use-revolution Digest, Vol 21, Issue 6

[J. Landman Gay]

On 6/1/05 7:01 PM, Mark Greenberg wrote:

>     Could Ben be one of those who, a week ago or so, got our list's mail 
> by mistake?  Some of them were angry, and nobody could be that annoying 
> without trying.  This could be his revenge.

Not revenge, I don't think. Here is what I suspect happened:

Ben reminds me a lot of the kids we used to get in the AOL forums. His 
language and writing style is immature, and he uses non-standard syntax, 
punctuation, and spelling which may be considered cool in his circles. 
He has grown up in a generation that sees nothing wrong with file 
sharing and who lack the same ethical perspective that most of us have. 
These kids share movies, music, and software and think nothing of it. 
Thus his comment that the world is changing -- it is all he knows, and 
commonplace where he hangs out. So I think he's young.

He likes to download free stuff, and he downloaded a trial of Revolution 
after seeing it mentioned somewhere. On the trial download web page, the 
"Join the mailing list" checkbox is set to join this list by default. He 
didn't know it. He found himself getting a lot of mail that he didn't 
understand. Eventually he figured it out and began posting back.

He doesn't particularly want to be a programmer, and he doesn't 
understand Rev, but he is intrigued by the list and getting some 
attention here. He corresponds with us in the way he is used to in the 
kiddie chat rooms he frequents, and in his experience his attitude and 
posting style are not abnormal.

We can guide him if he is willing, or shut him out if he isn't. But he's 
a kid. Probably 12-14.

-- 
Jacqueline Landman Gay         |     jacque at hyperactivesw.com
HyperActive Software           |     http://www.hyperactivesw.com