>> > >...there are those who give and those who >> >like to take. I've a pretty good idea who the "takers" are and >> >ignore them. Which isn't as brutal or churlish as "I've got what >> >you want but you can't have it because you don't appreciate >> >help", but the result is ultimately the same - they are denied >> >what they want because of their demeanour >> >> Don't suppose you'd care to elaborate on that, would you? My own >> experience with such things is that on any mailing list you can probably >> divide people into about four categories: (a) Those who know everything, >> (b) those who know a lot, (c) those who know a little, and (d) those who >> know nothing. People in categories c and d will almost never >> respond. People in category b will respond to queries that are pretty >> much >> directly on point in their area of expertise. People in category a >> respond >> to everything, because they know everything. (That last sounds bitter -- >> it is not meant that way -- they really do know everything, and whether we >> like it or not every single mailing list is built around a few individuals >> of this type). >> >> John >> >I think that is a little simplistic. What about someone in category (a) or >(b) who can't spend the time required to answer many queries? Chances are >people on (a) may have fairly high pressure jobs. My experience is exactly >what Jinx has said. Those that post in a concise and polite manner and have >done at least some groundwork themselves before posting a question are most >likely to get an answer. > >Mike I probably fall somewhere around (c) in knowledge. I try to post questions only after due research. I still haven't figured out how to search the piclist archives successfully, but I do keep trying. Sometimes I get great answers, sometimes my posts seem to be ignored. I try to respond to others questions if I think I may be able to help, but I am a bit reluctant to do so, as my coding skills are primitive compared to many others on this list. This is in part from a lack of experience, but also because I strive for "easy to understand" over "minimum cycles/space used". This change happened when I began teaching a few years back. I gain a great deal from this list, and may sometimes forget to thank those who feed my knowledge. My bad. Earlier today I responded to "Byte to Digits" with the code I use for that purpose. Later responses by others showed me other approaches. I read, I learn, I slowly get better at this. I sometimes wish the list were friendlier to people with stupid questions, but that would probably lower the expertise level of those willing to respond. Recent health problems have kept me out of work and allowed lots more PIC time than usual. I have spent the whole week working on buffered USART code. I have tried so many different things my head is in a spin. Simple enough, if I could get things working right. The only examples of interrupt driven buffered USART code that I've found are from the Application Maestro, and I have worked with the author to identify bugs there, but so far, I can't fix it and his updates are not yet available. I figure if I can't distill the problem to something very small and specific, I probably shouldn't ask for PICList help. Since MPSIM doesn't do USART, I'm left to my own devices (or lack thereof). This is just one (current) example of how I try to limit my piclist queries to try and fit the format of the list. I do try to be a resource for others. When they are asking for something I can offer, I do so. I usually qualify my responses as "inefficient" or "simplstic", but I still offer whatever I can. Just my midnight ramblings. No offense intended to anyone. Lyle -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.