David said:
For calling a stupid suggestion a stupid suggestion, one of the
moderators at UtterAccess has banned me because I refused to
apologize for the infraction of calling bad advice bad advice.
Be warned that on UtterAccess.com, anyone can post terrible advice
if they do it politely (according to what the moderators arbitrarily
consider "polite") and continue to post bad advice. If, on the other
hand, one strongly criticizes someone else's advice, you can be
banned, even if you're right about the bad advice.
I would suggest that this should makes anyone question the
reliability of anything posted on UtterAccess if it's not confirmed
elsewhere.
Disclaimer: I have never posted in UtterAccess and I only read postings
there when they come up from a link or from a Google search so I am
unaware of the cultural climate that exists there. The reason for my
lack of dealings with UtterAccess is simply that I am busy enough that
the problems that come up in CDMA and MPA are adequate to satisfy my
curiosity at this time.
Since neither side is going to change, perhaps you should concentrate on
the future. The UtterAccess forum can claim that they are not as
extreme as San Angeles from "Demolition Man"
. However, in the
future, rude will be considered, well, rude. You can claim that the way
you were taught works, but I find that "Boy named Sue" argument weak.
The abuse you received as a child, metaphorically speaking, should not,
IMO, be repeated just because you think it will make people stronger, as
it did you. If you feel that people need to have a strong disincentive
to make the truth sink in, then there are subtler ways to insult bad
ideas. I have a strong enough desire to help people learn Access that I
am even willing, at times, to make myself look foolish in order to help
the idea sink in. I don't see you as someone who would let that happen
to himself, so your options are more limited. In pool, you can help a
player get better by ridiculing every mistake or by re-enforcing
fundamentals. Players seem to respond better to positive reinforcement.
Although in pool, visualizations like those in "The Waterboy" seem to
be more effective in helping one's game than those in "Happy Gilmore"
. I am also reminded of the philosophical underpinnings of the
former TV series "Babylon 5." The Shadows motivated mankind through
fear. I suppose the "Fear Factor" needs to be there somewhere, but I'd
rather not be the one who brings it.
I think you will be much more effective by abandoning such puerile
methods. But feel free to use whatever methods really bring you the
results you want. Because you've been rude to people, including jumping
all over me when I didn't understand something (getting Client-Server
confused with an Access backend on a server long ago comes to mind), I
tried not to cut you any slack. I apologize for that. That was the
wrong way to react. I'll be kinder to you in the future, even if you do
not change. I almost stopped posting after the first time you went off
on one of my mistakes, but I persevered, so maybe your theory is valid,
maybe not. I would like to think that some of my contributions in the
newsgroups have been helpful enough to some that they may ponder for
just a moment what your style almost cost them. I don't say this as a
way to advocate censorship, but to point out that our social conventions
are often there for logical reasons. I try to take into consideration
that your style is partially a product of your NYC environment, but I
still hope that you'll consider taking my advice.
James A. Fortune
(e-mail address removed)
Eastern and Western philosophies balance each other, just as the right
brain balances the left brain.
