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Subject: Re: Apology, and a period of break.

Re: Apology, and a period of break.

From: Rui Araújo <ruka.araujo_at_gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 20 Jun 2009 19:05:50 +0100

On Saturday, June 20, 2009, Tomer Shalev <shalev.tomer_at_gmail.com> wrote:
>
> It's becoming somewhat clear to me that I'm not able to relate with normal people in a reasonable way. I lack the basic understanding of how people will read "tone" in things I type, where for me they're written word and should be read based on the specific meanings rather than anything implied. The latter method seems to depend too much on the emotions and even specific mood a time of reading of the user.
>
> Paul, you contribution to Rockbox is undeniable, and I think most people appreciate it very much. It will be pity if you resign from your duties and contribute less than you would have done otherwise.
>
> My impression from you was that you are indeed an arrogant person, which lacks basic human skills. Thank you for clarifying yourself in this honest letter. I don't think you are arrogant anymore, but I have confirmed you lack human skills :-)
>
> I think that you deserve a positive feedback from others in this community. We all now how much time and energy you invested on Rockbox, in the purpose of making the Rockbox resources (forums, flyspray, etc.) more organised and consistent. I thing deserve at least that amount of energy to be put on keeping you an active Rockbox contributor. There's no reason to think otherwise.
>
> I would like to give you a feedback myself, something that I wanted a long time ago, but didn't, since I thought it is pointless, wrongly thinking of you as an arrogant person who is not open for feedback.
>
> Many times you responded newbie's questions: "Support question belong to XXX", "Bug reports belong to XXX" etc, closing the issue.
> I would suggest a more friendly approach: You should provide a short and simple answer, and following it, write "If you would like further assistance, please open a new support issue for this question in XXX, as this is not the right place to ask."
> You can even open that issue yourself, refering to the original post.
>
> When a user asks an RTFM question, don't tell them "It is in the manual, why did you post this question when you obviously agreed to the forum rules which mention that you have to read the manual before you ask question" etc.
>
> A more human friendly approach would be to quote the relevant text from the manual (yes, it takes more time to do), which should answer one's question, and afterwards mention: This text is taken from the XYZ manual, page 123, which is available in the manuals page: http:/bla_blah. In the future please try to find your answer in the manual before asking here, as it consumes people time. Please take in mind that people in the Rockbox community are volunteers, spending their free time supporting other Rockbox users without being paid. Asking questions which are in the manual prevent them from working on other issues.". People would understand that, and appreciate you for providing them with an answer, despite the fact that you could just point them to the manual. People do appreciate order, and would understand when their 'support issue' is blocked due to not reading the manual before, or asking in the wrong place, but they do expect to be given  a quick and to the point answer, if there is such, which would save them a lot of time getting to know Rockbox or reading tons of manual pages. If the answer is short, they know someone has it and can write it down for them in 10 seconds, in contrast for them wasting an hour. They'll appreciate it! They also expect to be gived a link rather than being given an 'it's in the manual' response.
>
> When a user is arrogant and expecting Rockbox volunteers to work for him, answering his questions or fixing his bugs, as if he pays them, there is no reason to start an argue with him, adding fuel to the fire. One can just ignore, or block the thread. It is wrong to answer "we will gladly give you back the money you paid Rockbox". This is indeed the correct answer, but it is not the smartest. We are here to make as many people as possible like and use Rockbox.
>
> The most important thing IMHO, is that people hate when one tries to prove things to them. People don't care who started the argue, or why they are wrong, or how they are mistaken. You can just tell your opinion, and let them do the math themselves. No need to have the last word.
>
> Paul, it would be best if you keep doing your great work. People in the community can be more aware of this issue, and provide you with an immediate feedback once you do something that is considered offensive, which you are not aware of. You deserve it.
>
> Regards,
> Tomer
>
>

This is my first post to this list even though I have been following
it for about a year. I think Paul is a very methodical man and every
project needs someone like him. Having said that I don't think that is
a arrogant person and I agree with him when he says he writes very
literal answer.

I think it is horrible to see people assaulting each other verbally
(because i guess you cant fisically ;) ) and lately there's been
too much of it on this list. I hope the IRC isn't like this at least.

 This is a FOSS project which I love and even though I can only help
for now with translation for my lovely native language, Portuguese, I
hope that someday I can too join you as a developer.

I think Paul's work has been amazing and I would be deeply sorry if
Paul leaves like this. I only wished that more lists had a moderator
like him.

I have only one advice, start using smileys as people find them very cute. :p

As for the noobs questions, I like the "look in the manual" answer but
it seems that people find that offensive nowadays so I guess you have
to waste some more time answering those.

Keep up the good work, Paul.

Rui Araujo

ps: and please, Rockbox developer community, stop arguing so viciously
about the project. It is just a hobbie. Discussing in an educated
manner isn't that difficult , right?
Received on 2009-06-20

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