Re: where are *WORKING* archives of www-html mailing list?

Tony Bowden <t.bowden@qub.ac.uk> writes:
>Yet time and time again I've had people complain when something goes wrong
>with a mailing list or a web site isn't quite up to date.  I don't mind
>people pointing things like this out - in fact I appreciate it cos quite
>often I won't notice myself for a couple of days - but people seem to take
>it very personally if I take a couple of days to get back to them, or
>reply that I'm too busy to do anything about it at the minute - expecting
>me to drop everything just to be at their beck and call.

I sympathise. As author of a *freeware* HTML editor, most of my users are
very kind, considerate and helpful. I appreciate 98% of them. The other 2%
either don't RTFM (347K of it) or complain bitterly when something doesn't
work (even in beta versions!) It's amazing to me what sometimes happens
when I ignore a message because my real job (which isn't attached to my
editor development) or my life/family "interferes". I get a flaming message
about how crummy my tech support is! It's not like I've gotten any
compensation for the thousands of hours I've spent working on this.

>Much as I love the Internet and all it stands for it is becoming more and
>more apparent that there a lot of people out there who want to bleed it
>for everything they can and aren't interesting in contributing at all.
>They expect everything to be there for them, when they want it, for no
>cost, after all that's what this net thing is all about isn't it?

Having been on the Internet since about 1982, I've watched the culture
change. Those coming in over the new online services typically have a
different attitude that those whose access is via businesses, universities,
etc.

As in any community, the overall success of the Internet has relied on a
number of individuals putting in a great deal of energy to support the
activities of all. One of the big dangers with commercialization of the
Internet has always been IMO that these new denizens have no sense
whatsoever that there *is* a community of people on the other end of the
wire. Just like throwing trash on the highway, somebody else is expected to
take care of it...

Murray

PS. My apologies for this non-HTML rant. I am also wound a little tight lately.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Now it is day. The sun is up. Now is the time for all dogs to get up.
"Get up!" It is day. Time to get going. Go, dogs. Go!
                                                        -- Dr. Seuss
   Murray M. Altheim, Information Systems Analyst
   National Technology Transfer Center, Wheeling, West Virginia, USA
   email:  murray.altheim@nttc.edu

Received on Wednesday, 18 October 1995 11:26:59 UTC