On Fri, 21 Nov 2003 05:49:01 GMT, "Groggy"
wrote:

Let me clarify my post, I was referring to Dave specifically because of the
volume of posting he does. That many questions should demand some
forethought, if only as a simple act of consideration to the group.

In principle, I agree. In practice it doesn't bother me. I have 4
sons, ages 7-14, so I'm pretty good at filtering. I deal with people
almost 24/7, so I do a lot of it there as well. I guess the only type
of posts that really register with me any more are either the ones
with content or the ones with vitriol. The first because I want to
learn (or possibly help), the second because they offend me. I hadn't
ever considered Dave a high-volume poster, but it may be because I
haven't noticed who is writing what. Most of the time on this group I
read the messages without worrying about who wrote them, and since I
just hit 'next' if it seems like a pointless rant or petty bickering
those things really don't register.

Technology helps. I use the Agent newsreader, so my procedure is to
skim all the new thread titles and tag the ones that look interesting.
It will then retrieve all the messages in only those threads (and any
I have tagged previously) so I only see threads I'm interested in. If
It turns out to be of no interest I just un-tag it and it goes away.

I hope you realize that my previous rant wasn't aimed at you in
particular, you just happened to use the wrong phrase for my temper at
that particular moment.

At some point though, I think we should help those who help themselves a
little. By all means ask questions, but if you intend to ask hundreds of
them, please do some research first.

The key to the issue lies in your own statement

"...sometimes it is easier to just holler and see what others think about
it."

Again, sure, we all do that, human nature at work. After a few hundred posts
by the same person, it is also human nature to say "ok, enough", please do
some research yourself, then, if still stuck, ask away.

Kids are like that. After a while I tell them "look it up, that's why
we have 3 encyclopedias in this house". My personal Usenet equivalent
is to just not respond. Silence seems to me to do more to improve the
signal to noise ratio than telling someone to look it up, especially
since that almost always leads to off-topic arguing and rambling rants
like this one. I figure if no one answers the next time someone asks
"what is this hammer thing I got at a yard sale used for?" they will
give up here and actually go look it up.

Just to say *something* WW related, If all goes well I may get some
insulation and sheetrock in my shop tomorrow. That raises hope that by
Spring I may actually be able to use tools in it.

Tim Douglass

http://www.DouglassClan.com