console hang, was RE: [plug] reiserfs

[Dennis Plester]

Maybe Mike should have rephrased his email a little differently. Rather than
saying, "you are stuck in the windoze mentality", he could have said, "have
you tried <insert useful tip here>? You might not need to reboot your PC
like you are probably used to in Windows.", rather than a blunt, easily
misinterpreted response.

</rant mode on>

Perhaps I read too much into the tone of his email, but if that's the case,
I'm not the only one. I've had something like 10 emails sent to me off list
over night from others, suggesting that Mike's response was probably not
appropriate. Some of my friends who are dyed in the wool Windows sufferers
have stayed away from Linux because of a perceived arrogance from Linux
veterans, and an intolerance amongst Linux circles to newbies, especially
those who have come from Windows. I know that this is not true, but we need
to be careful how we phrase our replies to the bleeding obvious. If PLUG
doesn't want to tolerate the inexperienced, they should not promote
installfests and the PLUG list as a resource for newcomers.

</rant mode off>

Later,

Dennis.

	-----Original Message-----
	From:	Christian [SMTP:christian at amnet.net.au]
	Sent:	Friday, 8 December 2000 9:04
	To:	plug at plug.linux.org.au
	Subject:	Re: console hang, was RE: [plug] reiserfs

	On Fri, Dec 08, 2000 at 08:00:20AM +0800, Dennis Plester wrote:
	> No, not at all Mike. It can't be possibly as drastic as hitting
the reset
	> button!
	> Linux doesn't always have to be so serious Mike!

	I think Mike was just trying to suggest a possibility that you gave
no
	indication you had tried or even thought of.  A lot of people when
	coming to Linux have the habit of rebooting in order to try and
correct
	problems simply because Windows has conditioned them to think that
way.
	(Of course, ironically, most problems in Linux will still exist
after
	the reboot the same as they did before it -- it's just THAT damn
	reliable!)  When you gave no indication that you'd considered the
	possibility then it perhaps suggested you were coming from a Windows
	background and hadn't thought of what may have been a time-saving
and
	valuable tip.

	Regards,

	Christian.