RE: DRIVEL: A suggestion

[owner-framers@xxxxxxxxx]

First of all, for those of you who don't know (since I did not hit "Reply
All" in a post to Scott Wagner), I signed off the list a coupla days ago. I
do not have the time to deal with pissy, snotty, aloof people with delusions
of grandeur and a piling-on mentality, nor the desire.

Most people on the list do not match the description I gave above. They are
kind, helpful, understanding, and private. Rather than making an effort to
put one publicly "in her place" for asking questions, they kindly
backchannel with real suggestions that HELP.

The others seem to be enjoying a joke at the expense of a person who
sincerely asks for help, and unfortunately, it seems to be human nature to
find responding to self-aggrandizing jerks almost irresistible.

Just because one person has an endless honeymoon going on with Frame doesn't
mean the same software isn't a Blind Date from Hell for someone else. To
respond to queries with, "Gee, I've used Frame for a billion years and I've
never had a problem with it; you must be stupid..." is NOT helpful. There's
not a piece of software in the world that hasn't given someone trouble. And
Frame is far from perfect--FAR from perfect. Way far. It's like using flint
and tinder to make fire instead of a match, and in addition to that, it does
inexplicable things, including NOT obeying standard commands. Neither the
books nor online help offer any specific suggestions to help. The Help
documents don't even list problems users encounter. It's as if Adobe is
consciously denying Frame can't do something by omitting the cure for the
problem from its index of Help Topics.

The mailing list is an enormous waste of time for me because those few
people who wish to humiliate the non-convert do so ON THE LIST. Public
insults, unless one is Gandhi, generally elicit a public defense or an
effort at an equally nasty insult. And, yes, contrary to what your mother
wants you to think, it DOES matter "who" started it.

Probably worst of all is this sense I get of suppression and censorship.
What right does one listmember have to tell another one to shut up, keep it
to herself, quit whining, suggest a person who complains should be banned
from a list? What an UGLY concept. In certain Third World countries, I'm
told this is commonly used to silence dissent. Apparently, it works.

This little microcosm here doesn't amount to a hill of beans in the entire
world. 2,000 people discussing software isn't going to make the short list
for the Nobel Prize. It would be better for the TRULY whiney, intolerant
listmembers who are finger-pointing to remember that three of their fingers
are pointing directly back at them while they're identifying the "problem"
people on the list.

But the bottom line for me is, I simply don't want to be associated with a
list where people are banned for complaining, even if heatedly, while the
smug, obedient, INSENSITIVE, fascistic minority sets the standard for
behavior.

You may forward this to the list if you wish. I have nothing further to say
or share here, although I'd be happy to receive kind, helpful letters from
people who have struggled and triumphed, or from people who believe the onus
is on Adobe to make SIMPLE changes that will make its software more
user-friendly and powerful.

Shalom--

Diane De Rooy


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