Now for Something Different

 Today I'm going to do something here in my blog I've never done before. I'm going to rant!

First some background. I spent the last thirty years of my career writing software. The first 10 of those years I still worked for Midnight Burglar Alarm. When the upper management found out I could write software the stopped using their expensive consultant and I took over hardware maintenance and software development. We had 3 mini mainframe computers based on the Data General Nova series. No graphics just accessed via ASCII dumb terminals. I wrote accounting AR and AP systems, Inventory and CSM systems. Eventually we transitions to a PC network (which I engineered) and purchased software from a development company. In my personal life I worked with Timex Sinclairs, Atari personal computers and eventually PC's, Building, modifying and programing them. When ADT bought Midnight Burglar Alarm I was let go. I immediately got a job with the development company that had provided MBA's software. For the next 20 years I developed software, SQL based three tiered with web based dashboards. In my personal life I continued to build and program computers expanding out into Raspberry Pi's and Linux variants. Now days, since I retired, I write administration tools for churches and non-profits and mods for video games. I still build all of my PC's and a host of small Arduino and Pi based controllers. I also create and program devices for a local escape room. I know a thing or two about software.

So now the rant. I am not the only one in the world that knows about software. As a matter of fact there are many who know way more than me and I salute them. They have helped me and taught me so much. Thank you. But there are people, some smart, some only know a thing or two who feel the need to be rude. They belittle people and try to make them feel stupid. Here are some examples of what I mean:

A new user of Linux asks a question on how to do something on one of the help forums. Several people respond with comments like: "If you can't figure that out you should not use Linux.", "You need to learn to do searches and find it yourself."

A comment on a mod I posted for a video game. "Oh I really want to look like a plastic person." (A quick search on the user showed me they had never posted a mod.)

General comments on a mod dev board. "I only develop with tool X. Anybody who doesn't use tool X creates crap." "Yeah, we should ban mods not made with tool X!"

So here is my response to all of the rude, opinionated, elites snobs. If you don't have anything helpful to say, then shut up! And helpful or not, don't be rude! Ever! It does not matter what development tool a person used. Only the end result matters. Everybody uses a development tool. Even people writing in Assembly (which I can and have) use compilers. And nobody sits down for their fist project and starts typing AI code. We all (yeah even you know-it-alls) started with 10 print "Hello World" 20 goto 10 or the equivalent there of.

I'll end with one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite humorists, Mark Twain.

"Always make your words soft and sweet. You never know when you will have to eat them."

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