Confused - my take

[Everett Cox]

(Mike-- I hope you don't leave the forum.)

To all--
There have been a few postings which provided 'tips' or other computer related info to which our moderator has taken exception. That, in turn, has confused some of us since this is, after all, a 'computers' forum. Jack elected not to make public his reasons for closing a recent thread, so perhaps he'll allow me to comment.

It is true that this is not a 'generalized' computer forum. We may assume that b0b included this section because many players use a computer and sometimes need basic assistance in performing common tasks with the machine. With the wide variety of operating systems (different versions of Windows, for instance), hardware, and software, 'common' quickly loses any meaning. Add to that, the equally wide variance in computer knowledge possessed by individual forumites and it becomes clear that our moderator must exert considerable 'control' to keep things manageable.

Many of us do not have enough technical expertise to properly frame a question or to fully understand an in-depth answer. Thus, a small problem can easily become a major catastrophe. There are, indeed, many good sources of computer related help available on the internet. The Ziff-Davis folks maintain excellent forums and news-groups as well as 'help' articles at www.zdnet.com. They also have an extensive library of free and commercial software. Nearly all the applications we use have 'help' pages on the author/distributor maintained web sites. Using 'Google' or one of the other search engines, one can find info on almost any subject.

BUT!!!

We have to know that the undesired behavior of our machine is, in fact, a 'problem' that can be fixed rather than 'normal' (I know of no major software that does EVERYTHING I want - the WAY I want!). We must know what question to ask. We must know whom to ask. We must know, know, know....... -- and most of us don't! So it's nice to have a place we can pose a 'dumb' question without feeling too ignorant or to tell others of some neat thing we just found.

That is why I wish to continue to see 'tips' and other suggestions posted to this forum. Although I have been a paid 'expert' on some of the computer forums and spent 30+ years with the Fed Gov't operating, programming, and developing systems, there is MUCH still to learn. Frequently, this 'computers' section that b0b and Jack provide, contains a post with a really useful piece of information of which I was unaware or had not understood. There are several computer 'savvy' forumites that have offered up 'jewels' that I greatly appreciate.

While I do understand the balance and control a good moderator must maintain, I also believe questions and helpful responses should be ENcouraged rather than DIScouraged. (Even 'tips' that someone thought might be useful or interesting.) ---My $1 (inflation!). --Everett

[b0b]

We often get questions from steel players who are new computer users. Even those of us who are "old hands" at the computer need a little help now and then. My intent in creating this area was to give us steel players a place to provide mutual technical support to each other.

But the "Computers" is peripheral to the mission of the Steel Guitar Forum. There are plenty of rich web sites that provide in depth information about computers. We don't want to be that kind of site - not really. That's not what we're about.

We don't have a lot of rules here. You can read them at www.steelguitarforum.com/agree.html . We have a rule against obscenity, and we have a rule that says you must use your real name (first and last name). When someone starts abusing those rules, they draw special attention from the moderators.

We have to make a lot of judgement calls, and sometimes those calls are a bit unpopular. I stand by Jack's recent decisions, and if anyone has a real problem with it they can email me.

I'm moving this to "Feedback" where it belongs.

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<img align=left src="http://b0b.com/coolb0b2.gif" border="0"><small>
</small> -b0b-   <small> quasar@b0b.com </small>
-System Administrator