Thanks and congrats to all !

[pleasegoawayforever]

I just wanted to extend a thank you to everyone who has helped me on
various occasions with CSS issues I have had.

I also wanted to commend and congratulate some folk who post their
url's who, in my mind, are sheer geniuses...or at least, have found
some pretty cool ways of doing things that I might not have thought
of. Yes, when I find some gems, I certainly do implement them on my
on websites. I trust that is viewed as a form of flattery and not
copyright violation !!

I know that there of many of you here who really pooh-pooh learning by
example rather than "by the book" or "hands on training" and I feel
your pain (couldn't find better words) to a degree. I know that way
back in my VTAM/MVS days, one of my pet expressions was "break a
trend...read a book". But, in those days, I had the luxury of being
surrounded by a number of co-workers and you really did have great
occasion to learn by example. At the very least, if you went on a
company-sponsored course, you had co-workers to whom you could come
back to and discuss some of the course's key concepts.

Now, for very good reason, I'm working from home...all alone...with no
free exchange to reinforce concepts in your mind. For all of the
reading I might do and courses I take, I don't believe anything can
really substitute for an interactive exchange. As well, I know that I
often have an issue but I just don't know what terms to use to explain
it. Then, boom, I'll read a post that is just words it so eloquently
and uses terms that I can then research in my course notes or
purchased reference books. This allows me to put into practice key
concepts while they are fresh on my brain and that is goodness !!

With that being said, I also want to thank those of you who do get up
on your soapbox and freak out all over folks who merely "want it done
for them". Good for you in that regard.

While oftentimes a lot of newbies need to be told, flat out, "RTFM",
responding to a newbie post with a reference to a W3C "chapter and
verse" is about as helpful as pointing someone to a page in an IBM
manual that reads, "this page intentionally left blank". I always
say, why risk tendonitis if only to be nasty ?

So despite I might have sidetracked to some somewhat negative sounding
schtick, I just wanted to send a generic thank you to the folks who
really do contribute to the spirit of any valid newsgroup which,
despite any charter, should always be to share insight, lessons
learned, and helpful hints.

Thank you all !

Joe

[Stan McCann]

pl*****************@hotmail.com wrote in
news:db********************************@4ax.com:

While oftentimes a lot of newbies need to be told, flat out, "RTFM",
responding to a newbie post with a reference to a W3C "chapter and
verse" is about as helpful as pointing someone to a page in an IBM
manual that reads, "this page intentionally left blank". I always
say, why risk tendonitis if only to be nasty ?
I'm fairly new to this group but have been involoved with usenet for a
bit over 10 years. I'd venture to say that the majority of those RTFM
replies are replies to a post that the reader has seen dozens of times
before and it is quite obvious that usenet was the *first* place to go
instead of doing your homework.

I always do my homework before asking a question on a newsgroup. I
usually get pretty good answers, not RTFM.
So despite I might have sidetracked to some somewhat negative
sounding schtick, I just wanted to send a generic thank you to the
folks who really do contribute to the spirit of any valid newsgroup
which, despite any charter, should always be to share insight,
lessons learned, and helpful hints.

That's how I use it. I don't mind helping and sharing when someone
shows that they have made some attempt and that they are willing to
learn. I have no tolerance for the lazy that come into a group such
as this and want things done for them. Same goes in my work. My lab
assistants are instructed to not touch the mouse or keyboard when
assisting a student. Too many students want the lab assistants to do
the work for them just as newbies perceiving usenet as a helpdesk ask
that others do their work for them.

You've learned from asking a question and getting some discussion
going on a topic. That's what usenet is good at; propogating
discussion allowing everyone to share ideas and learn from others'
ideas. To really show your thanks, stick around in this group and/or
others and share your ideas. Everybody benefits.

--
Stan McCann "Uncle Pirate" http://stanmccann.us/pirate.html
Webmaster/Computer Center Manager, NMSU at Alamogordo
http://alamo.nmsu.edu/ There are 10 kinds of people.
Those that understand binary and those that don't.