Well, there certainly must have been a certain degree of old MS buddy networking going on which may well not be in the best interests of Nokia or it's customers...

Honestly, maybe this is a good move for Nokia. Much like Motorola having somebody else design their droid device. I used to test all the feature set devices as well as smart phones. Nokia was consistently a joke. Especially their 'n-gage' marketed devices like the N95. Sure they were high end devices and it may have done many things well, but handling J2ME was flaky and the OS felt clumsy. More importantly, if MeeGo was designed for handsets... what are they doing using btrfs as their default file system when it's not done yet? Nokia really does make strange choices. However, Nokia has done a lot, so i guess I can't be too angry. Maybe I'm just disappointed in them. So going to Windows 7 isn't anything different.

You could be right. After all, Microsoft has played dirty before.

@ splitting up comments

When needed, I generally use <@ topic> to comment on a long rambling post with multiple topics or replying to multiple topics that are going on at the same time across the thread. Not that it was needed here, just making a point. Additionally, when a sentence has a proper lead in/out, there is just no need to state the topic or phrase before each chunk of your reply. Block replies are as annoying to me as some people get about improper sentences and bad grammar. It's just another form of not taking the time to write up a well composed response. However, under the circumstances, perhaps it was justified. No time put in, no time given back.

@ well phrased 'constructive' comments

I usually comment on their complete lack for detail then try to predict what their answer might be. The object is to be constructive, not negative. Point it out, but not frustrate them.... Unless you are trying to push them away. Either way, there are two sides to look at every situation.

@ frustration

I usually find that typing out all the details I know of the problem allow me to solve the problem for my self. Like trying to get a program compiled. I realized I had enough knowledge to debug the configure script only to realize it was doing a check first for 'valac' then a check for the library with 'pkg-config vala-1.0' which isn't there because 'vala-1.0' is probably a symlink to 'libvala-0.1?' on the cairo-compmgr developer's computer and obviously isn't there on mine because the vala 'make install' doesn't actually install the '/usr/lib/pkgconfig/vala-1.0.pc' file.

@ In general
Anyway that was a rant that probably made no sense. I also make no guarantees to the quality of the text that I post because I'm sure there are a million holes that could be poked into 90% of the stuff I type.

I have 16 people on my ignore list. It helps me to avoid irritating situations.

Nobody really likes to have their posts ripped apart and each section replied to individually. Not only is it insulting to the reader's intelligence of not being able to follow the topic but it's equally insulting to the OP who now has to explain each part in a weird double quoted post that nobody wants to read.

As for the OP, perhaps he was tired or typing on an input limited device? I know I've tried posting on a forum using a tablet PC, Even if you reread your post you sometimes miss stupid things like "imap. server."

Either way, my response to the OP would have been, if I had to comment on every part,
"""
I haven't heard anything about Verizon selling to Frontier, but a quick google search shows that it may only be 14 states and only the hardwire connections; not the cellphone service. Either way, I would double check your ports and SSL settings. It's possible the Windows computer is using an insecure connection and default ports, where you Linux PC may be trying to connect using SSL. Or the ports in general could just be messed up. Either way, imap works just as well, I would use it for gmail if I wasn't lazy and set it up for such.
"""

That message indirectly comments on the vagueness of the Frontier acquisition, suggests a possible solution, and recommends just using imap since it works.

If LQ is about helping, why even bother thinking of a negative comment that helps nobody?

Sometimes if I have only negative things to say, I type it up and don't send it. But if I have a potential answer, I give it then add an extra comment about their vagueness. Or if I think I might know the answer but there isn't nearly enough information to begin to answer, then I ask for more.

As for the OPs frustration with useless answers, I know his pain. I've given up on asking questions for the most part. This is primarily because I find the answer for my self before somebody can answer. That, or I offer too much detail for my exact problem that nobody knows how to solve... Maybe I'm just posting in the wrong forums. I do primarily use the Slackware Forum.

@archtoad6;

No one can see anybody's comments except yours. On my screen it look like I'm the only one who posted -- and my comment has a little guy with an X over his mouth, meaning that my comment is not seen by others (i.e. moderated comment). You either have to select all the comments and then accept them, or edit your blog options so that you don't have to allow them (which is what I did).

If you already knew this, sorry! Just a pointer.

We all know who the real a**hat was.

Oh hey!!!
How are you today?
I'm doing fairly well myself! Anyways...
You ARE free to use whatever desktop you'd like. That is why Linux is so awesome. But if your Distribution doesn't offer it, compile it from source! If you can't do that, well, tough. You're stuck.
The page I sent to the OP was definitely still relevant for KDE 3.5.10 (if you would've gone further down the page it says that *cough* ) which is what they asked for. And just because a distribution is suited for beginners, doesn't mean that power users can't use them or that people can't build packages for themselves. And yes, I am a Slacker, and I use Arch now (so am I an Archer?) but no matter what you do, no matter what distribution you use, no matter when you do it, building from source will ALWAYS provide the results needed of you do it right. You can go try it sometime. And as for being in the Mepis sub-forum, I wasn't purposely. It was in the Zero-Response section and GUESS WHAT!?!?!?!!?!?! My solution would've solved the problem.
As for the solution that was given, I did apologize to the OP in a post on that same forum stating that I didn't know that project existed. So why were you bashing me afterwards? Seems like a waste of space.

Anywho, Happy Linuxing! (Is that a word? I may trademark it...)
soppy

Have you calmed down now ? I can understand your frustration, really ! I have not faced any such thing on LQ but I have got co-worker who makes me bang my head to walls !

You don't mess with Texas.

I totally sympathize with your view.

I use the ignore list. It helps me to avoid seeing posts from people who chronically write bad questions.

I try really really hard to be nice but I sometimes fail.

I had to take a 1 year vacation from LQ because I was becoming chronically harsh. I only returned two weeks ago. I don't know how long I can keep contributing. The irritating questions are starting to get to me again. I often have to wait a day before I post a response to many of the questions. I lurk in the zero reply thread listing. If a question shows up there for more than a day then the question may be one of the irritating ones and everybody is waiting before they respond.

I am resolved to continue contributing in a positive way or to stop altogether for a while. Maybe I need better meds.

In my opinion the op has the abuse angle wrong. I admire your restraint and replies.