I just can’t understand why AAC stalwarts help hundreds of new members with experience levels from neophyte to expert with problems and questions ranging in difficulty from basic to very advanced with friendly and patient answers drawing on valuable education and experience–free of charge and happily, and yet—

For no apparent reason choose perfectly innocent, serious, sincere, cooperative, intelligent, handsome, well meaning, good-to-their-mother newcomers to insult, berate, harass, rob-of-valuable-IP, bully, besmirch, ridicule, and otherwise hassle without helping at all.

It must be jealousy, or something like that. At least that’s what their parents tell them.

 

perfectly innocent, serious, sincere, cooperative, intelligent, handsome, well meaning, good-to-their-mother newcomers

Anyone meeting all of, or even most of, those criteria would be welcome. Unfortunately a few newcomers don't. Those who are clearly time-wasters, arrogant, uncooperative, demanding etc tend to get little help.

 

Exactly. It is the attitude of the petitioner that makes the difference. When they ignore our requests for information, or worse yet, tell us we have no right to ask, that things get dicey.

I know get sarcastic sometimes, but I think not with those who interact reasonably.

 

I'm not entirely sure that caprice is a precise characterization of what is going on. @BobTPH has it correct when he suggests that there is often a trigger for a response rather than an unpredictable impulse.

 

Of course we are all human, and the trigger could be in our life outside the forum. But @Ya’akov seems to be superhuman in his patience, and is therefore a good contrast to us hotheads.

 

Of course we are all human, and the trigger could be in our life outside the forum. But @Ya’akov seems to be superhuman in his patience, and is therefore a good contrast to us hotheads.

Maybe there is another way besides seven years in Tibet.

 

The second paragraph is redolent with sarcasm, I hope it came across that way.

Despite varying levels of patience and tolerance among individuals, the description of the AAC regulars (first paragraph) taken as a group, is accurate. I really appreciate the sincere desire to help, teach, and foster an interest in the vocation and avocation of electrical engineering and practical electronics our diverse visitors and eventual friends benefit from.

Even the most curmudgeonly among you help so many people with so many different problems. It’s a great thing to be part of.

 

Of course we are all human, and the trigger could be in our life outside the forum. But @Ya’akov seems to be superhuman in his patience, and is therefore a good contrast to us hotheads.

Seriously, though—I am still trying to pay back for what a supreme online jerk I was 35 years ago. I had an epiphany and made a conscious decision to reform. Thinking of what I was like back thing still has the power to make me cringe and blush.

 

I'm not entirely sure that caprice is a precise characterization of what is going on. @BobTPH has it correct when he suggests that there is often a trigger for a response rather than an unpredictable impulse.

It was pure sarcasm. The cases I am talking about are those where the “victim” is variously arrogant, uncooperative, graceless, deceitful, solipsistic, and other things that lead to claims of abuse by the people they are asking—or sometimes demanding—free help from, often on their specific and limited terms.

They are defectors from the implied social contract underpinning sites like AAC. The quid pro quo here is not in the form of money, it’s in the satisfaction of helping (and for some, in demonstrating the ability to help, and that’s not so terrible so long as it doesn’t negatively impact the helping part).

Even estimating the monetary value of the help provided here is a staggering exercise. Even though most people who benefit would not pay for the services, they are still receiving them, and benefitting from that.

Thank you, and all of the other fine folks who make AAC such a resource. It’s one of the things that keeps me coming back—and willing to spend my time (hopefully) adding to that value.

 

Anyone meeting all of, or even most of, those criteria would be welcome. Unfortunately a few newcomers don't. Those who are clearly time-wasters, arrogant, uncooperative, demanding etc tend to get little help.

Yes, and the second paragraph is based on the claims by the t⊗rgetted individual*, not rooted in reality. So, I am completely in aggreement.

*Not going to spell this out and attract that kind of noise, but take it poetically—it bears as much weight when reality checked.

 

After retirement I took a phone support Job with vivint home security. During the first year of COVID the work from home was great, then people began to become rude, to the point that I told my boss I can’t do this anymore, I’m tired of the abuse.

I’m sympathetic which was the problem to my supervisors. Empathy is what I was to be, I’m sorry I have none I told my boss no matter how I tried I still felt like a punching bag. Just change the batteries or reboot as needed or uninstall and reinstall devices is all they have to do most times, like pulling teeth.

kv

 

After retirement I took a phone support Job with vivint home security. During the first year of COVID the work from home was great, then people began to become rude, to the point that I told my boss I can’t do this anymore, I’m tired of the abuse.

I’m sympathetic but the problem, empathy is what I was to be, I’m sorry I have none I told my boss no matter how I tried I still felt like a punching bag. Just change the batteries or reboot as needed or uninstall and reinstall devices is all they have to do most times, like pulling teeth.

kv

One of the problems is the distance that technology puts between people. It is much, much easier to forget (or sometimes to purposely ignore) that the person on the other end of a call, a text conversation, or in another car is, in fact, a person.

It makes the various versions of the golden rule moot—because the working assumption is the ”others” involved don’t have the status of person that would demand ethical treatment.

One of the things that really gets me is seeing videos of the mistreatment of fast food workers. So many times the offender will say “I work(ed) fast food, so I know…”. People have been made to think that being a customer confers superiority. So much so that paying $5.00 for a fast food meal includes the right to act as a petty tyrant who can insult, assault, and even batter people who are being paid almost nothing to deal with that.

 

In the several dozen forums which I lurk or have lurked throughout the years, covering all my different interests, history, language, bikes, automotive, travel, politics and of course electronics, this behavior is unfortunately not uncommon at all. Some forums are really aggressive, reason for which I have quit.

The worst one in my opinion, was Quora. Once upon a time a very interesting place, it devolved into the lowest common denominator of partisan politics after Trump was voted out. There were people making open threats to President Biden, or saying that once Trump regained control, they would go down to the streets with rifles to “hunt down liberals.” People asking whether Auschwitz could be recreated in Montana.
Pure, undiluted hate

 

One of the things that really gets me is seeing videos of the mistreatment of fast food workers. So many times the offender will say “I work(ed) fast food, so I know…”. People have been made to think that being a customer confers superiority. So much so that paying $5.00 for a fast food meal includes the right to act as a petty tyrant who can insult, assault, and even batter people who are being paid almost nothing to deal with that.

I really only got angry with a fast food worker once. They left the cheese off the lively wife Morticia’s cheeseburger. I went up to the counter, with the burger, and asked for a piece if cheese. She said she could not do that, I had to give her the burger. I responded that I did not want her to throw it out, but she took the burger and and immediately threw it out.

I retrospect, I blame her training, not her. But I was pretty mad at the time.

 

Because the perfectly innocent, serious, sincere, cooperative, intelligent, handsome, well meaning, good-to-their-mother newcomers give so little information about their problem that it takes ten posts to find out what it actually is.

 

Because the perfectly innocent, serious, sincere, cooperative, intelligent, handsome, well meaning, good-to-their-mother newcomers give so little information about their problem that it takes ten posts to find out what it actually is.

That's because it's a secret.

 

What's really the "secret" is how some of these characters
can continue to function in the World with "normal-people" which have, at least,
some vague idea of how to get along with others.

There's nothing worse than a low-I.Q., Spoiled-Brat, that "ain't got no Home-Trainin' ".
How they ever came to the conclusion that Electronics is
their niche in Life is beyond my comprehension.

I think they must be sent here by the Universe to test
everyone else's normal commitment to decency.

Next- "I don't have to even respond at all",
Next- "I don't have to even respond at all",
Next- "I don't have to even respond at all",
.
.
.

 

That's because it's a secret.

My fuse burned to the nub a long time ago.

Those can be the worse when they've been hoodwinked into devoting much time and effort into something can't can possibly work the way they've been told. A good many see the light eventually but a select few go on a spasm of BS postings that's really a sad indicator of the level of intentional (as apposed to non-intentional misinformation) disinformation out there..

 

The more important matter is who rules over the entire web space at last?!
who deserves the upper hand, not only for this forum but the entire space ...
military/spying agencies? scientists? capitalists? religonists? illuminaties?
ehh...as a gamer it looks like a Batman game and living in Gotham city within an endless chaos provided by many parallel power cartels. :-O

The Guardians of the Universe rule but usually have better things on their minds.

 

It's annoying when somebody asks an easily answered question that could have been instantly addressed with a simple web search.

I guess it was a different time when I I was learning electronics growing up. The ARRL guide was well read and close at hand, and electronics magazines were anxiously awaited each month. If I was trying to figure out how to do something, these were my resources – do some reading and figure it out. No running off to a forum to ask for help at the first bump in the road.

Some of the responses from posters here are essentially "I don't want to learn about this crap. I just want the answer." That's really off-putting.