On Sun, 30 Dec 2012 11:09:07 -0500 diro%nixsyspaus.org@localhost wrote: > obvious to me from doing a quick search. I referred him to #NetBSD > (FreeNode). He related to me that he "had some terrible experiences > on #NetBSD". The first time someone "talked with him in a sarcastic > tone", and the second he had to wait two hours for a reply. > > Now, the second experience could be understandable. #NetBSD isn't > #live-up-to-the-minute-tech-support-operators-online-now-awaiting-your-question. Actually, that's better than some organizations where I am paying them. > However, the first situation is entirely unacceptable. This is not a How does one determine "sarcastic" on IRC? That's the nature of online communication. It is really easy to misunderstand someone's "tone" when you can't hear them. You really have to discipline yourself to always assume the best interpretation on what others say. If you can't do that you better stay off IRC. Email has somewhat the same problem. I bet someone reading the previous paragraph could imagine some crotchety, ornery, argumentative bastard wrote it or you could see it as a serious attempt to have a quiet, helpful discussion. How did you take it? Besides that, being on #NetBSD doesn't guarantee that someone speaks for the project and we don't own the channel. It's not our job to police it. Finally, it doesn't help to bring these problems here. Even if we could do something about it, without logs we can't even judge for ourselves whether it was "sarcastic" and whether it was someone who could be seen as speaking for NetBSD. And if you have logs it would probably be wrong to post them to a public list. Next time, please send your correspondent to one of the mailing lists for support. Someone may still be a git but it will be balanced by others. With IRC you are stuck with whoever happens to be on line at the time. -- D'Arcy J.M. Cain <darcy%NetBSD.org@localhost> http://www.NetBSD.org/ IM:darcy%Vex.Net@localhost