[lug] courtesy, sarcasm, and Free Software

[Davide Del Vento]

Folks,
I believe there are some serious misunderstandings on the messages
that I wrote to the list, and thus I'm trying to clarify.
Let me repeat again that I am *not* a native speaker, and thus my
messages should be interpreted as a matter-of-fact
as-literally-as-possible way. I don't use any sarcasm, irony, or
not-explicit-way of saying something. If you think that I did, well
that's involuntary and unintended. I sincerely apologize if that's
happened - please re-read my messages and disregards this "hidden" and
unintended meaning.

I have troubles understanding something not-explicit-written, and thus
I might be misunderstanding other's posts which I'm replying below. If
that's the case, I sincerely apologize again, but I believe that what
follows (especially the conclusion) applies anyway.

First, Tom and others (David and Rob, I believe) seem to imply that I
am "bad" because I use this evil non-free email system called gmail,
and I recommend using it to others. I agree that's doing so is a
fault, but consider what follows:

1) I am FSF member and I send to them my hard earned cash every year,
despite that I'm the only one who works in my family and I have 3.5
mouths to feed. Do you?

2) this is called *Linux* user group, not *Free Software* user group.
In fact, almost all Linux distributions are considered Non-Free by the
FSF and for good reasons. I wish I could only use only Free software,
but as you know, that's highly unpractical. The best thing we can do
is to use as much Free software as possible and contribute (in money
or code) so that more will be available in the future, in the hope
that some day we can use a fully functional 100% Free operating system
and applications.

3) I have and use *only* Linux machines, both at home and at work
(despite the preference of my employer for windows and mac). I think
that's more appalling using a mac than using (and recommending) gmail,
especially on a *Linux* user group. Especially when this mac user has
words on my support of free software! (ok, on a *Free Software* user
group they would be evil in the same way)

4) I also push my employer very hard on several issues (like ban
extensive use of content in proprietary flash h.264 format)

5) Yes, in my first message I recommended gmail, but in my second I
clarified that also Thunderbird would have managed those messages ok.
Tom, what client are you using that give you troubles? The headers
don't say. I hope that's not a proprietary mac mail reader!

6) I'll pass on Tom's sarcasm about Italy, because I hate that country
(that's part of the reason why I left), so it doesn't touch me at all
- I was mentioning it just to continue his comparison about mail
formatting and natural languages, and my point was simply: things
change, so you should change too.

7) about my "lack of courtesy", consider that:

7a) about my "cannot be bothered", there is surely something I can do
(e.g. bottom-posting instead of top-posting), but I will not just do
everything people ask. For example, I will never-ever cut-and-paste
and use an external editor. You might thing that I'm unreasonable, but
doing so it's like if I ask you to use a typewriter instead of your
mail client to type messages, then scan, then OCR, then cut-and-paste!
I'm not exaggerating: in my workflow I start writing a message on a
machine, I move somewhere else I continue to write on a second one,
and possibly send it from a third computer. And maybe my 1-year-old
unplug the power from the UPS in one of the steps! Good luck with the
cut-and-paste!

7b) Tom didn't say "please do such and such because my fine free
software mail reader has troubles", but he just wrote a rant. If you
write a rant, you don't expect people reply with courtesy in response!

7c) even if Tom had written a courtesy request, it was flawed: the
issue of "posting policies" has been already discussed in this list,
without any conclusion, because everybody has his/her own preferences
(top/bottom posting, quote more/quote less issue, change/don't change
subject) and every choice has its pros and cons, there isn't a real
"best" choice as Tom argues. If he has strong feelings about his
choices being "the best", he should ask the listowner to mandate them
(or make a poll among the list subscribers). Then, I'll follow the
guidelines as strictly as possible - and if the guidelines will say
"don't use gmail" I'll simply not post, as I guess several other
members will do.

In conclusion, if you think that I don't deserve being in this group
(because I use and recommend gmail, and/or because I lack of courtesy,
or because I'm just not good enough to read/write messages, or for
whatever other reason), just say so and I'll eagerly quit and leave
you in peace.

Regards
Davide