From: woody@bdrc.bd.com (Woody Muller)
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Subject: Re: Moderated List????
Date: 22 Jan 93 20:08:34 GMT
Organization: Becton Dickinson Research Center; RTP, N.C.

Carl Lydick writes:
>That's where you and I differ.  I think someone too bloody stupid to realize
>that if he wants help, he needs to tell us EXACTLY what he did and EXACTLY what
>happened, deserves to be flamed.  [Carl Lydick]

There's more to a user group like this than the black-white EXACTNESS
which exists in your monocular world.  It's a very sad commentary on your
lack of breadth of experience that you've never met, say, an expert
molecular chemist who had no love for her machine but just wanted it
to work.  She might specify a question incompletely, but that doesn't
mean she's stupid.  Just in need of some enlightenment.

>>jerk is a jerk.  You're playing king of the vms molehill.
>
>Well, you seem to be an expert on jerks, being one yourself.  [Carl]

I've seen a number of hotheads like you over the years, though rarely in
the professional newsgroups (comp, sci, etc).  Apparently having nothing
better to do with your day, you hover over the group with a mallet,
playing whack-a-mole like at the arcade.  The first few flames might even
be amusing, but it rapidly descends into a tired and predictable exhibition
of your shortcomings as a communicator.

>>You have fostered an environment of confrontation and abuse, [...]
>
>I refuse to live complacently with abject stupidity, no matter how much you
>may wish to wallow in it.  [Carl]

We can already tell who the less-informed contributors are, Carl.  We also
recognize the psychotic ones.  You're searching so hard for the stupidity
you crave to find, that you're beginning to see it where there is none.
Believe it or not, there exist sites less well-connected to the net than
Caltech, and there are polyglots out there, and there are even things like 
physicists managing VAXclusters!  

>>And most of those answers would have come eventually from people with
>>less time on their hands than Carl apparently has.
>
>I see.  You're another newbie who hasn't been following this group for years.
>Otherwise you might have addressed the question of how many people I've "helped
>and/or steered in the right direction."

I did address the question, Carl.  I said that most of the information you
have ever provided would have eventually come from some other source.  That's
the way all newsgroups are.  Nobody's irreplaceable.  We owe you no thanks
and are under no obligation to tolerate your temper tantrums.  If you're
not posting here for your own enjoyment, you might do well to find another
venue.

>> [..]  It is not fair nor valid to expect the questioners
>>to know [almost] as much as the answerers before they even ask. [Woody]
>
>I see.  You're yet another of the PC pop-psych folks who believes that someone
>using a computer shouldn't be forced to have even the vaguest idea of how the
>computer works; [...]   [Carl]

I see the computer as a tool for the use of scientists and engineers,
and not always as an end in itself.  As such, its best use is
often by specialists who have their minds on other things like astronomy,
chemistry, or engineering.  These people are called applications users.
Sometimes they are called upon to do something a little outside their
field of expertise.  Do *you* ever do anything outside *your* field
of expertise, Carl?  It might be a good use of your copious free time.

>My understanding of astronomy is purely at the amateur level (or below).

Try reading a few books on the subject, or chat up an astronomer.  You might
enjoy it, and if you're not careful you might even learn something!
be amusing, but it rapidly descends into a tired and predictable exhibition 
-- 
--
woody@bdrc.bd.com
Disclaimer: I speak for myself only.
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms