A (somewhat rhetorical) ethical question.

Roger Hicks (AP's back page beardie philosopher) has an apposite column this week. One quote: 'They don't buy (new equipment) because they know how it will enable them to do a better job, they buy it as a substitute for creativity and intelligence.'

One thing about this hypothetical poster is that we rise, hypothetically, to the bait every time like a shoal of hungry fish. How about we just dont bother any more?

Some of the comments sound rather selfish, which is acceptable. Everyone is different. You have a right be be selfish, but world doesn't have to conform to being selfish either.

I like to look at it differently...
Perhaps these people are not stupid or lazy, but just think differently. Or perhaps the wording at some point was misunderstood, and they are hoping for a slightly different explanation to get them over the hump.

e.g. You ever read the AF360FGZ manual for setting the slave modes?
Being told to read the manual was of no help at all. I had done that half a dozen times and never had a clue that it would be of interest to me.
It makes perfect sense now, but until it was actually explained by one simple sentence, whew... right over my head. I cannot explain why, it just didn't make sense at the time.

OK, this may not explain all cases, (in some cases people are just lazy, thats life, suck it up), but I think its a bit harsh to jump on newcomers because they may ask a question that the more seasoned members feel is beneath them.

We always have a choice to ignore the request for help and not respond.
I prefer the immortal words of Thumper, I believe, "If you can't say somethin nice, don't say anything at all."

Amoringello, I dont think anyone is talking about newcomers here. I believe the hypothetical poster has posted 736 times... hypothetically!

I have problems taking advice from anything that goes great with thyme, garlic butter.....

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Ya know, one thing came to mind as I'm about to head out for lunch...

If I were a brand new member browsing the latest threads, what would I think about this one?

I'm not sure these threads help the site in the least. It shows an elitist attitude and exposes poor taste by publicly bashing a single member or small groups of members for, apparently, being lazy and stupid.

As a new member, I would quickly go elsewhere since this thread can be read to show the site to be much like many of the others out there.


As a member that has been around a few years, I know that not to be true. I just hope these sorts of inflammatory threads can silently fade away so that we don't scare off more great potential members like the ones we already have.

With it turning from hypothetical to being directed at individual users, I am sorry I ever contributed to this thread in the first place.

Amoringello, I like and respect your position. Me I'm not taking this thread too seriously.
You notice some of us just had a few laughs, and most concour with you.
It's best not to take matters like this, and other occasional rants too seriously.

I don't think we'll scare too many off.

I'd be more concerned about places where people can't express themselves freely.

One of the reasons certain threads become so inflamed (far more so than this one, I might suggest) is a sense of exasperation with someone that seems so determined to bite the hand that feeds, and appears so unwilling to repay help with help. It's an attitude quite alien to most of us, I suspect.

I understand, of course, that even if some person X never answers any questions himself, there are lots of other people that can benefit from the answers to the questions he asks. So replying to the continuous taker is of benefit to others who do also give. I agree completely with that.

But one of the reasons this forum is very different from the many IT-related forums out there, that are typically technical resources, mostly for IT workers of one kind and another, is that as well as all that, this forum is also a shared expression of a shared hobby (and yes, in some cases profession) - personal, rather than impersonal.

It also manages to be a good place to be, without becoming dull and bland. Unlike one or two other places I can think of, honest expression of opinion has not become totally secondary to the avoidance of all risk of offending.

I think the prevailing "take and give" spirit here (long may it continue) contributes much to the pleasantness of the environment, and sticks out like a sore thumb when it's absent.

Fair enough. Although I think the one comment from this thread that I can agree with more than any other is:

"I have problems taking advice from anything that goes great with thyme, garlic butter..... "

Just too hilarious!

I moderate on a couple of other forums. All I can say is; If this is even slightly inflamed, these mods have it easy.

We've had open war a couple of times, lasting for months, culminating in stolen databases, multiple bannings and threats of police action.

They were the fun times

Did get people posting, though. Our highest "Users Online" count was during that time.

When the hypothetical starts getting specific then perhaps it's time to call it a day on this one.

what does hypo-ethical mean?

That would be zero-Carbon fixer.

so that's a good thing.... right?