Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 12:06:17 +0100 (CET)
From: Magnus B{ckstr|m <b@etek.chalmers.se>
To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org
Cc: Jeroen Ruigrok/asmodai <asmodai@wxs.nl>
Subject: Sense, common (n.) (was Re: The lack of common sense wrt recent issues)
Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.44.0302070934420.97357-100000@scrooge.etek.chalmers.se>
In-Reply-To: <20030207071602.GV43834@nexus.ninth-circle.org>
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On Fri, 7 Feb 2003, Jeroen Ruigrok/asmodai wrote: > Subject: The lack of common sense wrt recent issues > > So nice to see all the slamming and slandering, but what I really don't > get is how people are losing every little bit of common sense at this > point. Since when -choke- ...ahem, sorry. Sense isn't all that common. What you see is a number of people taking the opportunity to express views that suddenly don't seem out of place. > 2) We have people cc:'ing people who work at other companies (for > example someone at sun.com in the java slander thread). Well done > people! You just pulled credibility to lower than zero. Shows real > good grasp of how the corporate world will react to this kind of thing. You hit your head on a pretty important nail there. I know at least one organisation at which "apparent level-headedness" is a significant part of the broader impression of "the FreeBSD project", and is part reason FreeBSD is taken quite seriously in competition with alternatives. We run 227 machines (desktop, mostly) with FreeBSD here, an improvement of 226 in the past three years. Internal arguments are an unavoidable irritation; it is appalling when they start leaking. Hopefully the receiver is in possession of enough sanity that those stray posts will be taken for exactly what they are. > 3) Egos rising skyhigh. I have no problem with people who are confident > in what they do, but the self-patting and ego-boosting stuff I read on > the lists have been ridiculous lately. Grow up, learn some humility > (books about Buddhism are a good start). mMmhmm, that last part sounds particularly not bad :-) > 4) Also, the ability to generalise seems to be paramount nowadays. > > 5) The ability to take one topic and connect it to another and drawing > seeing connections. Me, oh my, it reminds me of the Bush joke that > there's a connection between Iraq and Al-Qaeda, since both have a Q in > them. > > Are we losing common sense and politeness here people? The value of "Politeness" is surprisingly variable. It makes me want to drive that generalisation bandwagon for a bit; humor me. Three kinds of people are involved here, call them (1), (x), and (2). They differ along a particular dimension: The (1) people think civility, manners, and good conduct are merits equal in importance to technical skill, productivity, knowledge etc. They will throw an offending (in their view) element out or quietly leave in disgust. The (x) people value technical aptitude and results achieved, and regard social skill as perhaps nice but absolutely optional in a greater scheme. They are visible in offering variously reasoned arguments that person so-and-so should be reinstated/apologized to/put up with because (s)he's really too valuable to let go. The (2) people -- for whom a field of technical competence is a mental theater on which to win prizes of recognition, fame, and glory -- regard the exchange of views as a process that is most effective when allowed unhindered access to a full vocabulary. Choose your camp. B To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the messagehelp
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