[clug] More Off-topic rambling was Re: Anonymity don'ts

steve jenkin sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au
Sat Apr 4 17:04:13 MDT 2015


> On 3 Apr 2015, at 4:31 pm, Bryan Kilgallin <bryan at netspeed.com.au> wrote:
> 
> Whonix' list of things <https://www.whonix.org/wiki/DoNot> that you should not do if you don't want to nullify all your attempts to anonymity.
> 
> {

Bryan,

Don’t be a dick. You’re wasting a _lot_ of other people’s time when you don’t write proper subject lines. You’ve been told this often.

This is a LINUX list, not a security, mobile device or anonymous access list. Surely even your befuddled brain can grasp this.

You know the drill, add [OT] to your subject lines when the post is NOT about Linux.
Off-topic posts are OK, this is a _courtesy_ to others, so they can easily skip what they don’t need to read.

The CLUG list is two things, amongst many others:

 - high quality, low ‘noise’, or more technically has a good Signal to Noise ratio.
 - a discussion group, especially of topics hard to locate with a simple search.

Your current ramble is neither of these.
There’s NO evidence in what you post that you ever consider the Reader or you aspire to increase the sum of knowledge on the List.

As for reposting most or all of a webpage to the list, that’s just bizarre and unthoughtful of others.
Apart from the first line [below], your message is Pure Noise… That’s very disrespectful of everybody else’s time.
This is why we have URL’s, people who have an interest can go look at the page themselves.

It’s often the case that your research on a topic will throw up multiple good pages. A _selection_ of the best is very useful, people don’t need many links the same. It’s also useful to post links of pages that are wrong, misleading or incomplete - but again, _selected_ links, not a blizzard.
I cannot believe you’ve found _just one page_ in the whole wide world with this information.

As well, what’s missing from your message is any interpretation and analysis. Just ignorantly replaying the content or index
 * What was most _important_ to you about the list?
 * What exactly surprised you?
 * What was missing?
 * What was different or unique about _this_ list: what parts of the page had you seen, or not seen, elsewhere? 
 * What are you going to be doing different, or be researching, in response to this article?

There’s so many ways you could’ve improved this message, it’s incredibly sad and disappointing.

If anyone else could respond to this post with suggestions for how it could’ve been better done, I’d appreciate that.
A good tutorial, with clearcut examples, is always a useful contribution to the subject.

It’s not that being Anonymous on-line isn’t an interesting topic to many people, and interesting to people who use Linux, it’s that it’s not a main topic on this list and you’ve been incredibly lazy and unthoughtful in your post. Don’t be a dick, consider ALL the people on the other end of your email.

BTW, I’m sure your web research has turned up the fact that the CLUG list is on-line and fully indexed. This is why we sometimes get people posting strange questions…
When you post your poorly executed attempts at getting attention, you should remember they’re becoming part of your Permanent Online Record.
Yes, it exists and Google effectively curate it.

Every word of drivel and nonsense you post to this list remains permanently on-line.

It isn’t that you’re an annoyance and a laughing-stock to just the current list members, you’re creating a large body of work that will be actively searched over many years, probably decades. Are you projecting an image you want to stick for all time? Are your messages ones you’ll be proud of in 5, 10 or 20 years?

I’m sure there’s points I haven’t covered here. Perhaps others can jump in.

The general topic you need to research is ‘Netiquette’, The Net Etiquette.
<http://www.albion.com/netiquette/book/index.html> [ Shea’s 2004 book]
<http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html>  [Shea’s 10 core rules, short, links]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etiquette_in_technology>

I’d particularly direct you to Shea’s Rule #1: Remember the Human
 and Rule #4: Respect other people’s time and bandwidth.
Google [below] adds ‘copy with caution’ to Shea’s Core Rules.

Google responds with this information when asked...

Netiquette: Rules of Behavior on the Internet | Education.com
<http://www.education.com/reference/article/netiquette-rules-behavior-internet/>

> The summary of email rules in the information below is based on published sources such as Shea's (2004) online book, Netiquette.
> 	• Identify yourself: ... 
> 	• Include a subject line. ... 
> 	• Avoid sarcasm. ... 
> 	• Respect others' privacy. ... 
> 	• Acknowledge and return messages promptly.
> 	• Copy with caution. ... 
> 	• No spam (a.k.a. junk mail). ... 
> 	• Be concise.


I hope you can learn from this and improve your posts.
I urge you to remember the fundamental of the Unix methodology: “Less is More”.

steve

--
Steve Jenkin, IT Systems and Design 
0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915)
PO Box 48, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA

mailto:sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au http://members.tip.net.au/~sjenkin



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