Re: Wondering about comp.lang.c

From: Brian Lindahl (lindahlb_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 07/02/04 

Date: 2 Jul 2004 08:02:58 -0700

rlb@hoekstra-uitgeverij.nl (Richard Bos) wrote in message news:<40e5137a.672549330@news.individual.net>...
> Severian <severian@chlamydia-is-not-a-flower.com> wrote:
>
> > I'm a veteran C programmer (about 20 years, including PDP11 and VAX
> > C), and I know what is on-topic here and what is not. I write standard
> > C everywhere possible, and encapsulate non-standard code in modules
> > that (I hope) can be reasonably ported to any platform. But neophytes
> > certainly don't have the experience I have. Is it really fair to treat
> > them like *** because they don't have that experience?
>
> You leave me wondering where to find all _your_ posts explaining ISO C
> to newbies in a friendly, mild-mannered tone. If you think you can do
> better than the regulars, don't hold back, _do so_. The group can always
> use more clueful regulars. What it does _not_ need is lurkers griping.
>
> Richard

Posting a message just to gripe about something being off-topic is
much worse for the newsgroup than whatever you may be talking about,
Richard. Severian is in no way griping. How I see it, he's bringing up
an important point, he posing the question about whether or not people
should change their attitudes around here. He's suggesting that one
should try to be more helpful than the typical annoying 'you're off
topic' - a suggestion I think people here should definately take.

I think the best solution in off-topic posts would be to notify the
original poster that s/he is off topic, but also provide a solution.
If you don't have a solution, don't post. If the poster receives no
answers, s/he will certainly look other places - very few off-topic
posters are mindless idiots.

If I see someone in this thread posting that this is an off topic
discussion, that person deserves to be shot. This is indeed on-topic,
it is discussing how one should respond to off-topic posts in
comp.lang.c.

On the current road, you'll end up with newsgroups with such narrow
constraints and lack of tolerance that someone with a important
question will have to bounce through several newsgroups just to get an
answer. This type of attitude not only bloats the initial newsgroup,
but each one after that until an answer is found. A completely
unsatisfactory result that could have been prevented with an initial
answer to the question, instead of just an 'you're off topic, go
away'.

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