Re: downloading to Mac

[Toby Reiter <treiter@cs.oberlin.edu>]

On 3 Jun 1997, Nathan Mates wrote:

> In article <5mmtek$2gcq@uni.library.ucla.edu>,
>  <pubpc1@library.ucla.edu> wrote:
> >I'm just trying to get things straightened out so that Nate won't
> >jump down my throught every time I try to help someone get GS/OS. 
> 
>    Until you get your thoughts straightened out for everything, you
> WILL be corrected each and every time. Do us all a favor and make sure
> you're correct before posting-- and if unsure, just bite your tongue
> for a few days: odds are someone with the correct answer will
> post. The questions will still be answered even if you don't get your
> $0.01 (adjusted for problems in factual content) in.
> 
> Nathan Mates

Ok, Nathan, let's go through this again.  People have different reasons
for communicating.  Some people, like you, see communication purely as a
tool for sending information from one location to another.  Therefore,
that information should be 100% accurate, brief, concise, no fluff, etc.
You seem to like the same thing in your operating systems,web pages, etc.
Other people see communication as an artistic expression, meaning that the
way in which a message is conveyed, rather than the message itself, is
important. There are people for whom having the dialog itself is
important--i.e. having an intellectual discussion or argument with little
thought to the actual transfer of information.  Finally, there are those
who value the social connection of communication--once again, it doesn't
matter what is said, what is important is the human interaction between
the two or more people having the conversation. (Don't worry if you don't
find yourself on this list: you're probably a combination of one or two of
them.)

Many, if not most, people on csa2 will and can not communicate like you,
Nathan.  Of course, most people do try as much as they can to be accurate,
but they often will post a reply to a question with incomplete information
because they are more interested, especially within the context of this
group, in generating excitement about the Apple II.  If this group was
based purely on the transfers of empirical knowledge about the Apple II,
there would be very few exciting posts, and very few reasons to come back
to this newsgroups.  Because people can banter back and forth on
semantics, exact details of Apple commercials, how to download from a Mac
to Apple II, whether GS/TCP will ever be released, or best ever word
processor/adventure game/spreadsheet program, this newsgroup is a fun
place to be.  csa2 is fun the way a sitcom or soap opera is an an
encyclopedia isn't.  So stop coming down like Moses off Sinai on people
who post some inaccuracies in the process of helping out a fellow user.
The absence of absolutes when posting not only makes csa2 exciting, it
keeps it alive.

Think about that.....'k?

Toby Reiter