[sf-lug] didn't try to solve ... (was: Re: SF-LUG meeting notes for Monday 18 March 2019)

[aaronco36]

Quoting Michael Paoli <Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu> :
> version pass/fail, and insufficient detail to determine how
> (non-)trivial the issue and/or how (non-?)trivial to "correct"
> it or work around it ... not so useful.  Still sort'a interesting
> to see person(s) first impressions/experiences ... but if it's
> only one, rather than like a sample set of 20 or 100 or more users ...
> it's not so nearly interesting/useful even to statistical significance.

OTOH, sometimes or even fairly often, those (we) user "person(s)' first 
impressions/experiences" are simply not reported to others other than in 
gripe sessions such as one or more people even on this very list may have 
done. Also, there is what a very few such as myself might call the 
Dampering Effect whereby someone reveals their first impressions of 
distros based upon criteria X,Y, or Z (X,Y,Z maybe = ease of WiFi setup, 
ability to set up acceptable/optimal graphics, ability to 
acceptably/optimally set up other hardware and apps, basic 
"look-and-feel",...etcetera) and then someone swoops in to essentially 
_invalidate_ their first impressions.
It's possible or even likely that the someone revealing their first 
impressions of a distro will simply refuse to provide the requested or 
badgered-into "sufficient" details of their negative impressions of that 
distro based upon factors X,Y or Z -- _despite_ the appeals to possibly 
"assist other users" -- when inevitably faced with these Dampering Effect 
challenges.

And also such users (a humble admission of yours truly) will just Take the 
Lazy Way Out (not TM'd) and refuse to spend any more further time 
analyzing and troubleshooting the actual Devil-in-the-Details reasons why 
they/we cannot get factors X,Y, or Z working optimally.
While this Lazy Way Out approach of course won't do well to "assist other 
users", at the same time, if _numerous_ users who simply won't report 
their difficulties have the same problems with a distro's factors X,Y, or 
Z and subsequently hop to different distros (apparently termed 
"tire-kicking distro tourism"), then that fact very well _could_ prove to 
have "statistical significance" :-O.

So again, if persons' "first impressions/experiences" of a distro are 
negative, they/we may have various reasons why they/we simply won't 
deliver in further "sufficient" detail their/our difficulties with that 
particular distro despite repeated badgerings and exhortations to do so.

-A

aaronco36 at sdf.org
SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.org