Outages, Snipping & Other Miscellany

[Paul Schulte <paul.k.schulte@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

As I subscribe to digest versions of all lists I'm on, I didn't notice any
particular slowness in "Brad's list" as it's being called. (That's why I
continue to campaign for better differentiation between the names of the
two lists.) I'd like to suggest one possible reason why traffic was slower:
The FrameUsers Conference. Doesn't it make sense that when many power users
who contribute many of the answers (and sometimes even the questions) were
otherwise pre-occupied that list traffic would slow down? You must remember
that The FrameUsers Conference was planned well before this new list began
life. So even for those who would only prefer this list and eventual
website -- they were stuck if they had committed.

Some comments about "the outage" seem to suggest that every problem is
intentional. Then I submit that every hardware/software problem, bug,
crash, configuration, etc. is intentional. Why? They are all done by
fallible humans. Computer code does what the code-writer intended it to do,
and sometimes many things the code-writer didn't even understand that it
could do. So let's investigate a little further before we flame on this.
(An example follows further down in this post re: Jeremy's digest editing.
It explains the well-intentioned manual, intentional, intervention.)

I'd like to ask -- does Free Framers wish to plan anything of the sort in
competition? Or with a different focus? I ask because I lead the Upper
Midwest FrameMaker Users Network (UM-FUN) and want my user members to know
of all the possible options for FrameMaker training, support, camaraderie,
etc.

snip

> You
*did* make one cross-post, with no subject line, on Wed 10/14; it
appeared here one minute later, and on Brad's list two days later.

end snip

Unfortunately I've already zapped "Brad's" digests from that time period,
so I can't completely verify this in the digest form. I have seen
cross-posts show up much faster generally in "Brad's" digest. And now I
know one reason for such delay: (snip)

> [Note from Jeremy:  Lots of juicy full quotes gobbled this time.
Yum yum.  Try to be considerate of our friends who pay per-minute,
everybody, please, and trim them yourselves...]

(end snip)

Good advice too frequently forgotten or ignored. But before one gets too
harsh on this matter, one must remember that many users of email have no
idea of the complexities involved. Users will learn to do a task one way
and assume that this is the only way the task can be done. And way too many
of these users haven't a clue about different email programs and protocols.
(Don't get me started here -- I would advocate many people shouldn't be
allowed to touch a computer without more training, much more training.)
While many IS/IT types also preach Jeremy's advice, even they too often
mess up and fail to follow it.

And we must commend Jeremy for doing this hand-work. It's never ending,
because new users come on-line every day. I know I don't have the patience
to perform this kind of task so enthusiastically.

This brings me back to a request I've made, and which in light of Jeremy's
hand editing, seems even more reasonable: Adding a TOC to the digest. Every
other digest I'm on uses this nice little feature. "Brad's" digest even
includes the "byline?" (if I can use that phrase for [by "blank" [email
address>]). With this feature, I know whether the topic and/or byline
interest me enough to peruse the message and replies. But even for the
several pdf lists I'm on, I use the TOC to decide what posts to read and
not read. It's an incredible time saver! (There's more than one to filter
email.)

I have been giving this new list the benefit of the doubt and will continue
to do so for quite a while as start-ups take some time to establish
patterns. Let's try to turn this "Free Framers" into the higher-end list
that many envisage.

Paul
paul.k.schulte@medtronic.com

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