[BadVista Advocate] Help "Hotline"

[Don Hensley]

If anyone needs a refresher in what list spats are REALLY like, drop on over 
to the Linux kernel Dev's list.

So far this has been real friendly by comparison.

The thing is it takes some darned strong willed people to get anything done 
(at anything, not just software), and getting something done by way of 
advocacy is about the hardest of all.

By definition an advocate is someone that's going to be really, really, strong 
in his beliefs and opinions.

So yes, it takes a thick skin - and often a pause for 'breathing space'. As 
long as we all understand that, and remember that as strong as our own opines 
are, the other person has not only the right, but the obligation, to also 
have the strength of his opinions, then we'll all do fine and get something 
done here.

One of the things that has gotten a bit blurred here, is that the list we are 
on is a BadVista advocacy list, not a Binary Freedom List (which anyone may 
join if you'd like).

The two organizations are different in scope, but share many of the same goals 
- but not necessarily the exact same set of goals.

Binary Freedom has been nice enough to provide a wiki and other support for 
the BadVista advocacy use. But in essence when we are at Binary Freedom's 
site, we are guests, and as any good guest, we should try to stay within the 
house rules while we are there.

Ditto here on this BadVista list, and so on.

Not always easy to do, but then the main thing is to just realize that not one 
of us is immune from having an "oh oh, my bad" moment.

And as I've said before: "In my whole life, not once, not ever, have I learned 
anything from someone that agreed with me." Learning is one long job of 
reconciling yourself to trying to grasp what someone else is trying to say. 
It's not easy.

Now that is NOT to say that you ever have to agree with anyone, what the heck, 
they may be trying to 'teach' you something that you just know is wrong, and 
it's always going to stay wrong, no matter what they say.

The trick is to just go on and go forward when and where you can. Learn what 
you can. And mostly learn that true wisdom is in knowing what you want to 
ignore. The art of tact is to ignore as politely as possible... Just like the 
kernel Dev's do...  mostly...   ;)

Don.
 *****************************
 On Wednesday 02 May 2007 07:03 am, Jacob Maynard wrote:
I know we have little quarrels, but nothing too serious.

Jacob

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