[Penguicon-Concom] did anyone notice?

[john guest]

A long time ago, I learned that not presenting solutions and
conjectures for subjects I was not an expert on, like medicine, to
someone who was an expert, like a nurse practitioner, was the best
course.

Case in point, I had some sort of bizarre rash on my arm and chest
that had probably been picked up from some shared exercise equipment.
I went to the doctor's office and presented the complaint not as "I
have this odd rash" but as "I think I have ring worm" (ring worm is
fungal and has nothing to do with nematodes).  My conjecture convinced
the nurse, and the nurse practitioner.  And all that was required was
the doctor's signature on the prescription for an anti-fungal when the
doctor says "let me take a look at it."  Turns out I didn't have ring
worm, but instead a viral infection called pitirasis rosea.  The
anti-fungal would have been ineffective, and I would have been
freaking out wondering why the medication wasn't doing anything.

So, if someone says "The website is down" who is not an IT
professional (and despite this being an open source convention, a lot
of the folks involved with it aren't), myself, as an IT professional
would check to see if the site was functional (as Jer did -- thank
you), and then proceed to ask what the person was seeing if that did
not jive with what the professional was seeing.

Certainly, it would have been nice if Sarah had mentioned "I'm getting
a 404, and I tried pinging the site and there is no response." but
anyone who has spent time working with someone who isn't the expert in
your field knows that information won't necessarily come in the format
you want or as complete as you want.  And as irritating as it may be
sometimes, recognize that not everybody thinks the same way.

So, be nice to each other.  You all bring a lot to the table and put
on a great con.

--John Guest