From: Glenn Ervin <GlennErvin_at_cableone.net>
Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:04:06 -0600

----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert L Cochran" <cochranb_at_speakeasy.net>

I'd like to speak to this.

I've been reading the various discussion threads for several weeks now
and I have to express my utter amazement at the ingenuity and skill of
the visually impaired list members in working with both Rockbox and
their various devices. I've also come to appreciate even more the
challenges that many of the list members face.

So, my puzzlement at this kind of posting, where someone chooses to
interrupt a very productive stream of useful posts in how to get speech
to work on some devices, is all the greater. I'm a little shocked by it,
in fact.

I belong to several mailing lists and I can tell you that most of the
posters on the Rockbox list seem to say very little in each post
compared to those on other lists. Most of the posters here are amazingly
polite and respectful people. They don't get wandery, they stay on
topic, they are often too brief, it would seem to me, in discussing
issues with their devices and the firmware. The posters on this forum
are by and large the most polite that I've seen in any of the 7 or so
other lists that I belong to.

I find it difficult to believe, really, that someone would step in and
make this kind of post. Considering the progress the list is making in
discussing and resolving real technical issues, this one post seems like
a Niagara Falls of cold water on posters who don't deserve it. I
especially would not fuss with a visually impaired person about whether
he or she top posts or not.

Some policies are silly. This is one such. Change your policy and focus
on the very important issues -- issues of working with your devices.

I'm not visually impaired like many of the Rockbox list members are.
However, I work closely with visually impaired people. As a matter of
fact, one of my former managers is very low-vision. The person who sits
across from me in the office is blind. I'm a software engineer, and I've
led evaluations of software products that included looking at their
compatibility with JAWS.

I hope you people will be kinder and gentler with each other. Until I
saw this one posting, it was a fascinating, productive, learning
experience in how different devices work. I hope you people go back to
business as usual. Please.

Sincerely

Bob Cochran

** Hello Bob & all,
I am a Blind list member, and I must respond here.
Although I don't like bottom posting, as it is annoying for the Blind to
read, and although I can do the editing about as quickly as a mouse user, it
does take more use of punching keys, which does get tiring.
But as a Blind user, I sure don't wish to have special forgiveness for top
posting, as the list moderator, or the list cops, for that matter, will not
give any less of a scolding to the sighted top poster than he or she would
the Blind user, even though I would speculate that the majority of top
posters are Blind.
So though I would prefer the rule about not top posting not be there, I am
glad that the rules are the same for the Blind as they are for the sighted.
After all, we Blind users just want equality, which is something that the
RockBox software does a lot toward providing.
Oh yes, and kinder and gentler for all is a great suggestion.

Glenn

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Received on 2008-01-21