On Sun, Mar 20, 2011 at 9:41 PM, Sergey Dryga wrote: > RussellMc gmail.com> writes: > >> >> > Unfortunately I feel as if Olin has >> >> While it seemed likely that Olin was a catalyst for this thread it >> wasn't stated =A0specifically. >> >> While I agree in general with the gist of what you are saying I don't >> agree wholly with the specifics. >> >> The Olin you describe is the one you meet on many occasions but not >> the only one. Olin, or maybe the other =A0Olin, can be, in my >> perception, "just plain helpful", generous and open with his time and >> advice and generally above reasonable reproach. But, you can't count >> on it. >> > > Have anybody noticed lately (over last 2-3 yr) how many conversations tur= n from > technical Q&A to what could be called "Olin bashing", almost universally = ignited > by the non-technical aspects of Olin's answers to technical questions? = =A0I > suggest that we utilize an engineering approach to this problem. > > The problem: noisy communication channel. > Solutions: > 1) reduce noise at source (translation: people, please respect other peop= le); > 2) install band-pass filter (translation: people, before answering to an > inciting post, think if it will contribute something positive to the list= .. -- schnipp -- ACK The best only possible solution that could ever happen is to keep the subject of the post intact. ie, do not stray away from the subject of the post to other aspects eg: "It would work like this, but if you don't know Y, you aren't fit to ask that question". If one is prompted to write such a post, the best option for that person is to sit on their hands and let some time fly away on it. After a while, even one were to write an offending reply; he would have thought (in that time space) "how silly it is to fight on the internet with too many a people, even people whom one barely knows". Also, another aspect is Topic switch within the same thread, this just again incites additional noise alone. After a while, if necessary create a new thread, rather than causing heavy threads. The problem is that any information if a newcomer has to search the archive; he just has to search tons of just all these Off topic things within the same thread. "Data is good, only if it is organized properly, else garbage" Some people argue that they have been with ages, on ML's but the quality of the posts are quite bad, due to the above said reasons. The point is: If one can contribute only noise, just mute the signal. Keep the SNR high at the source itself (foolish to think that the Noise gets reduced in the communication channel or at the destination). My 2c Best Regards, Manu --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .