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X-Authentication-Warning: slinky.cs.nyu.edu: pechtcha owned process doing -bs
Date: Wed, 21 May 2003 23:05:02 -0400 (EDT)
From: Igor Pechtchanski <pechtcha AT cs DOT nyu DOT edu>
Reply-To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
To: "Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc.)" <lhall AT rfk DOT com>
cc: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Subject: Re: Setup.exe sugestion/annoyance
In-Reply-To: <3ECC2C39.8000707@rfk.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.44.0305212302320.26639-100000@slinky.cs.nyu.edu>
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On Wed, 21 May 2003, Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc.) wrote:

> Igor Pechtchanski wrote:
> > On Wed, 21 May 2003, Steve Fairbairn wrote:
> >
> >>>-----Original Message-----
> >>>From: Christopher Faylor [mailto:cgf-rcm AT cygwin DOT com]
> >>>Sent: 21 May 2003 15:33
> >>>To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
> >>>Subject: Re: Setup.exe sugestion/annoyance
> >>>
> >>>Primer on how not to get free software problems fixed:
> >>>
> >>>1) Download free software.
> >>>
> >>>2) Notice that the free software doesn't work exactly the way you want.
> >>>
> >>>3) Assume that the reason the free software doesn't work the way you
> >>>   want it to is because someone is missing something very obvious.
> >>>   Do no research to prove that theory.  Assume that you are the
> >>>   very first person to notice the problem and decide to scold
> >>>   the free software developers.
> >>>
> >>>4) Send offended email.
> >>>
> >>>5) Receive email from developer telling you why things work the way
> >>>   they do.
> >>>
> >>>5) Respond in insulting fashion to the developer who volunteers time to
> >>>   work on free software.
> >>>
> >>>6) Speculate, while doing no research, that the bug in the free software
> >>>   program is probably fixable by using a proprietary software product
> >>>   available for purchase for many $$$.
> >>>
> >>>6) Suggest that bug in free software was purposely introduced.
> >>>
> >>>7) Wait for problem to be fixed, basking in the warm knowledge that you've
> >>>   done everything possible to help the volunteer developers of the free
> >>>   software.
> >>
> >>Why isn't this is the FAQ?  I've found usability bug in the FAQ that'd only
> >>take the FAQ maintainer seconds to change, by loading it up in Microsoft
> >>Word XP, copy and pasting this into it, making it produce new HTML, and
> >>saving.
> >>
> >>What a crime against humanity this is.
> >>
> >>Steve Fairbairn.
> >
> >
> > Ah, yes, perhaps we should have an "Answers For Dummies" section of the
> > FAQ (external, I bet) that repeats all the answers to dummy questions and
> > statements, like CGF's answer above, and the sample question/statement
> > kindly supplied by Steve.  We might have to distribute it compressed,
> > though, as it's likely to fill up with junk pretty quickly.  In fact, we
> > should probably have a paid subscription to it. ;-)
> >       Igor
>
> How about a ticker line at the top and bottom of the Cygwin home page
> that continuously scrolls a series of questions and answers ad nauseam?
> Or maybe we need a Flash pane that would pummel folks with frenetic,
> cascading questions and answers in multi-colored text in varying fonts
> and point sizes?  That should be an attention grabber, no?  I'm sure it
> will distract folks actually trying to *read* the web page but there can't
> be more than 2 or 3 of those so it wouldn't be a big deal, right?
>
> Oh and I don't think there should be more than 4 questions that comprise
> this barrage.  I know it seems like a small number but if you review the
> archives, I think you'll find that this will actually fill the need quite
> well.  Of course, if that's overwhelming for some, we can have a "premium"
> service that trims out the fat for a fee.
>
> Wha'd ya think?

Exactly.  Have a special (walled off, of course) area of the site devoted
to this stuff, with a link from the main page, something like "If you are
about to send an obnoxious message or make an indignant demand on the
cygwin mailing list, please click here first"...  Requiring registration
on that area of the site might also be a good selling point...  We can
distribute the FOQ (frequent obnoxious questions) mentioned above from
there as well... ;-)
	Igor
-- 
				http://cs.nyu.edu/~pechtcha/
      |\      _,,,---,,_		pechtcha AT cs DOT nyu DOT edu
ZZZzz /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_		igor AT watson DOT ibm DOT com
     |,4-  ) )-,_. ,\ (  `'-'		Igor Pechtchanski
    '---''(_/--'  `-'\_) fL	a.k.a JaguaR-R-R-r-r-r-.-.-.  Meow!

"I have since come to realize that being between your mentor and his route
to the bathroom is a major career booster."  -- Patrick Naughton


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