnakumar<sridhar.ratna at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I often think the best way to handle such posters is to momentarily
>> divert the topic of the conversation to their own interest-level,
>> curiosity and self-learning .

... a nicer method :)

>
> I think it's best to ignore mails from users who do not care enough to
> use their real name/nick while asking questions. The user in question
>  introduced himself as prasad, but we scan mail titles before reading
> mail content. Most people wouldn't care to  read a mail from
> "testing123 test<swtest123 at gmail.com>", let alone answer it.
[snip]
> by what you say and how you say it.  It's hard to relate to a
> anonymous, faceless name like "testing 123".  Use your real name. [1]

hmm.... kindly define "real name"[0], "real identity" with respect to
the online world. If the owner of <swtest123 at gmail.com> had used
"Manmohan Singh" or "Rita Rai" instead of "testing123 test", would you
trust them more ?

[0]  i've been using a nick, for years and dont bother with the whois,
the domain  belongs to someone else :)


> If the same question is asked by some one who "appears" to be a real
> person, it might still be worth answering them, at the same time also
> pointing them to a net etiquette
> link [2]. In good faith, we can assume that the user in question is
> really new to using forums/mailing lists etc.,
[snip]
> [2] http://catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

The faq may be relevant for the developed nations which have much
better infrastructure and resources than ours. IMPO, i find the faq
rude, presumptuous and insensitive, especially when talking of a
"community" (isnt that what linux, python, ruby, foo, foo-bar, is all
about?) that wants to spread and exchange knowledge.

As for the, "Don't ask people to reply by private
e-mail....Hackers....... public, transparent process..." - try posting
online with a "real name" like "Rita Rai". Besides being an
interesting experience, your perception of humans might change and
hopefully you would rethink about quoting ESR as a reference on
etiquette.

-- 
thanks
vid, who "appears" to be a real person ;)