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I don't feel for that guy (Score:2)
Not to be too juvenile, but I'd have to say he started it. His first substantive comments are:
"Wordpress can't process it's own RSS feeds" followed by "its nuts". That could be seen as a bit provocative, and is bound to get a bad response.
The right way to do this would be to say something like ...
"It seems like Wordpress can't process it's own RSS feeds", "I have a standard WP-MU install, and when I do X I get this error: ..."
Straightforward description of the problem, with relevant details and an error message. No accusing tone, no "this thing is broken" implication.
OTOH, the responder was just as much a dick, but I think when you're providing support for free, you get a little more leeway.
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Whether providing tech support for free gives you leeway is bollocks or not, Dave’s central point is correct: the asker should have provided all relevant information and kept his tone neutral. At worst that would have given him a leg to stand on when complaining about the treatment he got; at best it would have gotten him the help he needed.
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(And this is cold, results-oriented thinking, not even social competence. A robot would figure out that the most effective possible course of action is not to immediately drive the conversation into a ditch.)
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hfb, true, which is why I tend to write "it doesn't work for me." Then they can feel free to blame you at first, and will be more likely to try to point out where you went wrong, and be more willing to accept blame themselves when they find out it was really their fault. :-)
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He is also doing too much of a "kick me" with his, "Hand me the abuse, as long as I get the answer" attitude.
Were I in his position I would have started off with, "I can't get Wordpress to process its own RSS feeds." Then, "It keeps telling me, 'Could not find an RSS or ATOM feed at that URL.'" "I've read the documentation and tried everything I can think of." If nobody responds to that then follow up with, "Does anyone have any ideas?"
He thinks he knows how to handle technical people. I think he's mist
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Yup, I'd find him pretty annoying if he whined like that on a channel for a project I used.
I've done it myself a couple of times, and felt stupid afterwoods, but at least I have the good sense to know at least the basics of what I'm using and being able to provide useful information.
The main problem is that he clearly has no idea of how to troubleshoot problems - why is he doing this kind of stuff ? He's going to always have a hard time because 90% of IT is troubleshooting pro blems like that.
@JAPH = qw(Hacker Perl Another Just);
print reverse @JAPH;
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He is also doing too much of a "kick me" with his, "Hand me the abuse, as long as I get the answer" attitude.
No kidding! I'm not impressed by the self-deprecation. It wouldn't make me treat a guy badly, but it does make it hard to take him seriously. At worst, it makes me think "He thinks I'm a jerk." It could be construed as a subtle insult.
And the "I'll proclaim you God" crap would be religiously offensive to me if I were still the kind of guy who got offended religiously. (Calling myself God would be blasphemy in my religion, so calling me that is NOT a compliment to me in any way, shape, or form.) When y
J. David works really hard, has a passion for writing good software, and knows many of the world's best Perl programmers
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It could be construed as a subtle insult.
Given that the guy went out and posted this rant afterward, I'm inclined to believe it WAS a subtle insult. He was saying, "Yes, I know you guys are social cretins who aren't capable of treating anyone nicely." That appears to be what he believes. He wasn't willing to give them the same grace he wanted, forgiveness for acting like a jerk. He admits he acted like a jerk, and he expects it to be sweetly overlooked. So why can't he sweetly overlook their problems?
His "Treat me like a jerk all you want, as
J. David works really hard, has a passion for writing good software, and knows many of the world's best Perl programmers
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Finally, you have to realize what it's like to be on the developer side of things. Why should you answer someone'
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I agree with you. This guy got himself into trouble for wording things poorly (hint: don't use strong words if nobody on the channel knows you),
Hey, Ovid, I just wanted to come back and mention that as a result of this discussion, I reevaluated a non-technical online discussion that I had a couple of months ago and realized that I was at fault. It was just like jrockway says here: I showed up using strong words (not swearing or anything, but I was ranting, and I said so), and nobody knew me. They responded to my rant with anger, even though I wasn't ranting at them and expected sympathy. They bit my head off, misrepresented what I had said so th
J. David works really hard, has a passion for writing good software, and knows many of the world's best Perl programmers
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Yay. You may be better than me here. I'm still struggling with this :)
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J. David works really hard, has a passion for writing good software, and knows many of the world's best Perl programmers