[conspire] (forw) Re: Adaptec Serial ATA RAID 2410SA

[Rick Moen]

----- Forwarded message from Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> -----

Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:29:26 -0800
From: Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com>
To: Mark Wilber <mw0 at sonic.net>
Subject: Re: Adaptec Serial ATA RAID 2410SA

Quoting Mark Wilber (mw0 at sonic.net):

> 
>    Wow. Rick, thanks so much for the detailed response. Very helpful. I
>    may just go ahead and get myself one of these, since they can be found
>    at good prices.

You're welcome.

Part of the reason I was willing to write you a comprehensive response
was that I was intending to also forward it to my local user group 
mailing list (online discussion forum) -- which in fact I did:

http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/conspire/2009-February/004663.html

See, there's always been a long-term problem with being an identifiable
member of the Linux community:  People send you private e-mail about
their individual problems.

Now, I don't want to make you feel bad about that -- and I was glad to 
respond and help you _given_ that I was also going to post my response
in public -- but here's the context:

Many of us in the Linux community are software or hardware industry
professionals.  Some are both.  (In fact, one of my jobs has involved
evaluating new hardware for its Linux support, for a large company.)
So, why are we willing to answer questions for free?  The answer is:  We
do it to benefit the Linux community, and to repay our figurative debt
for the people who helped us, in our turn.  In order to do that, we have
to keep trying to insist that the questions and answers be in _public_
forums, to benefit the community instead of just one other person.  And
you'll often see us saying, if you have a Linux question, please ask
it in _public_ discussion forums, rather than trying to grab us
privately.

For years, when I got a private-mail query about Linux, it put me in a
dilemma:  Being private, it could not be ethically posted publicly, but 
saying "Before I answer your question, is it OK to post this discussion
in public?" is cumbersome and really doesn't work.

Eventually, I decided that I should just examine the _contents_ of such 
mail.  If it seems to need privacy, or asks for it, that's something to
respect -- which might in some cases mean politely declining to spend
time on the problem discussed.  If not, I post the exchange publicly (if
it seems of public interest).  So, everyone benefits, including the
querent.

None of the above is intended as a complaint, just an explanation.


----- End forwarded message -----