Community (A Modest Proposal)

[Anthony Papillion]

> Why was the reaction so negative? Well i will admit some fault in the
> fact that i trashed Ruby pretty bad. I felt everything i said was true
> IMO then as is now (mostly). People should have a right to opinions.
> However since i was such an "unknown" and you could say a "newbie",
> was this reaction warranted? I think not, and it speaks volumes to the
> negative attitudes within this community.

While I'm not new to software development in other languages, I'm
completely new to Python and the Python community.  I've only been
here about a week and have asked some pretty elementary questions
during that time only to be greeted respectfully and offered help.
>From reading the posts on this group, it seems like the Python
community is much like any other programming (or even just volunteer
community): they're helpful if you show you're willing to do the work
yourself and if you show you've at least tried to solve the problem
yourself to a degree (even if you've failed).  Volunteer communities
have little patience for the 'do it for me' mindset as *everyone* is
busy with jobs, life, and their own pet projects.

Overall, I couldn't disagree with you more. I find most communities
(and the c.l.p community in particular) *very* accessible and very
helpful. On the other hand, I *could* see how your post could scare
off newbies from jumping in for fear of being 'attacked' as you say
you were. IMHO, your posts serves no purpose but to hurt the community
and scare away newbies.

Anthony Papillion