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I'm off ... that's a disturbing start, little Doc. I hope everything is OK with you. I really hope that you haven't got sick of us here at the forums. Your advice and assistance has been invaluable here, not just to me (when I had that sick in the stomach "oh dear I've really done it now" break) but to innumerable other users.
Please feel free to rant at any time.
I too hope you're ok. And I hope you don't mean you won't be here anymore, because I always liked to read your advice, and learned a lot of it.
I think, I'm sure, a lot of people here appreciate very much what you do.
I swapped a couple of emails with Birdy, and with his permission, post parts of them here for anyone, like myself, who may have been concerned about his sudden departure.
Quote:
.......Be that as it may - of course, it is annoying to see that a good portion of all posting to the Kubuntu forum would have never been written, if people weren't just too lazy to read
"the docs" and/or what had been posted previously.
But what really made me sick: some folks' private messages, plainly stating that I were obliged to solve their problems in due course (naturally free of any charge, just to mention
that, for this is what open source is all about, isn't it).
My decision to "step back", however, has been caused by the most ordinary of reasons: no more money to waste ... due to a disastrously failed attempt to sell Linux systems (that's
true irony, isn't it), I'm currently losing my business and family, read: horses - and with it any motivation to bother for other problems than how to stay alive, so to speak :-(
Birdy
End Quote.
And a well constructed (as always) rant:
Quote:
<rant>
Not at least due to major mistakes on the part of Canonical, most "Ex-Windozers" seem to believe that Linux essentialy is "the same s**t in a different wrapping" than what they were used to - which is as far off the mark as by any means possible. And on the basis of this totally absurd presumption, they don't even try to get an idea of what "open source" really is about: public collaboration; their interpretation looks more alike: the arrogant takes it all.
The Linux operating system as well as the applications running on it are being based on principles completely foreign to any (real) "Microsoftie": security (including transparency) and stability - by no means (so-called) user-friendliness at all costs ... which, in turn, means that to be able to handle a penguin appropriately, the human is supposed to make use of his own brain - unspeakable for the average Windoze user, indispensable for the Linux user.
</rant>
End quote.
And a last Quote:
... which, in turn, indicates my failure to be what I would call a "good" contributor - for if I had been, at least some folks would have realized that to really get the Linux idea, a dispensable computer is only the merest of prerequisites. Metaphorically speaking, it needs quite a lot more than a driving licence to get an idea of what makes a Porsche something special.
End of quote.
Again, I am personally sad that our forums have lost one of our better contributors for his very disappointing personal reasons.
It also shows that, somehow, we need to really impress on new users (and it took me a while when I was first at this new Linux thing) the need to do a good bit of searching for themselves before posting a question. I'm not sure how we could do this (listen to me, saying we). Perhaps under "Documentation" at the main page it could better explain to LOOK HERE BEFORE POSTING, thereby giving learners a few hints about where to look first?
I certainly don't want to be telling anyone how to organise the forums. They are already one of the best places to obtain assistance for Kubuntu, but we can't afford to lose people with Birdy's level of expertise.
That's my little rant for today. I hope little Doc. House would be pleased.
Thanks Lowey. As a personal survivor of a business failure & bankruptcy some 15 years ago, I sent Birdy what I hope was a message of some reassurance -- his great expertise must certainly be needed by folks who are willing to pay fair value to have access to it.
We will have to make it clearer than it already is, to search before asking. Even I get PMs from users with questions about Kubuntu. There is no reason for that since this is a public forum, and the purpose is to make one thread for all to read. Every post that has already been answered should be replied to with a link to the answer. I will make some sort of Bold announcement about searching prior to posting. Birdy: I am sorry about your misfortunes, and hope that you can recover in due time. Don't let it keep you down, and thanks for all of your help.
Open Source - That would be wonderful if something like that could be arranged. It will make it so much easier for new users to find an answer to their problems, while at the same time making it easier for everyone to help by not having to repeat a solution over and over again.
Thank you both (and Kubicle and Goeroeboeroe) for taking the time.
Ok I made an announcement. It now appears on the home page as well.
Nice, I hope that helps
Perhaps you could also make the 'search' option in the main menu bar stand out a bit more, like putting it next to the 'forum' link (and/or using different color on 'forum' and 'search' compared to the rest of the buttons, to indicate that these are the 'important buttons')
I also noticed that you tested putting a search field on the top of every page a while back, was that what was causing the posting problems, or why did you abandon it...it seemed like a nice feature to me.
The search form at the top, that I put on and took away, was causing posting problems. For some reason (I have no idea why), with the search box there, the posting button no longer worked. I would appreciate it if someone wants to make a better forum and search picture that stands out better. I don't have artistic abilities. Thanks.
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