Re: WHEN WILL THE LIST SERVER BE FIXED?
Re: WHEN WILL THE LIST SERVER BE FIXED?
- Subject: Re: WHEN WILL THE LIST SERVER BE FIXED?
- From: Cal <email@hidden>
- Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 02:56:35 -0500
For the last year, I've been coaching people in relationship
interactions. In November, I began leading workshops on inner growth
and relationship.
After nine years of watching and participating in discussions on
AppleScript lists (beginning with AppleLink), I'm worn out. One of
the problems I see with Internet mailing lists is that some people
choose to communicate in a way that they never would if they were
standing right in front of them. Is this is the way they treat
people in their lives? Perhaps in childhood, but as adults,
generally not. From what I can see, for some people, using the
Internet seems to give them carte blanche to behave unaccountably.
To me, this feel harsh, and after a while, I don't want to
participate. What amazes me is that people put up with the harshness.
Let's take what just happened with (to, actually) Chuq, for example.
Yes, he's overworked...yes, if you step on his tail feathers, he's
act ruffled (who wouldn't?)...yes, he and others don't always see I
to eye. And...so what! -- he's a human being, deserving of respect
and dignity. I wonder how pounding on him will change anything --
other than triggering his protector (sorry, that's Jungian
psyche-speak).
Think of this mailing list as this large bunch of people, sitting in
your living room -- it's a collective dynamic, yet there's a direct
one-on-one aspect to communicating this way.
I'm not suggesting that people wouldn't express an emotion or their
passion, but if you have a charge on something, I would suggest that
each person makes an effort to hold back just a little while. (This
is the part that seems to be hard for some people, just to sit back
and not immediately express a knee-jerk reaction.) If you do want to
express your displeasure at something someone says or does, I'd
suggest thinking about how to express it in a way that's likely to
encourage them to move towards what you want. (In Chuq's case, his
hands are bascially tied.)
In summary, I invite everyone to treat others as they would want to be treated.
Incidentally, some of you might not know that Chuq has written
AppleScript scripts in the past. So he has at least some idea about
the language issues. (I met Chuq a few years ago when I made a
presentation at Apple.)
But you imply here that the problem is somehow a
"cosmetic" issue -- and that's dead wrong. Especially for new scripters,
it's a real functionality issue. For some of us, unmangling is a nuisance;
for newcomers, it's often an impossibility.
Chuq, this turns out to be a fairly accurate statement. Having
continuation characters appearing as commas, or having them replaced
with other character sequences, or seeing "watch out for the wrap"
notes all through a script, etc. causes new scripters a lot of
trouble when they try to run script fragments that they copy and
paste from the list.
And now back to scripting...
With compassion,
Cal