[G4] Upgrading a Sawtooth

[lavode at attbi.com]

> on 4/14/03 9:49 PM, Tracker at aol.com at Tracker at aol.com wrote:
> 
> > In a message dated 4/14/2003 4:09:20 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> > lavode at attbi.com writes:
> > 
> >> 
> >> Rich and Alberto, I appreciate the advice, but there are two things which I
> >> do 
> >> NOT want to discuss here:
> >> 1.  Macs vs. PCs
> >> 2.  Whether to upgrade or not.
> >> 
> >> Please do not discuss these issues under this topic, and limit your 
comments
> >> to 
> >> answering the actual questions, which were:
> >
> > MY question here is: Who are you to dictate what subjects may or may not be
> > discussed on this bulletin board? 

I am not dictating.  As you will read above, I indicated that I did not "want 
to discuss" the other topics, and I politely ("please") requested that the two 
respondants answer the question I had stated.  I was only requesting, and 
making my desires known.

> >Are you the board moderator or what?

I am a list member only.

> > I do not remember seeing your return email address as the HMFIC here.

You are correct.

> > I regard your authoritarian statement as restricting someone else's right to
> > learn by asking "dumb" questions and receiving "intelligent" responses from
> > people who have experienced similar or identical situations in their 
computer
> > usage.

I don't see how, since the two posts I responded to were not asking questions, 
they were debating whether or not to upgrade, and one post looked like it would 
turn into a "Mac vs. PC Battle."  If there had been questions, I would have 
welcomed them.  In fact, being a new G4 owner, I considered my original 
questions on the topic to be "dumb."

> > I do not currently own a G4 (I am saving from my retirement checks to be 
able
> > to buy one someday soon), but I feel that I am learning quite a bit about 
G4s
> > and their problems by following the messages on this board. Do you say that 
I
> > should not be reading and commenting to the messages because I don't have my
> > G4 yet?

Not in the slightest.  However, there are some relevant passages from the 
Netiquette section of LEM that I believe were the issue:

"Change the subject line when the subject of the thread changes."

As I was asking how to upgrade a Sawtooth, debating whether to upgrade it or 
not seemed off-subject to me, as the question was not whether or not to upgrade 
it, but rather, "Now that I have decided to upgrade, how do I do it?" As a 
result, I thought the ensuing debate should have had a subject line change.

"These are Apple lists -- don't advocate PCs. Sure, they have their place in 
the world, but pushing PCs here is asking for trouble. Such posts usually fall 
under the categories of flaming or trolling. We don't want that here, so stick 
to Macs."

It seems obvious to me that one of the poster's claim that PCs are better was 
an instance of Trolling, and I did not want my question to become lost in a 
flame war.

> > Isn't that a bit dictatorial of you? 

You're assuming that I would answer "Yes" to your previous question.  
Therefore, I am not trying to be dictatorial, I am trying to focus a 
conversation and get my questions answered.

> >I think you should reconsider your
> > statement and offer some response that isn't so harsh.

I apologize that my response was misconstrued.  I believe I was being tactless, 
but everything I said was completely justified.  I'm sorry to be so blunt, and 
I will try to not offend in my posts.  I hope that when misunderstandings arise 
they are resolved with cool heads and patience.  Thank you for bringing this to 
my attention so I could have a chance to clear the air.  I hope that no one 
else on the list was not offended by my remarks, especially the posters I 
responded to.  If there was offense, I apologize.

I invite anyone on the list to email me privately about this.  As I am new, I 
am grateful for the patience of the membership in these situations.

Thanks to all,
Lavode