more than a little OT - Re: My writing on the Wicd web page

[Ray Leventhal]

Raquel wrote:
> On Tue, 26 May 2009 05:41:51 -0600
> "Karl F. Larsen" <klarsen1 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>>     If your using the deb file you d/l from the wicd web site you
>> must manually delete the Network-Manager. You have seen the web
>> page that claims to add wcid to your Hardy and 8.10 repository.
>> Alas this doesn't work.
>>
>>
>> Karl
> 
> Why is it that so many of us testify that it works for us but you
> still claim it doesn't for you?  That leads me to ask what you are
> doing wrong.
> 
@ Raquel +1

@Karl,

Despite clear instructions to the contrary, which included reasons WHY 
you should not use the .deb files which are not obtained from a listed 
repository.  When using a package based distro, like Ubuntu or Debian, 
Red Hat or CentOS, installing using the package management system keeps 
you up to date semi automagically.

By installing the .deb package manually you technically 'broke' the 
paradigm and won't receive wicd updates when the community makes them 
available.  To fix that, you'll need to remove the wicd you installed 
manually, and re-add it using synaptic, apt-get or aptitude.  These 
tools are here for a reason.  The reason is that they aid in applying 
fixes, updates, security patches and more...AND they resolve dependencies.

<rant>
I find myself chuckling whenever I read posts you've written, Karl. 
Glaring, broad brush statements like 'keyring and network-manager are a 
bad combination' show nothing other than your lack of understanding of 
how a well put together distro functions.  I'm not doubting your 
intelligence or abilities, just your seeming inability to think before 
hitting 'send'.

Just because something doesn't work for you, doesn't mean its broken or 
riddled with bugs.  As a long term GNU/Linux user I can attest to the 
fact that Ubuntu is one of the finest distros for end-users/desktop 
installations I've ever tried.  Yes, I can and have had slackware 
working on my laptop...but it was too much work.  Whereas this fine 
distro worked out of the box.

Here's a piece of advice I know you probably won't heed.  Get a blog. 
Use that space to rant and make broad-brush statements.  Here, take a 
breath before hitting 'send'.  I know I'll be happier with this list if 
you'd do that one thing.
</rant>

<rant2>
I mean no disrespect to anyone on this list.  I admire those who ask as 
well as the kind, more experienced users who answer the questions posted 
here.  But this is not a blog.  I read with interest the long thread on 
moderating this list and while I wish it weren't needed, I wholly 
subscribe to the idea.  I subscribe to many lists, most of which are 
moderated and very few of those *ever* have need for a moderator to step 
in.  Anyone interested in reading the archives, view the users-list for 
CentOS, or the css-d list.  These are moderated, highly active and 
extremely informative.

The usefulness of this list is diminished by OT posts and wild ravings 
which are the result of laziness or lack of understanding and not 
shortcomings of the distro, its package management system or the 
available packages.  And yes, I recognize that this post has flown 
wildly into the OT realm and for that reason I'll end it here.
</rant2>


With apologies for the added noise,
-Ray