[Discuss] Speculations

[Jamie Cheyfetz]

On 8/17/06, Tom <tom at lemuria.org> wrote:
> However, trying to deduce whether or not rebellion code and secession
> code have common parts that might cause a problem in one to affect the
> other WHEN BOTH PROBLEMS ARE WELL-KNOWN serves what purpose, exactly?

It serves the human compulsion to put order to what seems like chaos.
Posting it to the list serves the human compulsion to get others'
feedback.  No one that is worth their salt looks at a problem
(especially one affecting themselves or a friend, even an online one)
and doesn't attempt to solve it.  Some people are good at it, some
aren't.  Some people don't know they aren't good at it and come up
with a solution that (to them) seems completely plausible, so they
voice it even though their solution really is rediculous to someone
that has more information.

> Does it help anyone in any rational way?

Yes, it satisfies those human needs (stronger in some than others).

> Does it help fixing the bug?

In this instance, the person's gut feeling about the problem was
wrong, so it did not help in fixing the bug.  If their gut instinct
pointed them right at the problem and they voiced their "suspicion",
it could have.

I know I've voiced suspicions in my bug reports and they are usually
quite accurate (being a programmer myself, I know I have a knack for
pinning bugs down pretty quick).  Others that have no programming
experience use the tools they have and don't always come up with good
suspicions, but they are the person's best guess.  They are just
trying to help.

> Or
> does it simply cause me to waste time I could've spent doing so on
> writing mails like this?

Apparently, it did, but that's your monkey.  You didn't have to write
this email, you could have said to yourself, "This person was trying
to help.  He made a guess at what the problem was.  He was wrong.  He
didn't have enough information to make the right guess.  He didn't
know that.  He didn't state it as fact.  No harm done."

-- 
"...the Law of Unintended Consequences, stronger than any
written Law.  'Whether or not what you do has teh effect you
want, it will have three at least you never expected, and
one of those usually unpleasant.'"