Never go in against a Sicilian, when death is on the line!
E-mail readers were very primitive back when they were used mostly by geeks who didn't need no steenkin' icons or menus. Newsgroup postings were plain text -- no icons, no graphics, no navigation buttons. This wasn't some odd retro choice -- it was the command-line interface. You typed something to the computer, and it typed back to you. That was how computer interfaces worked (and it was a great improvement over paper tape and punch cards). --Clueless Usenet Newbie: ''Re: Jesus' Birthday''
I guess sometimes I forget that we haven't had the internet around for that long. Because my generation grew up playing around with computers and the internet, I guess we kind of take advantage of technology. I personally can't imagine sending my best friend an email without a smiley at the end...and imagine a world without icons or widgets (apple rules ;-] ). I get what Dr. Jerz is saying when he mentions the whole flowerbed metaphor. The internet is a scary place, and just one mess-up can be catastrophic.
I remember the first time I used made a forum comment on imdb.com (internet movie database). It was something involving Michael Moore or some other political thing, and I thought I was so intelligent and proving a valid point...that was until another person decided to cyber-slam me with insults about my intelligence. He called me naive, idiotic, and a few other demeaning terms. Needless to say, I was scarred because of it, and I haven't left many posts since. It's not that I didn't want to; I just think part of me would rather read safely behind my computer screen than offer my opinions just to be harrassed from someone out in cyberspace.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is that everyone is going to have some goof-ups in the beginning. Even if we're extra careful, we'll still find a way to mess up, so why be so careful? Isn't the whole point to making mistakes to learn from them? I'm gonna go with that...
ps...the title of this blog is a line from The Princess Bride...just in case anyone was wondering about its randomness.
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Alex Hull on Never go in against a Sicilian, when death is on the line!: I agree that the point of maki
I agree that the point of making mistakes is to learn from them. But just as you said, the Internet is a scary place. Leaving posts can lead to rude and hurtful reply comments. Is that worth the experience you might gain? I'm not entirely sure yet.
The blogging and responses that we encounter on our student websites seem to be fairly sheltered since the interaction is mainly between us and our fellow classmates. I think I'll stick with this for now. It seems to be safer.
p.s. I knew where the title of the blog was from =]
I knew you'd get the Princess Bride connection ;-)