The Mark Conrad FAQ

Taking the liberty of reposting this:

The Mark Conrad FAQ, ver 2.0, 5 April 2004


------======------ Mark Conrad FAQ ------======------

1) Why shouldn't I read or answer Mark Conrad's comp.sys.mac.*
usenet posts?


Mark has a history of posting incorrect and possibly dangerous
misinformation in these newsgroups, ostensibly while trying to
learn about Unix. He repeatedly ignores correct answers from
knowledgeable folks, but folks keep responding to him in the hopes
that true novices won't be misled by him. If you know that his
post is incorrect, there's no reason not to correct him, if you've
got the patience. If you're a novice, though, _please_ seek more
competent advice before paying attention to his posts. The Mac
you save may be your own.


2) Who is Mark Conrad?

"Mark Conrad" is the name used by a frequent poster in the
comp.sys.mac.* hierarchy. Though the poster has admitted to
using the name "Gerald Smith" years ago in CompuServe's
online discussions, it is the name "Mark Conrad" which is
used in the newsgroups and thus, it is the name "Mark Conrad"
by which this FAQ will refer to the poster. Since "Mark" is
typically a man's name, this FAQ will use the masculine
pronoun in reference to Mark.


3) What's the purpose of this FAQ?

This FAQ is intended to explain to newsgroup newcomers
precisely why Mark is the subject of his own FAQ. It's a
recursion thing.

More importantly, this FAQ is intended to document exactly
why it would be unwise or even dangerous for novices to take
Mark's advice or indeed, to ascribe any credibility
whatsoever to his statements. The level of frustration
associated with even reading his posts could well justify
skipping over those posts entirely. See question 1). As
poster Dave Hinz put it, "Mark is here to waste your time
if you let him."


4) Is he a troll?

Likely, but hard to say for sure. Many of his posts exhibit
signs that he is trolling. His repeated claim that "Unix is
hard" is not sufficient on its face to indicate trolling but
his apparent inability to grasp even the simplest concepts is
inconsistent with anyone's experience teaching Unix to new
users. He claims to have some sort of new business which,
though yet not begun, will have many distributed computers
that he plans to control remotely. This business never seems
to launch. Statements about how precisely he will control
the vast network of machines generally raise the ire of
people who understand distributed computing. More than
anything, this author's belief that he is trolling stems from
the fact that whatever the topic Mark brings up, persons
knowledgeable in that field end up angered by his seeming
ignorance and resistance to education.


5) Is he merely afflicted with a learning disability?

Doubtful, but hard to say for sure. The second
explanation for his apparent inability to grasp even
the simplest concepts is that he does indeed have some
block that makes it hard for him to learn concepts that
to most of us seem simple or at least easily taught.
This explanation is less likely than the trolling explanation
because of his online presence. Operating a newsreader is
more difficult than e.g., the Unix "grep" command, yet his
continuing presence in the newsgroups indicates that he has
regrettably mastered one.


6) Is he...you know...nuts?

Possible, but hard to say for sure. There certainly exist
mental illnesses which lead to the sort of behavior that Mark
demonstrates within the newsgroups and claims to engage in in
his meatspace life. Whether he is in fact suffering from one
such illness is a diagnosis for a competent professional in
the field of mental health to make.


7) What if I choose to read his posts despite this?

Usenet's a global medium, so it's not like the old "Isn't
this a free country?" argument holds water. However, there's
no authority which will drag you off to a gulag or even wag a
finger sternly in your face if you read his posts. The
dangers are twofold:

a) Unix novices risk confusion by reading his explanations
of how things work. The explanations read plausibly, but
are typically flat wrong. Believing that one understands
concepts when one does not can lead, in the worst case, to
damaging one's system when acting on that misunderstanding..

b) People competent in Unix risk high blood pressure by
reading his explanations of how things work. Among the
risks associated with high blood pressure are stroke, heart
attack, acid reflux disease, and shortened life span.


8) Who's responsible for this FAQ?

Jim wrote most of it when the murmurings grew loud enough to warrant
one and has edited the content. BreadWithSpam has contributed question
number 1) and pointed out that it, as the most important question,
should be the first.

===============================================================

In article <060820041803168273%dave@N_O_T_T_H_I_S.balderstone.ca>, Dave
Balderstone <dave.RemoveThis@N_O_T_T_H_I_S.balderstone.ca> wrote:

 > Some of us have years of experience with Mark/Gerald. I may have more
 > than most, having dealt with him on Compuserve several years back.

I was wondering how long it would take you to spot the feeding frenzy
of the mad dog pack, and jump in with your personal attacks on me.


 > ...in my opinion and based on demonstrable evidence of Mark/Gerald's
 > behaviour and motives over many years and many message threads.

Uh, yeah, right. It was morons like you who stood by and nodded your
head up and down while AOL gutted the good system that Compuserve had
in place.

Susan, who ran the very productive "AI Expert" forum there for years
left Compuserve in disgust, when they abolished her forum.

....and nary a peep or complaint out of you. Every one of their forums
wound up with the screwy AOL system where all the forums had the exact
same named sub-sections.

All the "Good Old Boys" used the forums for idle chatter about their
personal lives. I would not be surprised if you are still a member of
Compuserve's country club.


 > Mark has a history of posting incorrect and possibly dangerous
 > misinformation in these newsgroups...<clipped>...

Any Unix novice is bound to post incorrect info' during the active
process of trying to understand the commands in Apple's "Terminal".


 > He repeatedly ignores correct answers from
 > knowledgeable folks...<clipped>...

What you glibly dismiss as "correct answers" is really badly
misleading, to say the least. Stuff like "read the man pages".


 > Though the poster has admitted to using
 > the name "Gerald Smith" years ago in CompuServe's online
 > discussions...<clipped>...

You say that as if it were some sort of crime. Truth is, many people
in these NG's use aliases, to avoid kooks like you who ingage in
personal attacks.


 > This FAQ is intended to explain to newsgroup newcomers precisely why
 > Mark is the subject of his own FAQ. It's a recursion thing.

Careful, idiot, it is not "my own" FAQ, I had nothing to do with
creating it.


 > It's a recursion thing.

You obviously know little about recursion, otherwise you would never
have made that analogy.


 > As poster Dave Hinz put it, "Mark is here to waste your time if
 > you let him."

Let me point out that you _started_ these personal attacks and
mis-information in this thread. I am merely responding to them.


 > Is he a troll?

No, a troll is someone like you, who engages in personal attacks, in
the hope of subverting, corrupting, diluting, and otherwise damaging a
thread that they don't agree with, rather than being a man and
discussing any differences in the open.


 > His repeated claim that "Unix is hard"...<clipped>...

It is hard, as witness the fact that a whole bunch of Mac users do not
"grasp" its command-line intricasies.


 > Mark posted a message in c.s.m.apps in which he stated
 > "Another problem I ran into was that I do not even know the
 > difference betweem [sic] the mv command and the cp command." It
 > is difficult to lend any credence at all to such an assertion, as
 > mv, cp, cd, ls and the like are the first commands one learns. In
 > fact, it's almost impossible to do more than stare at a blinking
 > cursor without having learned these basic commands.

Another blatant distortion and personal attack, in an attempt to label
me as an idiot. Looks like I am going to have to sic my rabid
guard-dog "legal advisor" on you in a 'defamation of character'
lawsuit.

If any readers do indeed check that post, they will see that the
problem was complex, not simple as you falsely indicate in your
personal attack. Specifically, a "mv" was attempted, and the item
being moved stayed in its original location. That would confuse
anyone.

Seems there is a 'glitch' in OSX or Terminal or bash that fosters the
impression that the original file was not moved.

I found that out the hard way, because no one in the NG alerted me to
this glitch.

I can duplicate that confusing 'glitch' to anyone's satifaction, so
they can see that this is a red herring raised by the troll "Dave".


 > Further evidence of trolling is that he claims to have some
 > sort of new business which, though yet not begun, will have
 > many distributed computers that he plans to control
 > remotely.

That is _really_ a confusing personal attack.

How can one possibly "have some sort of new business" while
simultaneously "though not yet begun".

That is plain and simply a smear attempt where the troll "Dave"
contradicts his own statement.



 > Is he merely afflicted with a learning disability?

No, but you are. You have never fanthomed how big a waste of
everyone's time it is to make false accusations you can't back up.



 > Operating a newsreader is more
 > difficult than e.g., the Unix "grep" command...<clipped>...

Ha-ha, what an obvious lie that is. Everyone in this NG runs a
newsreader, but only a few know how to use the grep command in depth.
Entire (large) books have been written just to explain "regular
expressions", a pre-requisite to learning how to use the grep command
in depth.


 > Is he...you know...nuts?

No, but you are, if you really expect reputable people to put up with
your trolling and lies.


 > Unix novices risk confusion by reading his explanations of
 > how things work. The explanations read plausibly, but are typically
 > flat wrong.

I never claimed to have the get-all-to-end-all explanation as to how
things work. Like other Unix novices, some of my statements are
correct, and some are incorrect. The troll insinuates that _most_
of my statements are incorrect, which is wrong.

My statements in this post are correct, for example.

Dave Balderstone is a troll, his destructive action of effectively
"killing" the topic of this thread proves that, plus his many false
accusations against me, which I refuted in this post of mine.


 > People competent in Unix risk high blood pressure by reading
 > his explanations of how things work. Among the risks associated
 > with high blood pressure are stroke, heart attack, acid reflux
 > disease, and shortened life span.

I have heard it also curdles mother's milk.<g>

If you can't tolerate a few mis-steps by me as I try to learn Unix,
without mounting a major trolling episode like you just did, then there
is no hope for you.

Stop whining and complaining about me, it wastes everyone's time.

Grow up and try being constructive for a change, discuss the thread
topics instead of trolling.

Mark-<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->