[conspire] (forw) ASK

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Paul Zander (paulz at ieee.org):

> Is there a way to count the 99% of people who read the posting and
> possibly go on to ask smarter questions?

I don't know of one, but thank you for injecting a hopeful and
optimistic thought into the discussion.  I _hope_ and imagine that it's
a large number of people.  

The essay's way too complex, long-winded, and just not well matched to
the way most people seek information.  In an ideal world, we'd have
long ago radically refactored the text and steamed the bloat out.
(Nobody ever writes in and says 'You can make the essay pithier,
clearer, and more effective by applying the attached patch.'  It's
always just 'Hey!  You forgot to cover $MY_HOBBYHORSE and need to add a
chapter.'  Plus we hear from every ideologue who ever had an opinion
about technical help, usually telling us what horrible people we are.)