[texhax] confused queries...

[Robin Fairbairns]

suppose you get a tex live disc from a friend.  the friend had it from
tug, and you (an innocent, who last used tex in the 80s) try to get it
going.

you fail, and the friend who lent you the disc suggests you ask tug
about it -- support at tug.org is the way to go.

now support at tug.org is an alternative address for texhax, so you find
yourself swimming in a bed of vipers who are enraged that you think
you're talking to a commercial outfit.

you give up, in the face of only very little information, and masses of
hostility.

as a parting shot, you get a mail saying you "got what [you] deserved".

now, as everyone knows, i was driven off this list for some failure
which i've forgotten about[*].  but i have still read it (and will
probably get complaints about that admission).

personally, i have a continuing interest in the continuing success of
*tex* systems.  i find dealing with newbies "tiresome", but of course
i'm only in the front line (for tex-related things) for users at the
department where i work.  in public forums, i tend to keep quiet, since
most tex users nowadays (who will "answer" posts) know *far* more than i
do.

[*] i think i was less helpful than some people required me to be.  i
shall probably attract flak about this post, too.  it'll be a long time
before i feel strongly enough to post here again.
-- 
Robin Fairbairns, Cambridge