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Date:      Sat, 04 Dec 1999 14:47:32 -0800
From:      Mike Smith <msmith@freebsd.org>
To:        Matthew Dillon <dillon@apollo.backplane.com>
Cc:        hackers@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: PCI DMA lockups in 3.2 (3.3 maybe?) 
Message-ID:  <199912042247.OAA05083@mass.cdrom.com>
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Sat, 04 Dec 1999 13:52:58 PST." <199912042152.NAA57575@apollo.backplane.com> 

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> :Actually, you may recall that when you first brought this up this time 
> :around, I (and others) _did_ try to find out what you were actually 
> :unhappy about.
> :
> :Spectators will note that you haven't actually given us anything useful 
> :to work with; no PR numbers, no code fragments, in fact nothing 
> :whatsoever of any substance.
> :
> :Thus, I feel quite comfortable in reassuring other developers that your 
> :hysterical complaints shouldn't be taken as a cause for alarm.  If and 
> :when you have something that actually looks like it might be enough 
> :evidence for us to work with, we'll take you seriously.
> 
>     It wasn't hysterical until other people (not the original poster) made it
>     that way.  Frankly, Mike, your initial response to Dennis's initial
>     posting left a hellofalot to be desired.  Simply stating, in a snide way,
>     that there was not nearly enough information is not helpful if you do not
>     describe the type of information you think would be useful.  Presumably
>     the original poster (Dennis) did not know exactly what kind of information
>     was needed (that he could also supply, since he is (and said he was) not
>     a kernel hacker).  Dennis made this quite clear in his initial posting
>     and got nothing but hell from you.

Since you're going to attack me in public over this, I'm going to state 
my position on this once and then let it rest.

 - You're welcome to project what you like into you personal 
   interpretation of my response to Dennis.  It's unreasonable to expect 
   that what you think I meant is what was actually meant (this is basic 
   communications theory).  You also lack most of the context for this 
   interaction, some of which I attempted to convey in the message you've 
   quoted above.

 - Dennis is a principal in a company which manufactures communications
   peripherals and writes driver software for them.  It's not 
   unreasonable to expect him to have some sort of idea, or access to an 
   in-house idea, about how to go about diagnosing a problem like this.  
   It's also not unreasonable to expect that, being involved in a 
   development environment, that he would have some experience in 
   reporting problems in a fashion that would allow action to be taken to 
   resolve them.

 - We have been dealing with Dennis for many years.  He has persisted in 
   his defective communications style despite many well-meaning attempts 
   to encourage him to improve.  At this point in time, he has worn out 
   his welcome with many of us and if anything it's a credit to our 
   stamina that we still even listen to him anymore.

 - Irregardless of your initial presumptions concerning Dennis' ability,
   the fact remains that he failed to follow through on the encouragement 
   to provide more information, and thus (again) we were unable to 
   actually provide him with any more assistance.  Now he comes back a 
   few weeks later to complain again, still not providing any more 
   information.  Which side is falling down in this relationship?


-- 
\\ Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. \\  Mike Smith
\\ Tell him he should learn how to fish himself,  \\  msmith@freebsd.org
\\ and he'll hate you for a lifetime.             \\  msmith@cdrom.com




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