53: Working with Delta

I’m working on the last FreeBSD Journal “Letters” column to appear in Dear Abyss. I’ll launch the Kickstarter after the column appears.

Once upon a time there was this person who vexed me so badly, I had to write a book just to complain about them. (Not why I wrote the book, nor why I griped about them therein.) My fierce vituperation was so all-encompassing, they not only changed their name but their gender so they could attempt to rebuild something from the ruins of their reputation. (Totally not why they changed their name. Nor their gender.) Now I’m gonna tell you about working with Delta. (Not that we ever actually worked together. They’re just an example person. Libel laws prevent me from explicitly naming Gabriel, though he will hopefully recognize himself. That new emotion you’ve never previously experienced, Gabriel? It’s called “shame.”)

You probably have a preferred public discussion platform for technical matters, something like Reddit, Mastodon, or the penal board forum. Delta’s that person who when they see someone ask a question, they search Google and post the first link it vomits up.

The trick in writing about issues you don’t experience is to check your work with someone who has that problem. If you don’t know anybody who has that problem, you probably shouldn’t be writing about it.