Re: Auto Fill Comments

[Christopher Dimech <dimech@gmx.com>]

> Sent: Monday, November 30, 2020 at 11:41 AM
> From: tomas@tuxteam.de
> To: "Christopher Dimech" <dimech@gmx.com>
> Cc: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
> Subject: Re: Auto Fill Comments
>
> On Mon, Nov 30, 2020 at 11:09:52AM +0100, Christopher Dimech wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> > Correct.  Still I am working on that and have included it in formal work.
> > If Gnu work continues to be simply a spare time thing many problems will
> > arise as we are witnessing.
>
> I don't know, really. Having seen "paid-for" manuals before, I'd dare
> to say that I am spoilt, as an almost-exclusive free software user.

I do not know how many have experience in writing and dealing with
editors, and get published in say National Geographic (paid-for) -
or Playboy for that matter. Criticism can be very hard and authors
have to deal with that.  Much worse than criticisms one gets about
a manual.

Am not saying editors are always right.  And I know of instances where
author find support from other editors, even though their peers and
reviewers advocate against it.  I used to get very upset and
disheartened when I first started sending articles to magazines.
It took a few years before an editor contacted me for a deal.

> And having been stranded in more than one support hell, superficially
> friendly (but you know it's a template, peppered with "user experience"
> and things), but they let you know that all is about reducing per-issue
> cost (and you /are/ an issue)...

Yes, mailing lists loads do get overwhelming.  There's no argument about
that.  However, being aware of what is happening within the larger Gnu
Framework does inform.

> ...I seriously prefer the occasional "hey, tomas, go RTFM now" --
> although I try, as well as I can, to not inflict that on people.

Am not against people saying that, but authors have to swallow
their pride if they want to write well.

This simply follows your discussion on the topic without criticisms
being addressed to you personally.  These few days we saw some serious
infrastructural problems cropping up, but after some quite painful
discussion we helped them.  It is always helpful ta assume that other
persons could know something we don't.

Cheers

> Cheers
>  - t
>