“join the family.” Really? Who’d have thought!

The statement in the “Topic title” above appears in the WordPress site, almost at the top, following the statement “Over 60 million people have chosen WordPress to power the place on the web they call “home”. I believe the latter; not sure I believe the “join the family” part.

My first attempt to work with computers was around 1984, with my trusty 284K, 10Mb HDD, Tandy 1000. During that time, when the internet was in diapers, most software developers had support sites to help us “newbies”. You weren’t expected to be an expert and you were treated with respect, whether or not you asked a dumb question or revealed proof that God existed. As the years have gone by, this attitude with “newbies” has changed, particularly from those support forum dwellers whose goal is not to help, but to show off.

Nowadays, any fool who can turn on a PC with either hand or has achieved the goal of replacing a memory card considers himself, and acts like an expert. They are particularly annoying when they address a post from a “newbie”. They talk down to you, let you know how stupid you are for asking “that” question, and leave you with the feeling that you just stepped in a pile of poop. But there’s a whole lot worse.

The worst feeling is being ignored in a “support” forum. You are encouraged to ask, you ask, and then, silence. There’s not even a moderator to tell you anything. Oh, when you need a dressing down, there’s always a volunteer willing to step up. S/he will make sure that you know how dumb you are, then you’ll be told how smart s/he is, and then you are on your own.

I’m sure not all of your 60 million users are experts. It saddens me to think that such a great app/service/platform/etc (I mention some, just in case) will end up like so many others who didn’t learn their lesson. And, a final note.

To you show-offs out there. Feel free to jump in with your usual justifications. You’ll be ignored by me. After all, that I did learn how to do here.