And the wrong way to go about getting help is...
I got an assistance request for Rhino Mocks directly to my email about forty minutes go. As usual, and as outlined here, I asked that the question be sent to the relevant mailing list. I get a lot of such requests, and that it my standard response for most of them, when they are on the list, other people have a shot at that, and the answer is a searchable record. If you want to something more, we can discuss my rates.
Anyway, I am getting of lot of such requests, and I am perfectly fine with redirecting them to the mailing list. But twenty minutes after I replied to the first email, another one got into my inbox. Same guy, same question.
He got the same reply, as you can see.
Just to make this clear, I welcome questions and discussions, I currently (as in, today) carry ~7 of them from people who just thought they could ask me a question. But I might as well decide that I am not interested in having a discussion in private email, and ask to turn that to the relevant mailing list. It mostly depends on how interesting is the question. So feel free to contact me if you have something you want to talk about, but do consider that the mailing lists are usually a better place for that and I might turn you that way anyway.
And no, I don't intend to make a habit of putting annoying people on the blog. And yes, it took me longer to write this blog post than it would have to answer the question.
Comments
Yeah sorry about that, when you said to use the mailing list I couldn't see a link on your site so I took a guess and thought you meant to resubmit using the contact link on the site.
Looks like I've won the prize of dumb arse of the day
Every time you post something like this it makes me feel a little guilty for the couple of times I've emailed :)
But then I get to waste two seconds by typing an inane comment I guess.
It's good when a product has a good, visible group address - the issue becomes with email groups having to sign up etc, just to get a question addressed.
But as you said, it might save someone else time down the line - which is why I wish people would use a search function on a mailing list to see if their question has been addressed before posting it to be answered again.
Which reminds me, I've had a couple of times where I keep your site open to view future comments (mostly for code challenges, etc).
Problem is I hit refresh, and it seems to load future comments, but then they disappear and the comment box appears instead.
Anyone else seen that behaviour? (I can usually hit escape and stop the page from fully loading as a workaround).
I think that this particular issue with the comments is because you have posted, and the query string shows that, so it acts on that.
Try to refresh without that.
there's a PowerPoint 2007 overdose on this blog since a few days :)
I don't comment often, so it isn't that - but it's possibly a waste of time to hunt it, I'll try and see if I can find a cause if it keeps happening.
That was more of a shout to see if anyone else has seen the same issue.
Why not setup a dedicated site for RhinoMocks? It appears you already own RhinoMocks.com. It would keep people from automatically assuming they should contact you directly, or at least make it more difficult. I mean you do have your cell number right there next to every blog post.
Yes, I've also seen that behaviour quite often, and surely not after adding a comment... Usually CTRL+F5 reloads properly, but I'm never really sure if it works or not...
Would be much nicer to have a "Receive notifications of new comments"-checkbox on each post...
Gonzalo,
Please go complain to Phil Haack and Steve Harmen.
LOL, I have actually been thinking of sending you an email for the last couple of days to ask you a few questions...
alberto,
Consider if this is appropriate to a mailing list, and if not, contact me.
I was very close to sending you an email with one of the above message titles just to be annoying, but you've been helped me on occasion in the past so I figured it would be rude of me. don't bite the hand that feeds you, and such. Also, the Ayende the unsleeping has too much time to plot revenge.
I've gotten the please goto the forum email from you before. I appreciate taking the time to respond, which I believe you later answered that question on the forum. Thanks for taking the time to help us. ..since you aren't sleeping anyway.
I'm sorry but lately you are starting to sound a bit like a movie star complaining about the paparazzi.
"I'm sorry but lately you are starting to sound a bit like a movie star complaining about the paparazzi. "
This would be why a lot of the superstar devs don't publish their email addresses or have the disclaimer of "I get a lot of email, if I don't respond please don't be offended".
Given that Ayende is hugely helpful on mailing lists, posts a lot each day, is writing a book, and probably so far makes very little apart from reputation, and leads for jobs from all that - I think it's fair.
My time is nowhere near as valuable as his, and given that he gives so much of it away freely, when he probably has a backlog of things that will actually pay him - I think it's more than understandable.
Andrew,
what you said might be true, but reading this kind of comments two three times a month on this blog is gettng me tired. I don't think it is respectful for the readers of this blog
@Anon - Oh no! Heaven forbid Oren be an actual person!!!
Everyone needs to vent from time to time. One of the positive features of good blogging is its transparency. In a couple of cases, Oren has blown off his steam publicly. Would you rather he do so to your face or to your back?
All in all, of course everyone would prefer that they and everyone else never needed to blow off steam in the first place, but if it has to happen there is definitely something to be said for it happening publicly so that others can at least know that steam needed to be blown off and can account for those sensitivities in future correspondence, interaction, etc.
If things get out of hand you might want to go for a email assistant.
Someone you give a list of rules to filter your e-mail.
This sort of thing seems to be quite cheap and saves you annoyance.
Article about it:
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2008/01/21/the-holy-grail-how-to-outsource-the-inbox-and-never-check-email-again/
Hmmm, I guess I don't understand calling someone out like that. You created this persona in a highly public forum, these are the consequences. I am sure you get paid a great rate for your skills as a result of this high profile blogging activity.
I feel the same way when movie stars get annoyed at their fans. On a personal level I am sure it gets annoying, but complaining publicly about it seems the wrong way to handle it.