What do you care what other people use?

A lot of people are in marketing, but don't realise it. Most people who call themselves a "real programmer" are not. They're just a marketing droid that doesn't wear a suit.

If this sounds ridiculous, and you work in computing, then ask yourself this question: What do you care what hardware or software other people use? Why tell me or anyone else?

Yet this is exactly what some people do, on UseNet. They do marketing in their sig.files. Sometimes they even crosspost their marketing flamebait, thus creating language/OS/you.name.it wars. It wouldn't be so bad if they kept it to themselves, as they would then be merely preaching to the converted. Whether they'd be preaching the truth is another matter.

For as long as I've been reading UseNet, people have been posting falsehoods. When they crosspost these memes to a newsgroup in which people actually use the tool, the trouble starts. Actually, what happens is that one group discovers that they're trying to teach their grandmother to such eggs, because the other group responds with the truth.

There are urban legends technical nature, and while we may be tempted to believe some of them, we should resist.