On Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 5:17 PM, Olin Lathrop wrote: > M. Adam Davis wrote: >> A similar, possibly cliche, quote is, "Make sure everyone you talk to >> is better off for having talked to you." > > But back here in the real world, this is bad advice as a blanket statement. > Once you've decided part of the solution is to get the moron fired, you > clearly want him not to be better off after you talk. Honestly, if he's that bad at his job I can only imagine he'll be significantly better off in a different line of work, so as far as I'm concerned they would be better off having been told the truth about their skills. But you can _generally_ tell them the truth without adopting an offensive line of discussion. Regardless, I don't know the whole thing holds up when applied to the piclist. Can you tell with the simple messages people post here as newbies that they are truly stupid and should get lost (ie, fired from the list)? It's easy enough in a design review, but email messages don't communicate enough to tell whether the design is stupid because the person is incapable of learning the right way, or the person simply lacks the skills and experience to do it the right way but are otherwise interested and capable of learning. I must be thinking about this too much. I'm now travelling down the path of, "If people are devices, then they communicate using APIs. What are the characteristics of the API, and how to best communicate to get the device to perform the intended action, or incorporate the information into their memory." If only life were so simple. Unfortunately no one sticks strictly to the english dictionary, which would be a fine standard if people didn't color the words and phrases with their own perspective, connotations, experience, interpretation, etc. On the other hand.... hmmm... How Olin, would you mind publishing your API? If we get everyone to do this, then we can generate a translator and end all incompatibilites in one fell swoop! ;-D -Adam -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist