Re: How to get rid of *GNU Emacs* buffer on start-up?

[Xah]

On Sep 25, 1:13 am, Jonathan Groll <li...@groll.co.za> wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 24, 2008 at 11:35:27PM -0700,Xahwrote:
> >Tim scumbag,
>
> >Tim X wrote:
> >> I was trying very hard to avoid getting dragged into yet another thread
> >> which has been pointlessley hijacked by Xahs o that he can grind his own
> >> personal axe.
>
> >If you want to help the original poster, you can help without having
> >to insult people. For example, you don't need the first paragraph
> >above.
>
> >If your goal is to incite me to do a piss fight with u, let's begin.
>
> Xah- do we ALL have to read another one of these rude and
> intimidating mails? Did Tim really call you a scumbag?

rude and intimadating? Do you mean he started it?

So, if someone rapes your wife and daughter, but he didn't swear, and
you swore, you are the scumbag then?

> Looking back at
> the original thread, it does seem that the OP's thread had indeed been
> forgotten, so he did have a point, don't you think?

Did you pay attention here? Let me repeat what i wrote in previous
message:

Xah wrote:
«If you want to help the original poster, you can help without having
to insult people. For example, you don't need the first paragraph
above.»

Tim X's first sentence goes thus:

«I was trying very hard to avoid getting dragged into yet another
thread which has been pointlessley hijacked by Xah so that he can
grind his own personal axe.»

Would you be interested in defending for him on this? If so, do, then
i'll answer.

> The above mail on the other hand had nothing to do with Emacs, and I
> am seriously thinking of quitting this mailing list as a result of
> such unpleasant hate-filled emails.

Your post, don't have nothing to do with emacs too. Did you not
realize it??

> I don't want to read this sort of
> email and get worked up as a consequence, it is just not worth
> it. Yes, you are a good contributor to the list and are generally very
> helpful to most posters, but this sort of correspondence we can do
> without. There do need to be moderators on this list.

Perhaps, you should read one of my article on netiquette.

Why Can't You Be Normal?
http://xahlee.org/Netiquette_dir/why_cant_you_be_normal.html

For your convenient, i pasted the plain text version below.
---------------------------

Why Can't You Be Normal?

Xah Lee, 2008-07

Over the past ~5 years there are some negative remarks on me or my
posts. I have almost never responded to any of them. Here i want to
clarify a few things.

• I seldomly write off-topic posts. For example, any argument about
netiquette, i consider off-topic, including defense such as what i'm
doing now. But in recent years i gradually relaxed my stringent self-
imposed rules in my posting habit. (See Aloofness vs Approachable.)

• Many say i'm posting off topic posts. In recent years they start to
say i'm posting borderline relevant posts. That's not correct. In
fact, there are huge number of blatantly off-topic posts by regulars
that spawn off from threads, regularly. The topics vary anywhere from
discussing politics, law, licenses, free speech, relevance of math,
english usage, yapping on happenings of celebrity programers, and
including rampant flamewars and accusations among themselves. (see Old
School Netiquette.)

• Some people says that i don't participate in discussion, and this is
part of the reason they think i'm a so-called “troll”. Actually i do,
and read every reply to my post, as well have replied to technical
questions other posted. Most replies to my posts are attacks or
trivial (of few sentences) i don't consider worthy to reply.

A few, maybe 10% replies to my unconventional posts, i consider having
some value. But if i don't have sufficiently remarkable opinion on
what they remarked, i don't reply. Also, if all i wanted to say is
“thanks”, i tend to avoid posting such trivial posts too. (i used to
reply by personal email in such cases, I still do sometimes now, but
today that can be considered intrusive.)

(see Philosophies of Netiquette)

In newsgroups which i feel i'm more part of the community, i do reply
more often. (e.g. in the dot com years (~1999) i'm much more active in
comp.lang.perl.misc including asking technical questions; during
2005-2006 while i was learning python, did somewhat frequent posts to
comp.lang.python; in this year in comp.lang.lisp, i frequently replied
and argued more freely. But in this year, am also very active in
gnu.emacs.help, most of my posts there just answered tech questions.)

• Most newsgroup tech geekers consider cross-posting wrong. I consider
such taboo in this convention being a major contribution to the
redundant creation of new languages, flaws, and foster the hostile
faction nature of programing language groups we see. (see Cross-
posting & Language Factions.)

• There's some rumor that says i post prodigiously. Actually, when i'm
active, i post only about 1 or 2 posts per week or month, in the past
10 years, with rare exceptions. (See Aloofness vs Approachable article
for reason why. (Note that, about last year (2007) i checked, the stat
given by poster's profile at groups.google.com is erroneous. For
example, it shows the number of posts per month. I recall, seeing it
says tens of messages for particular months where i know i've only
posted maybe no more than 10 each month. This can be verified by using
groups.google.com to search the group and count the number of actual
messages and compare to the number reported in the posting profile.))

• Many say i repeatedly post old essays i wrote that are published on
my website. The total number of times i've done that is perhaps 4 or
absoletly less than than 10, since the 12 years of using newsgroup
started in 1996. The first of such “repeat” must be sometimes after
2004. The interval of a “repeat” happens is at least half a year, more
likely 1 or 2 years. Also, the repeat does not happen more than once.
(to be absolutely correct, possibly there is 1 essay that are posted
at a max of 3 times) I “repeat” a essay i've written because i think
the issue is important, the situation has not changed, and i consider
it worth to be said again. When appropriate, i incorporate information
from the discussion into my essay, with proper credits. (this esp has
happened in my Python tutorial, emacs lisp tutorial, Java Tutorial,
various classical literature on my site)

Actually, most accusations about me falls apart if one just take 10
min to check the facts.

• When i used my google email account to post, as opposed to my older
google account with xah@xahlee.org email address, often people accuse
me of “changing identity to avoid killfile”. This is just one of their
ways these people drivel. I don't really give a fuck i'm kill filed or
not kill filed. Many of these people publically proclaimed that i've
been kill filed, yet respond to my messages again. (See Killfile
Considered Harmful.)

People change emails all the time. In the past 8 years of using
newsgroups, i've only used xah@xahlee.org and xahlee@gmail.com . And
before 2000, i had few other emails before i registered the domain
xahlee.org. I rather stick with xah@xahlee.org, but the re-login to
different google accounts with several of their services is becoming a
pain. See, for example, this post from me last month about how to
merge google accounts: groups.google.com Google Accounts merge post↗.

Also, whenever i had a new webhosting provider, people dig it up and
accuse me of changing IP to troll. (this happens more frequently in
the past, say before 2003, i think that the know-how of domain info
lookup is now considered lame even among these stupid tech geekers)

My site xahlee.org has changed web hosting about every 2 or 3 years
for variety of reasons. For a few years it was hosted free on the math
educational site that used to be mathforum.org by Swathmore edu. (For
some detail of my website hosting and history, see: Web Hosting
Compared: 2006-01. A little trivia: before i had xahlee.org in 2000,
my site was hosted at “best.com/xah/” starting in 1996. Some very very
old sites still link to that. )

The only time that my change of web hoster has anything to do with my
posting, is in 2006 someone harrassed me to have my web hosting kick
me off due to my controversial postings in “comp.lang.*” groups. I
have written a detailed account about it on my website. See
DreamHost.com and A Incidence of Harassment.

(for the record, any ban, or harrasment on me, i keep a record as
truthful as possile. These bans, kicks, or fights happen in just about
every online forum, inworld game groups, irc chat groups, ...etc where
the members are almost exclusive males. Typically, they are not unlike
highschool boys brawling things out. If the issue effected me or
pissed me in some serious way, i publish it on my website. The keeping
record is very tedious. For example, in newsgroups you might want to
save all the messages in a thread this happened. In online forums,
blogs, social networking sites, where posts can be deleted or modified
easily, it's more tedious to keep a history of the site (e.g.
screenshots of the page at multiple times), and to keep a manually
written log of what happened when. Similarly, in irc, you have to save
the chat, manage the chat logs, adding comment on what happened where
with what chat log, finding out people's real identities if proper,
etc. (as a example, i've been ban'd in freenode.net's “#emacs” irc
channel since 2006. See Emacs Irc Channel Ban On Xah Lee. I have a
bunch of irc chat logs when i'm banned. I always save the chat log
when someone ban me that i consider unjust. But it's quite time
consuming to organize them and write about them.))

(as another example of ban, in about 2 months ago i was ban'd in
Wikipedia. I was editing 3 article related to Tibet, of which i
consider my edit very proper. But, in my opinion, it's too much againt
Westerner's popular beliefs. I wrote detailed argument about my edit
in my Wikipedia's personal talk page. The Wikipedia fuckheads not only
ban'd me, but subsequently ban'd me in editing my pesonal Wikipedia
talk page too, and blatantly deleted the detailed reason that i
defended my edit. The incident is here, bottom: User talk:P0lyglut↗.
the writing where i defended my edit, is here: Wikipedia User
talk:P0lyglut ...↗ 2008-07.

Wikipedia these days is a huge organization (ranked top 10 of all
sites since about 2005), and part of the good thing in large orgs is
that they have developed, with public scrutiny, some regulations that
prevents fuckheads doing power struggle too much. e.g. they have
locks, bans, votes, must be done by agreement of admins (as opposed to
a single person), and the ban is in general limited in duration, and
they have a record of edit history, and in general has ways to further
one's case if he believes being ban'd wrongly. However, it's still
subject to a lot tech geekers or other cartel of vested interest in
keeping some article to the way they liked. (basically, if you have
nothing to do and hog Wikipedia all day for a couple of years
(typically students), and if you are in general not offensive, then
you'll become a admin, and establish a bunch of admin friends of the
same ilk. This class of people, basically control Wikipedia's
disputes. Also, by the way how Wikipedia developed, they don't
appreciate identity nor credentials. So, many of these “admins” are
anonymous.)

I do consider Wikipedia one of the most important site and in fact
part of my life, but these days i avoid “contributing”.

(e.g. i have now over 4000 links to Wikipedia articles from my site. I
estimate, that for each link i've made, there are maybe 10 more
article i've read. See for example:

    * Links To Wikipedia from XahLee.org
    * Generate a Web Links Report with Emacs Lisp
    * Encyclopedia, My Experiences
    * Lispers and Wikipedia

) )

* * *

I've been actively using online forums since 1991 in CompuServe and
AppleLink days. I've seen my share of flames, netiquette arguments,
etc. (the medium include: newsgroup, mailing list, web forum, irc,
communities inside massive multi-player online games (a niche but
typically with literally millions of users world wide)) I've been
banned now and then in places. (in one case, legally definable
harrassment, which happened and perhapss well-known at the time in
comp.lang.* groups few years ago) From what i see, the banning, heated
accusations and quarrels, are mostly exhibition of male nature and
political struggle, not unlike political struggles that happens in
society at large, such as in academia, corporations, goverment orgs,
between corporations, between nations.

Some say “why can't you be normal”?

It is true i tend to discuss controversial topics and with non-
conformal attitude. I have my reasons and you could say it's just a
personality. However, “being not normal” is not a reason to accuse.
There are philosophers, unorthodox, dissenters, free thinkers, flag
bunners, protesters, traitor/founder, prostitutes, homosexuals ...
many are persecuted, considered a crime, in the past, and some are now
considered national or international heros.

Btw, this post is not some kinda formal defense to some formal
accusations. Usenet has always been a mecca of rowdy contention and
cluesless argument among tech geekers, and the medium is perhaps far
more wortheless with relatively little readership and impact on
society than newsgroup dwellers like to think. Newsgroups users in
fact like this free-for-all aspect. I don't feel necessary to respond
to morons. This post is just one of my post i feel like writing. You
guys to whatever it is that you do.

PS as i have detailed, i have my own moral ethics in posting. Most
posts and opinions are just too stupid, igonrant, for me to consider
replying. If you really believed that some of my opinion or posts are
wrong, contain bad advice, or incorrect fact, then do post, as i do
read every reply it shows up in groups.google.com. And, whatever is
your opinion, i would recommend you spend 30 minutes to write your
reply. (i spend 1 to even 6 hours in most of my opinion-oriented
newsgroup posts as explained in detail in one of the above cited
article) Also, if you see my post of a unconventional opinion, and i
was forceful in my writing style, then it is likely i have serious
knowledge and or did serious research and or i consider it a widely
misunderstood issue. I suggest you take 30 minutes, to think, do
research, about it before you reply. Also, i prefer to reply to those
who post with real identities. Again, i don't consider this is some
serious issue, or that my opinions and beliefs and behaviors are
always good. It's just another newsgroup day. Do whatever it is that
you do.

  Xah
∑ http://xahlee.org/

☄