[ale] Ale subscribers

Thu Oct 17 22:02:53 EDT 2013

Some of you may recall that I judge presentations by if I change a behavior
or do something different after have seeing the presentation.

Based on this thread I am going to do something different:
When considering candidates for a job I will search for their comments on
forums and see if they treat other people with civility.

That makes this thread productive for me.

On Thu, Oct 17, 2013 at 1:16 PM, Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>  Why would an OT post bother anybody?
>
> ALE is a public entity. EVERYTHING that is written is stored in the
> archives and is available by Google search. ALE is a specific interest
> group. Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts is the full name. Does is break anything
> if Atlanta is expanded to mean all of metro-Atlanta and people beyond? No.
> It shows the importance and relevance of what we exist for. Does it cause a
> problem if the bulk of the topics are NOT Linux for a period of time?
> That's harder to answer. How much reputation damage is done to the
> outstanding legacy of ALE when a single person does a search and finds the
> answer to their question includes the archive and the next 60 posts are
> this thread?
>
> Yes. Everyone knows how to hit delete. But those are not the people that
> we as a group are trying to encourage to join and participate. It _is_ the
> new Linux user that we want to see here. The grandparents with a new
> computer so they can keep track of their grandkids and children, the office
> worker whose boss got the message about system security and is switching to
> Linux system and now they need more info on how to do their process, the
> student who knows of Linux but is just now needing to dig deep for class,
> and even us old gray beards who continue to ride the bleeding edge of
> change far past the time when others have settled into the quiet
> complacency of alternate computing environments that lack the freedoms we
> so often take for granted after 20+ years.
>
> So in order to keep ALE relevant, we discuss Linux and other open source,
> GNU, apache, MIT, Creative Commons, etc. licensed environments. In general,
> we discuss them from the viewpoint of why our stuff is better than the
> alternatives and how they can be improved. We discuss the alternatives from
> the perspective of how our stuff is better except where it's not and then
> what is needed for our stuff to exceed the alternatives.
>
> Occasionally, we have some bickering about silly stuff (vi vs. emacs) or
> the minutia of GPL v2 vs GPL v3, or which distro is best for which use,
> etc. But for the most part, ALE is and has always been a pretty welcoming
> place for new Linux people get acquainted with others who may have some
> answers not yet found on Google.
>
> As the sysadmin and list owner for ALE, I have the responsibility to herd
> the fish in the bowl when things don't meet up to the standards and history
> of ALE. I was not elected. I am not paid. I volunteered because I have
> received so much as a list member from ALE that when someone with my skills
> was needed, I felt very compelled to pick up the pieces and keep ALE
> running as I had become accustomed to.
>
> I found ALE in 1997. Other than a hiatus when I was disgusted with both
> the subtle and blatant politics during a national election cycle, I've read
> every post. In the big picture view, this kerfuffle is significant only
> because it pertains to the tone and content of ALE. It gives the archived
> appearance of a shift from the legacy of ALE focused on Linux to becoming
> less Linux and more generalized technology and a minority becoming verbally
> explosive in opposition to the shift.
>
> Is a shift in ALE to a more diverse technology view good or bad? As a list
> member, I don't particularly like it. As the admin, I will only step in
> when hostilities or abusive language shows up or when asked to intervene by
> a number of list members with a history of posts that positively contribute
> to extending ALE's legacy.
>
> So the original question, "Why would an OT post bother anybody?" is
> answered from my perspective with, "Because ALE is more than just posts on
> a mailing list for some of us.".
>
> --
> --
> James P. Kinney III
> *
> *Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you
> gain at one end you lose at the other. It's like feeding a dog on his own
> tail. It won't fatten the dog.
> - Speech 11/23/1900 Mark Twain
> *
> http://heretothereideas.blogspot.com/
> *
>
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>
>

-- 
Michael Potter
  Tapp Solutions, LLC
  Replatform Technologies, LLC
+1 770 815 6142  ** Atlanta ** michael at potter.name  **
www.linkedin.com/in/michaelpotter
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