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[jeffc]

Your condescending tone, if I had to guess.

He sounded pretty helpful to me.

 

[David B. Held]

[...]
Your condescending tone, if I had to guess.

I wonder what part of his answer falls into that category.

The part you didn't quote, of course.

He wrote how he began himself and gave some good
advices about how to start. His posting just started with:

"Please note: your question is off-topic in this group.
You'd be better off asking in e.g. [comp.programming]."

Yes, but the full introduction says:

"Please note: your question is off-topic in this group. You'd
be better off asking in e.g. [comp.programming]. But allowing
for age:"

Which I read as: "Since you're just a clueless kid, I'll let you
go this time...but if you were old enough to know better, I'd
give you a c.l.c++-style OT beat-down."

[...]
Actually, it looks to me as if some newcomers are a bit
too touchy.

I would agree if it weren't for the fact that some of the people
who are offended (and perhaps a bit suprised) by the
moderation here are, in fact, long-time users of Usenet.
I'm not talking about myself, of course (though I have used
Usenet for about 10 years).

lf took the time to write some tips about starting
programming, and in return, he's explicitly excluded from
the thanks, just because he mentioned that the newsgroup
is actually not the right one for the question.
[...]

I agree that the response seemed a bit harsh. But then, I
can see both sides, while it seems that the c.l.c++ veterans
have become desensitized to the brusque and haughty
attitude sometimes displayed by the moderators. If I had to
guess, part of the problem is that programmers in general
tend to be cockier than the population at large. Being able
to control high technology is not a skill everyone is born with,
and it can allow one to wield immense power. Despite the
image of "computer geeks", I think it is generally recognized
that computer experts are a type of modern priesthood that
is revered in its own special way by the technologically
illiterate (or even semi-literate). So maybe programmers
as a rule have a slightly different sense of what is polite
than people in other fields. A newcomer to technology is
just the same as an outsider, so not being accustomed to
programmer culture and it's fairly competitive nature would
probably tend to make outsiders surprised at how rude
programmers can be, even when they think they are being
polite.

For instance, when I see a fellow programmer try to explain
a software problem to a business client that is not very
computer literate, the glazed-over look in the client's eyes
says that they consider the explanation not very helpful,
even though the programmer is intentionally trying to "dumb
down" the response, and feels he is being clear.

Dave