Chris I am the one responsible for introducing this thread to the list. If you want to point your finger of blame for straying of topic, point it directly at me. However, I will say that in reading through your rant, I couldn't help but notice, that you haven't learned all that you said you have. "... I've spent a great deal of time teaching myself how to learn. For me, this means learning to ask questions in a way ..." I suggest that you go back to the start of this thread,, read the initial post, and listen to what it says. You will here, "Although this is a little off topic, I felt that it kind of fit in with the latest talk about Free Programming Books." "So what is the lesson here?" You ask Chris. Well, part of asking good questions is listening to the answers. In the case of this thread, I provided you with the solution long before you went on your tirade. You should of heard "a little off topic" and from that point on when you heard the subject line "USA: Online book-sharing service for the blind borrows a page from Napster)" you automatically deleted the message without reading it. This would greatly speed up the time that it takes to read through your Email and reduce your frustration levels. As to the subject matter of the list, why not go to the speakup home page, and read it carefully to find out what the group is really about. http://linux-speakup.org There, I have said my bit. Oh yeah, Chris, if you don't like the messages that I post to the list, write yourself a filter to block all messages from me, and you won't hurt my feelings if you do! You can post a rebuttal if you like, but this all I am going to write on your unnecessary attack. Steve Dawes PH: (403) 268-5527. Mailto: sdawes at gov.calgary.ab.ca -----Original Message----- From: Chris Peterson [mailto:capeterson@xxxxxxxx] Sent: 2002 March 13 1:02 PM To: speakup at braille.uwo.ca Subject: list noise (was Re: FW: USA: Online book-sharing service for the blind borrows a page from Napster) Is this a list about linux or a list about speakup? If its a list about Linux, I don't need it. I was spacifically interested in learning about speakup, and the other projects associated with it. I thought this was the place to go for that. I thought this, because there are a number of other lists where this discussion might be appropriate. I've pasted in some info about them incase you weren't aware of them. The BLINUX Mailing Lists blinux-announce Topic: announcements dealing with blind support under Linux (new software, conferences etc.). Moderated list, no noise. Low number of posts. If you want to stay in contact with BLINUX. blinux-develop Topic: software development enabling the Linux user who is blind. This might be a place to go for a linux developer to write an unpack util for bookshare. Unmoderated list, currently really low traffic... blinux-list Topic: themes which contain the words Linux. and blind. For details please read the This might be a good place for this discussion. blinux-FAQ. Off topic: general Linux questions. Unmoderated list, high traffic - high noise. Postings to blinux-announce will be posted here. This might also be a good place for this discussion. I'm not trying to beat a dead horse here, but there are a lot of us who receive hundreds, if not thousands, of e-mails every day and we need to be able to go through them quickly. Thats why there isn't just a general mailing list that the entire world is on. It would be kaos. This is becoming kaos and I'm sure its not something Kirk has time to deal with and nobody is saying anything about it except me. Also, addressing the issue of starting a project with everybody in mind, let me tell you right now that it isn't possible. For one thing, to please everybody would mean that you'd never get off-the-ground. What about those people who are using some other Unix-like OS such as FreeBSD? What about those using dos? Or a Braille N Speak? Or an apple II? Or a Makintosh? Or a Comodor 64? Or an Amiga? Or an Atari? How about a Vax? (I do that at school once in a while)... The list goes on for ever and ever. Just because you're vocal about Linux doesn't mean that it should be a priority. The fact is, though, that it appears to be a priority. So, why are you wining about it? They're not trying to retrofit as you're referring to it. And, I get the distinct impression that you have very little knowledge of software development or web design. Btw, I've gone and read your web page and what I see there seems to varify this. This isn't a big deal and it doesn't mean that you don't have valuable input. However, it does mean that there are things about the process that you don't fully understand. I'm trying to help to explain some of them to you so you might be able to restructure your input to be of help to those in charge of the project. This isn't the same as adding a wheelchair ramp to a building that wasn't designed to have one. Personally, I know how that can fail badly. Writing software to support another OS isn't the same thing at all. It could be, though, if someone without the right experience tried to do it. You might get something like Word Perfect for Linux was. That would be bad... I think that is probably why they're trying to be careful about getting it done right. Regarding the web site. Your assuming that the web site was inaccessible because it had a message about IE 5.5 was the wrong approach. It would've been more helpful to ignore that message and determine if the site was really accessible, or not. Then you could go to the webmaster and explain why that message was wrong, or what you found to be broken so that he/she could fix the problem. I see, though, that you didn't even try before you complained. Why should someone give you any credibility if you don't have any evidence to support your case? I see that you're a teacher. What is needed, here, is for you to teach those involved how to make things better. Just complaining with no direction is not helpful to them. It would be like a student constantly saying "I don't get it", without explaining what they don't understand. You have to go through it over and over again, trying to figure out how to explain it in a way that your student will understand. This is frustrating for you and for the student. In the sam way, this discussion is frustrating to me, and to the rest of the list that hasn't participated in it. So far, I've counted four participants in this thread. Since I know there are more than four people on the list, I suggest that the discussion might not be appropriate here. Still, I am not a moderator and have no authority to make you move. Its just a suggestion. Now, let me explain some things about myself that may give me some particular credibility, or not... I am a college student. I've spent a great deal of time teaching myself how to learn. For me, this means learning to ask questions in a way that clearly explains how to teach a sighted professor how to teach me.
