Mike Hall said:
Hope you guys spoon fed him with an e-mail too.. the chances of him
returning to this thread are zero or less..
<rant>
I participate in the newsgroups and that's is where I continue the
discussion. I don't take it offline unless it would be something
harmful, like disclosing how to easily corrupt the registry or otherwise
render the OS or an application useless or destructive. I don't
participate in sensitive newsgroups, like rape, whistleblowing, warez,
cracking, or such. It is rare that any discussion in which I
participate is so sensitive that it must be taken offline via e-mail, so
rare, in fact, that I don't recall having to take a discussion offline.
I have no inclination to actively reveal my true e-mail address to an
unknown recipient who might be a spammer posing as a user asking a
question (i.e., they aren't going to read or harvest the replies but
they'll get it if you e-mail them direct from their phishing post).
Spammers would much prefer YOU give them a usable e-mail address than
have to harvest a bunch of them where many are invalid, missing, or
munged. I have no desire to make it easy for the phishing spammer. The
guy had enough wherewithal to figure out how to post here, so he has the
wherewithal to read here. The OP should expend *some* effort to acquire
the resolution; otherwise, they shouldn't bother to post in the first
place. This is venue in which they requested help.
The OP can request. I can still say no. It's still my choice, just
like it's their choice not to revisit here to check for answers. Most
excuses don't wash as to why they demand to take the discussion offline
via e-mail. "I'm too busy." Uh huh, but not apparently too busy to
read all the e-mailed replies. How much of a time differential is there
between reading the e-mails and revisiting the newsgroup? If the poster
doesn't have time or willingness to expend some effort to review the
possible solutions for THEIR problem, why did they bother to expend the
effort to post? "I don't know how to use usenet." Then how'd they
manage to submit their post? "My newsfeed is unreliable." Then get a
different one, like Teranews for free ($3.95 one-time signup fee), or
use a webnews-for-dummies interface (Google Groups, Microsoft CDO), or
use a free NNTP server, like individual.net (text-only, no attachments)
or msnews.microsoft.com for Microsoft topics. "Messages offering
thanks, jibes, or congratulations should not waste space on the
newsgroups server, so send those by e-mail". I don't need applause;
however, a return by the OP indicating if a solution worked or not may
help others that search on the same problem (did it solve their problem,
did it meet their need, was it applicable, was there closure).
If here is where they post then here is where I reply. Personally I am
not into spoon-feeding lazy children (which is not necessarily measured
by age). Oooh, aren't I cantankerous. If you have the compunction to
spoon-feed them, go for it and enjoy.
http://www.html-faq.com/faq.php?category=etiquette&fid=160
http://www.newbie.net/tgos/newbie/rules.html, Usenet Guidelines, point
#2.
Share! My replies rarely need to be privatized and, of course,
everything I say is of interest to the newsgroups. (SPLAT! I just blew
up from a super-inflated ego.)
</rant>
