Why we are all here (was Re: audio cd)

[Micah DesJardins]

IANALA (I am not a list administrator)
This is just me, as a user and member of this list sounding off on a
topic brought up on Michael's audio cd thread.

I'm thinking that we are all here because we have interest and
enthusiasm in Linux, Free and Open Source Software, and other Unix
type operating systems.

It is my hope that we are all here to learn from one another and to
teach one another.  I learn things from this list all the time and I'm
grateful to all of you for the knowlege, skills and experience that
you are willing to share with all of us.  How wonderful is it that
this many people are around in our local area who are into this stuff?
I think it's great.

Regarding list ettiquette.  To my knowledge (and I may be
misinformed?!), there are no formal guidelines for the PLUG list and
that suits me just fine.  We are small and informal enough that pretty
much anything goes.  The following is simply my opinion.  Your opinion
may vary, I have no interest in formalizing anything in terms of how
we all use this list.

I recognize Alex Dean's position that everyone's time is valuable and
that we should be considerate about what we send out to a mailing list
because in effect we are implicitly asking a large number of people to
read what we are saying.  I recognize Nathan and Bill's position that
inclusion and encouragement are more important than the signal to
noise ratio.  (However I submit that coming down on someone to prove
that coming down on someone is wrong is more than a little ironic.)  I
don't think there's anything wrong with encouraging people to post in
ways that are of greater benefit to everone on the list, but I don't
think we need to be heavy handed about enforcing any sort of policies
either (see top / bottom posting debacle in the archives ;) )

In general I'd say, all questions are worth asking! However I also
consider it polite to do your research.  To that end I encourage you
to use Google, use your distribution's documentation, and use the man
command religiously!  My experience is that people are generally more
than happy to help but it always leaves a good impression when someone
has made a demonstrated effort to find a solution before bringing it
to the list.  That said, if you don't even know where to start, if you
have no idea where you would find a solution for a problem that you're
having, please don't let that discourage you from asking!

So that's my opinion, what's yours?

Micah D