Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1998 12:34:40 -0400 (EDT) From: Bill/Carolyn Pechter <pechter@shell.monmouth.com> To: jkh@time.cdrom.com (Jordan K. Hubbard) Cc: freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Device Drivers for Linux and Intel's annoucement Message-ID: <199810031634.MAA18638@shell.monmouth.com> In-Reply-To: <10999.907385320@time.cdrom.com> from "Jordan K. Hubbard" at Oct 2, 98 08:28:40 pm
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Jordan-- Your response to Brett here is RIGHT ON. However, we've got to do better at getting out the word. > > If you're unwilling to make the obvious and trivial mental connections > > required to comprehend the information I presented in my message, it's > > not MY problem. > > It's interesting that you should say something like this, because I > myself was just puzzling over the great disparity between your recent > postings on the mailing lists (or your usenet contributions) and your > print advocacy. When you're writing for the likes of Sm@rt Reseller, > for example, you seem to understand just fine where the right balance > between passion and logic lies and you generally make a pretty > convincing argument which manages both to be readable and to convey > the information you're trying to impart to the reader. As a body of > communication, what you've done for print journalism has been just fine > and is to be commended. > > When it's time to go home to your PC, however, you apparently drop > your logic cap into a desk drawer and lock the door, off to give the > more passionate side of your nature a turn in the uninhibited disco > lights of various public mailing lists. Unsubstantiated claims and > general invective fly like emotional harpoons, and you exhibit none of > the usual care which distinguishes your press work in actually trying > convince the reader through meaningful argument. It's all "I'm mad as > hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" [with apologies to > "Network"]. > > Such a presentation style is as unfortunate as it is ineffective, and > if you're trying to "sell" any idea to a bunch of mailing list readers > it's truly no different than trying to sell the readers of Sm@rt > Reseller on something (like FreeBSD). In both cases you have a > semi-skeptical audience who's ready to be won over by convincing > argument, and someone just mindlessly venting his spleen over > something is not likely to fill the bill unless they're also capable > of being highly amusing about it (e.g. they're Dennis Miller, Dave > Barry or P.J. O'Rourke). > > As a journalist, you also already know full well that it's part of > every communicator's responsibility to communicate *effectively*, not > to immediately blame the audience for their inability to convey an > argument, and for every audience there is also an appropriate style. > If you're standing in front of 10,000 brownshirts at a Nurenberg > rally, for example, then it's probably a reasonable thing to shout > passionately and maybe spray a little spittle from time to time. If > you're addressing the International Brotherhood of Accountants, on the > other hand, then I don't think that sort of presentation style would > go over all that well. A goofy example, to be sure, but I think the > point remains: If it's your intention to communicate anything more > substantive than "if you see one of my messages, hit delete to avoid > the heat" then I'd say that you are failing to do so. Given that I > already know you're more than capable of communicating more > effectively than this, it is also a highly avoidable failure. > > I am willing to be convinced that we can do better with the resources > currently available, but not by arguments which esteem passion over > logic. > > - Jordan +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Bill and/or Carolyn Pechter | pechter@shell.monmouth.com | | Bill Gates is a Persian cat and a monocle away from being a villain in | | a James Bond movie -- Dennis Miller | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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