This is probably not ideal use.perl content and this is probably not the correct forum for this discussion, but I need to vent.
I must be the only one - maybe it is the way the MonSter (my M.S.) affects me.
I find IRC very stressful - I can't follow the multithreaded conversations. I get upset when I can't get a word in or I can't understand what is going on. I think it must be the MonSter that means I get overloaded and stressed and upset... :(
I find the london.pm mailing list very stressful too. Most threads are wild and rambling (e.g. about politics). Some are fun (Buffy and Beer) and some are even about perl! :)
I at least skim read every post in case there might be one sentence within that I find interesting/useful/important.
I have tried ignoring or deleting threads and there is always something in that thread that I should have read and didn't and so someone says, "but we told you that on the mailing list!"
When I try to add to a post to put my point of view I sometimes get `yelled down'[1] on the list. I am bound to take that personally. It was directed at me! :)
When I try to post some helpful information, I get also often yelled down.
A few people mail me off list instead of doing the yelling in public, and I appreciate this. I wonder why other people insist on humiliating others on a public list?
You see, the MonSter makes me mis-type, mis-read and generally not be able to judge the mood of an email without emoticons. And emoticons seem to be an anathema to london.pm, despite their general acceptance as good netiquette elsewhere.
I unsubbed for a while but I missed all the good chat with the good friends I have made at various london.pm social meets, technical meets and two yapc:Europes. Life is lonely enough working from home without losing contact with friends... :-/
So I resubscribed, only to be insulted [2] twice on list when I tried to add what I thought might be useful information to a thread. Why can't people say such stuff to me in private email rather than in public?
Yes, I am sure they did not mean to insult me, but they should think before hitting send, maybe? Also, maybe proof read before sending and consider how it might come over to the other `oversensitive' souls on the list? I have tried to learn that one and I think I do OK most of the time.
If I get upset with something said on list I try to remember to reply direct rather than to the list. Then again, I am still learning mutt (sorry for being an OutLook user for 8 years!) and forget that r does reply to list and not reply to sender or reply to all...
A couple of people have discussed stuff with me off list before posting to the list in case it might upset me. I appreciate that too.
I apologise if I am such a bane to the list / channel. Maybe I had better just shut up and not post anything, even if I have an answer to a question or some information that might be useful...
I regret that my first journal entry ended up being a vent session and not something more interesting...
[1] or that is how it feels...
[2] call me oversensitive if you will (and at least one person has done on the list), but I am only human and I have feelings too!
