From: Phillip Gawlowski Date: 2008-05-08T20:39:47+09:00 Subject: Re: Posting Culture -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Marc Heiler wrote: |> Do we give away too much for free? | | My question will be provocative, but: | | Do you want to get paid for help? Ideally, yes. :) However, currently I'm paying back the debt I incurred when tapping into the knowledge of this list. | I also totally agree with Phillip |> And text is notoriously bad in conveying subtext | | I think a few people who help *too* may feel | frustrated. This frustration is the problem IMHO, | not people that ask questions - because you can | always easily opt to not answer a question. (And if | it was important, often the guy who asked can repeat | some time later.) This frustration probably results from a rather low number of regulars and active participants. Those that were on the list when I began using Ruby and reading this list largely disappeared, and the number has dwindled, as not enough have moved in to fill the vacancies. Thus, the same few 'have' to deal with the same (or eerily similar questions) over and over again. Imagine working for support, and your users call the whole day, each with the same question *to you*. No wonder you'd get frustrated. I'm happy that I moved above and beyond my first steps with Ruby to more intermediary and advanced topics (I still get surprised by stuff Ara posts, however, so I'm by no means a Ruby cutter), and can help newbies. Sometimes, though, I have to take a deep breath, and shorten an initial reply, so that I only sound impatient, and not annoyed, too. :\ - -- Phillip Gawlowski Twitter: twitter.com/cynicalryan Blog: http://justarubyist.blogspot.com ~ I think nighttime is dark so you can imagine your fears with less distraction. -- Calvin -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.8 (MingW32) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iEYEARECAAYFAkgi5oIACgkQbtAgaoJTgL+khQCdHONc5q8AZ0qfo4Nz9dO2P1o4 0GYAn2l92uLov3ecqIbRV+AMfazUDNyH =lAKG -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----