Subject: bug#9939: Problems with the SIZE description in man pages for <ls> and <du>

From: Bob Proulx <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2011 12:18:25 -0700

abdallah clark wrote:
> Thank you for your suggestions, but not only are you not realizing
> what it means to be a newbie, you have also missed the point of my
> communication. Not only patience but also the consideration of others
> new to Linux ought to be in play.
> ...
> It is not my job to do more than report bugs or other problems, as
> the man pages indicate.

I am compelled by this to write that you are also failing to realize
what is is like to share work on a community project.  This is not a
job or any of us.  We gather together in a shared hope of improving
the world by the shared effort of producing free software.  The result
is donated to the community.

Think of it this way.  There are several people working in the kitchen
preparing meals.  These meals are set out on the table for people to
eat.  Someone eats the meal.  They think, there isn't enough spice in
this dish.  They complain to the volunteers cooking, "Hey, there isn't
enough spice."  The cooks say, there are thousands of people eating
the food and some of them need a low spice content.  If you like more
spice please feel free to add some.  Or feel free to come into the
kitchen and help us prepare a good tasting meal that will be good for
everyone.  But please remember that some people can't tolerate a lot
of spice.  But then you say, it is not my job to cook.  It is only my
job to submit feedback.  As cooks you should consider that people want
more spice.

Think about that and think about how you will react if you are one of
the cooks in the kitchen?  What would you do in that case.  You are
volunteering your time to cook.  You are providing this service free
and donating the result.  Would you think, "No one is helping.  Why am
I doing this?  Why am I donating time and effort and resources?  I
should stop cooking."

> If you cannot clarify something that is already written and cannot
> refer me to any material, anywhere that will clarify what the SIZE
> paragraph is saying, then please do not attempt to assign to me the
> task of rewriting the SIZE paragraph or any other part of the <man ls>
> material. That is a task for an intermediate or advanced user, not a
> newbie.

Do you ride a bicycle?  If so did you learn from a book?  Or did
someone teach you?  There are some tasks that can be learned from
written documentation.  But there are some things that are much better
learned from a teacher.  Riding a bicycle is one of those tasks that
is better learned from a teacher than from a book.  Operating a
bicycle would be really scary to try to do if you could only learn
from a book.  It just isn't possible to sufficiently cover everything
that you need to know all in one place.  No matter how much someone
were to complain about it.

Operating a computer operating system is not completely different.
Some things can be learned from a book.  Perhaps most of it.  But
different people learn things in different ways.  Sometimes people
will learn better from a human teacher than from a written document.

Perhaps you could find a computer users group from which you could get
face to face help and instruction?  I think you would really get the
most benefit from someone who could immediately spot what you needed
and then could react with the right words to help make the points
clear.

Bob