Re: Those IT guys are loony

On Fri, 16 Mar 2007, Royce Williams wrote:

> I think that Bryan's original point was one of inclusivity, and not
> incompatible with the goals you're describing, Arthur. When he spoke
> of 'no particular focus', I think that he didn't mean 'no goals' as
> much as he meant 'no limits' and, perhaps, 'no ax to grind.'

That's fine as far as that goes, but I think that apathy and complacency are
the natural enemies of change, and I get the impression that more people
than not would like to keep the status quo.

> A good Linux group (off of the top of my head) works towards the
> common goals of advancing Linux, solving problems, improving their own
> skills, helping to improve the skills of others -- and fostering the
> Linux 'way' if you will: take it apart, do it yourself, get under the
> hood, make things easier for yourself when appropriate, prepare for
> contingencies, make things work in a variety of circumstances, strive
> for improvement, leverage your work by sharing it with others, swap
> war stories, etc. Members will be more involved in some of the above
> at any given time, while others will be involved with others -- and
> those balances will naturally shift over time. I think that that's
> pretty much what you were saying.
>
> Maybe we could build some bridges by having some presentations on the
> pros and cons of various distros -- as long as the group agrees to
> make any criticism constructive and sans rancor. I think that a bit
> of a walkthrough of Linux From Scratch would be interesting, too --
> might get us back to our roots a bit.
>
> I think that we have more opinions in common on this topic than it may
> appear from reading the posts. :) Many of us come from geek
> backgrounds in which we have hard-won opinions, and its is often hard
> to shake loose to see the other side of the argument -- for all of us.
> If we strive to remember that at one time or another we have all been
> arrogant, have all been newbies, and have all been wrong for
> understandable reasons, then we can keep our group (and personal)
> cores solid -- even as the tide of membership ebbs and flows. Call it
> our Linux 'chi' if you will. :)

At this point I think any "distro" classes would still end up as emotional
crap, rather than a true technical discussion. Personally, I think what
might help is an actual mentoring program. Older guys spending a few hours
a week helping younger ones work through various projects (DNS, mail,
kerberos, etc.). Personal e-mail support during the week, etc. I think we
need to get a) the spirit of volunteerism flowing again, and b) get people's
mental machinery moving once more. At all levels.

Anyone have any use for something like that?

We've been down the presentation road before, and I don't think the group
stuff really works (at least in the current environment).

         --Arthur Corliss
           Live Free or Die
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Received on Fri Mar 16 22:17:33 2007