Jared, Mark, and all members of this list,
I worked at Oracle Corporation from 1990 until 1998 when I resigned due
to an ethical challenge, to work under my own company-of-one for 17 of
the next 26 years between then and now.
One of the biggest concerns I had about resigning at the time was losing
access to technical information at Oracle internally, specifically
internal forums such as HELPKERN where I had found a fount of incredible
technical information about Oracle, as well as friendships and
relationships with equally incredible people, several of whom remain
friends to this day.
However, I learned that the ORACLE-L list provided an overall
improvement to the internal forums, especially with the "/teach a person
to fish/" mentality as opposed to the "/give a person a fish/" mentality
I found on the internal lists. I learned that relying on the developers
and architects at Oracle got me fast answers (i.e. "/give a person a
fish/"), but didn't always provide me with ways to find the answer on my
own (i.e. "/teach a person to fish/"). Some of the more incredible
people on the internal Oracle forums like HELPKERN took the time to
explain, so that wasn't always true, but it was generally true. Talking
to the folks who wrote the code can provide answers, but often they
don't provide insight.
On ORACLE-L, there was little or no "inside knowledge" available.
However, so many of the fabulous contributors on ORACLE-L were adept at
figuring things out, and from this list I learned a great deal from
being taught to fish, rather than simply being fed. Oftentimes, this
attitude might come across as snark, such as the interminable RTFM
responses to newbies, but still valuable lessons were (and are) shared
every day.
So, with the assurance of a way to augment my technical expertise, I
made the career leap, resigning from Oracle and leaving behind access to
all that inside knowledge, but secure that ORACLE-L provided knowledge
just as comprehensive obtained by testing things out. That gave me the
reassurance that I could leave Oracle and not gradually bleed my Oracle
expertise away until I was helpless.
I've often praised Oracle Corporation for being the "tallest pole in the
tent" and creating an ecosystem for thousands of geeks like me to make a
great living and enjoy doing it. But I also praise the ORACLE-L list,
and those who contribute to it, for the same thing. ORACLE-L isn't as
busy as it used to be, but it still demonstrates that invaluable mindset
of "/test it out/" as well as "/share what you learned/".
Thank you, all of you, sincerely!
-Tim
/P.S. Even to those who offered mysterious "silver bullets" as expertise
and threatened to sue anyone who proved them wrong; they were the
indispensible "entertainment" side of this forum/
On 4/14/2024 11:50 PM, Jared Still wrote:
Hi Larry,
It was initially an act of desperation.
As you were around in the SUNY days, I am sure you understand.
In about the year 2000 or so, I had posted a question that was of particular importance to me, as the people on that initial version of Oracle-L would have some good advice.
The list was down, and as I recall it stayed down for about weeks.
I even tracked down the owner of the list, found his phone number and called him, leaving voice mail to ask if he knew when the issues might be resolved.
No reply.
Hence, this list was created.
Thanks to Steve Adams for assuming 'ownership' all those years ago, as he is in Australia, and therefor immune to the legal threats posed by one member of the list (he offered Silver Bullet solutions ).
And many kudos to Mark Bobak for have administered the list in recent years.
Jared Still
Certifiable Oracle DBA and Part Time Perl Evangelist
Principal Consultant at Pythian
Oracle ACE Alumni
Pythian Blog http://www.pythian.com/blog/author/still/
Github: https://github.com/jkstill
Personality: http://www.personalitypage.com/INTJ.html
On Thu, Mar 28, 2024 at 07:52 elkinsl <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
A big thanks to Jared, Mark, and others who have kept this list
moving forward. And to the participants who have provided the
content! I have emails going back to the 90’s and the SUNY days,
then through the other hosting options, and eventually to where we
are now. While I’ve been too busy to actively participate on this
list in a number of years, I’ve continued to follow it. Anyway,
I’m about to unsubscribe but wanted to give a parting thanks to
those involved.
Regards,
Larry G. Elkins
214.695.8605
elkinsl@xxxxxxxxxxx
