options to shrink-wrap a perl script

[Tad McClellan]

Geez, guys -- isn't that being just a bit rough?

^^^^
^^^^

Which "that" is that "that"?

Assuming it is what you quoted, then the "that" is the act
of killfiling someone.

Whether the killfiling was deserved or a "bit rough" depends on
what the killee did to "earn" such treatment. (I've quoted it below.)

(I'd have to say it was deserved, as I had already killfiled
him 3 days before the above-quoted posts were made.
)

(that is, assuming that "plonk" means to kill-list someone;

It does.

, just because he asked what PAR was,

He didn't "just" ask that, he added a poke with "ok, great..",
when all he had to do was spend 10 seconds Googling (instead
he took the 10 seconds to express his displeasure at *getting an answer*
to the question that he asked).

Looks to me like he was looking for a fight rather than looking
for his answer (or he has abysmal time-management skills), else
he would have had the complete answer in the same amount of time
that it took to complain about not getting the complete answer.

This has a negative long-term effect as it may encourage
NO answer rather than an answer for future posters.

I figure that the volunteer who answered his question had 3 choices:

1) Give a complete-ish answer in 20, 30, 60 seconds.

2) Provide a search term sure to lead to the problem's solution
in 5 seconds.

3) Skip to the next article and provide no help at all in zero seconds.


The OP's insistence that the volunteer give 60 seconds rather than
5 seconds seems likely to encourage choosing the zero-second alternative
for similar future questions.

And less people find answers.

The OP hurt the community. Becoming ostracized by the community
for such a "contribution" ought to be expected.

he got a somewhat high-handed
response

He reaped what he had sown. I don't find that surprising.

[ particularly if the other sub-threads in this thread are
considered. There it was basically one person who just
got here telling several people who have been here many
times that we aren't doing it "right". He didn't have
enough experience to know better, but he didn't let that
stop him from giving us instructions anyway.
]

-- and it escalated, small piece by small piece, from
there.

I think he would have been fine with the post that earned him
the above plonk he if had left out:

You have renewed my faith that there are people in this group capable
of demonstrating not only knowledge, but are interested in giving
complete and thoughtful answers.

Which I expect was a bit of venting from parts of this thread
not in the ancestry of _this_ sub-thread.

Well, let me back off a bit: you guys sure donate a *huge* amount
of time and brainpower to clpm, day after day after day -- so I guess
we mostly-lurkers here got to cut you some slack for a once-in-a-while
quick, angry response -- esp after an hours-long session of
answering all these posts!

With all that experience comes an ability to detect bad attitude
early on. At the 1st glimmer of such, I make a killfile entry
and move on to help a more deserving poster.

(even if I end up killfiling a "good" poster for one mess-up, there
will *still* be more posts for me to read than I want to read, so
it costs me nothing to ignore several dozen folks, even on a whim.
)

PS: just wondering -- when you *do* "plonk" someone,
is that like a death penalty (ie, permanent,
never removed),

Yes, for me at least (and I expect that I am typical).

to, every so often, to let them out

Nope.

In the 5 or 6 years that I've used a scorefile, I have only removed
four people from auto-ignoration.

And 2 of them were back in there within a month, teaching me that
it probably isn't worth it taking folks out in the first place.

-- but
on parole?

But I very occasionally "go slumming" down in the posts scored
below -5000 just to get reinforcement that the killfiling was
deserved, I am almost never disappointed though, so they generally
stay in.

 

[Alan J. Flavell]

Geez, guys -- isn't that being just a bit rough?

In the circumstances, it didn't seem unreasonable, actually. The
newbie did seem to be spoiling for a fight, instead of participating
in a constructive discussion. OK, so Abigail and Uri aren't the most
paternal of respondents, but that -should- have been clear to anyone
who had followed the group for at least a little while before starting
to post to it.

(that is, assuming that "plonk" means to kill-list someone;

Check the "jargon file" for details? It's a widely-used term on
usenet.

, just because he asked what PAR was, he got a somewhat high-handed
response -- and it escalated, small piece by small piece, from
there.

Well, quite. When you're the newcomer to a community, do you normally
throw your weight about; or make a bit of effort to fit in with the
way that the regulars like to do things?

PS: just wondering -- when you *do* "plonk" someone,
is that like a death penalty (ie, permanent,
never removed),

I can't speak for anyone else, but I have a bunch of killfile sections
which are used in rotation; from time to time I rotate the sections
and delete the oldest one. There's a special section for those who are
meant to stay permanently, but that's only rarely used.

Other folks prefer a rating system.