Hi Mike....

>>I haven't seen many suggestions full filled in a while, which is frustrating. >>The UT is outdated.

Like I said to Jason and I'll say to you.... you have your experience and express it and I have mine. I'm not claiming that you are wrong... right... or anything.... just expressing my experience as you are yours. < s >

>>>Perhaps we should think about this.... have the presenter make a document >>>presentation..... have those interested in the subject read the doc and >>>prepair questions for a scheulded chat a few days after the doc is presented.

>Whats the difference in writing an article and saying "email me if you've got >a question" at the bottom? This isn't anything new, and a waste of the lecture >effort, really.

Jason, and others, have argued that the present system of presenting and chating at the same time does not work. I simply was offering a suggestion and it was just that. In doing so I was trying to illustrate a point that ranting about a problem without offering an alternative does not accomplish anything.

Also...what I suggested was really different from your response. My suggestion was not to have a doc that said "email if you have a question at the bottom." My suggestion was to have the presenter "present" in a doc format.... allow those interested to read and absorb the material and formulate questions.... then follow that up with a chat session so the presenter can answer the questions.

That's pretty differnt from what you quote me. < s >

>And your investment is ________ ?

>>Not everyone needs to make a financial investment. Some people have very >>little to gain by paying. Like David F., for example, why should he pay the >>UT to basically work for them?

Agree 100000% with you and you have actually made my exact point. I was not suggesting to Janson that he had to make a financial investment (notice the summary of his posts). He could do that or he could be like David F, you , or countless others, make a contribution with his posting and, at this point at least, he is not doing it.... at least on the UT forum.

A few months ago when there was the flap about the message replies David F, like many others...myself included....made some passionate remarks about it. All of us had the "right" to say what we felt, however, David F also had a leg to stand on that some of us did not. He HAD (and still does) make an increadable contribution to the UT so in truth his response was more justified and understandable and carried more weight.... as it sould have.

>>Jason has offered to setup and manage a server for them personally, at no >>expense as far as I could tell. Sounds like a generous offer to me.

I'll accept you word on that and I would agree that it is generous but his post shows nothing of that caracter and actually shows just the opposite at least from my perspective.

There are a lot of people who help in a lot of different ways here at the UT. Some give back by posting replies to questions.... some give back by feeding news to Evan.... some (like me... becasue I can not answer a lot of the questions but I want to give back) try and add to the community.

If Jason wants to give back by helping with the IRC that is great and I applaud him. If you read carefully you noticed that in public I was very careful to be positive and yet express my differing opinion. From my perspective, however, his post.....

.... did nothing to suggest alternatives.
.... attacked people personally.
.... was abusive in tone and nature and
.... showed a lack of appreciation for what is basically a free service to him.

Again, as I said in my post to him, he has a perfect right to express his opinion just as you do and just as I do. < s >