Re: that acciaccatura issue

[David Kastrup]

"Mark Stephen Mrotek" <address@hidden> writes:

> Thomas Morley,
>
> Thank you for your extensive and detailed reply.
> The time and knowledge that you spent on my inquiry indicates a real,
> and appreciated, desire to assist.

Yes and no.  You'll find that most of the work in that reply was _not_
invested in assisting with the problem at _hand_ but rather using the
problem at hand for demonstrating how to construct a minimal example
that would have made it quite easier for others to help.

Note that _every_ person wanting to help you needs to perform those
steps that you did not perform yourself before posting your question.
So even while you may be less efficient at performing those steps, doing
them yourself will reduce the total amount of work invested into your
problem.

> Several times in the past I have sought aid from this list. Every
> "trouble" was quickly and clearly resolved.
> Never have I experienced such a kerfuffle as the present.
> I am not an intimate of the workings of Lilypond. I do not know what
> code is necessary. I do not know what context, or how much, is
> necessary for the resolution of a "problem."

Well, that's why you are supposed to keep removing things while the
problem persists.  Now I will readily admit that your example was not
humongous and quite boiled down.  I've seen people post entire scores
and ask about a problem.

So you already provided something that was a good starting point for
boiling down to an essential example.  But when one doesn't grasp the
problem at a glance, this boiling down still is necessary and it's
usually mere grunt work.  So why not do it right away yourself?

The difference is then that you don't need to rely on somebody who says
"I feel nice today and will put in half of an hour for this guy with a
problem" but rather will have five people piping up "oh, I see what the
problem is" trying to prove themselves.

And since some psychological part of problem solving is showing how
smart one is, instead of competing in solving the problem at all, they
will try competing in providing a good explanation.

And that, again, may be something you can benefit from.

And sometimes there actually is still half an hour of problem or more
even _after_ boiling down, so you increase your likelihood to get _any_
answer by doing that yourself.

So view the "kerfuffle" you complain about (which may partly result from
somebody not having a good day) as an intiation rite expressing "ok, we
have seen you come back time and again so it looks like you are here to
stay, so let's give you a quick rundown on how people will keep enjoying
your company best, for a long fruitful relation."

And at some time you might be the one giving the rundown yourself, being
still better equipped to empathize with newcomers than the guys spinning
out the same yarn for the umpteenth time.

-- 
David Kastrup