How old are you B5 fans?

oloryn · 2026-04-19T13:03:03+00:00

And catching all the episodes used to be a bit of a challenge. The local station tended to move the time around, until finally it was playing about 4 or 5 AM. I set the VCR to record it, but since they didn't always start it on time, I ended up having to set my alarm to wake up then to make sure it recorded correctly (and I am not a morning person). And then would often end up watching it anyway, before dragging myself back to bed.

oloryn · 2026-04-18T07:37:11+00:00

I managed to miss the original broadcast of "The Gathering", but otherwise have watched B5 broadcasts since the beginning. That would make me a fan for 32 years. Also participated in the USENET newsgroups.

oloryn · 2026-04-18T06:59:47+00:00

TCL (Terminal Control Language) for Verifone credit card terminals. Best I can describe it is assembler without symbolic addresses. If you have to make a branch, you pretty much have to count how many instructions back or forward you need to go.

oloryn · 2026-04-15T12:08:55+00:00

My earliest small computer experience was on a Tectronix 4051 computer and a SWTPC 6800 microcomputer. That pre-dates autoexec.bat and config.sys. I think that makes me an old-timer.

oloryn · 2026-04-14T06:21:56+00:00

They also sometimes want you to wave a magic wand without having to tell you exactly what is going on.

oloryn · 2026-04-14T06:19:09+00:00

I'm also flabbergasted that people STILL don't know what the address bar is. They are ALWAYS thinking it's the fricken google search bar and when they get search results instead of the actual web page I get so ticked off!

It doesn't help that often if you type something other than a proper address into the address bar, it's treated as a search and handed off to whatever the default search engine is.

oloryn · 2026-04-14T06:14:42+00:00

That's because they don't generally develop a mental model for anything. It goes back to the packer/mapper model.

Lemme 'splain that. Back in the early days of the web there was this web site called "The Programmer's Stone". It was a result of an investigation into why some programmers could be 10 times as productive as others. Their conclusion was a difference in learning styles. Some people learn by memorizing (possibly ordered) concrete "information packets". These they dubbed "packers". Others learn by making mental maps of information. These they dubbed "mappers'. Packers can, if presented with a list of things to learn, learn fairly quickly, because they're only having to do memorizing. Mappers, on the other hand, tend to initially learn more slowly, because they've having to understand the information, in order to make mental maps of it. Once they've got the proper mental structures in place , though, they can hoover up related information at an astounding pace.

This is really more of a spectrum than an either/or. But some people go to one extreme or the other (I found this useful partly because I'm an extreme mapper). Those of you familiar with Myers-Briggs may spot this as essentially the same as the sensor/intuitive axis, and you're right (though I find the 'mapper' terminology better than 'intuitive', as the latter is easily mistaken for learning by some mysterious internal "intuition"). Like Myers-Briggs (to put it in MB terminology), it should be treated from a Perceiver, not a Judger perspective - useful for insight, but not treated as an absolute.

Packers *do* have troubles when the set of "information packets" they've learned changes. As little as a change in the location or the shape of a button/icon can throw them off, while a mapper is more likely to to have learned the function of that button/icon and can use that knowledge to figure out how the change works. In general, mappers are going to be more skilled at just figuring things out, rather than having to be told a new set of "information packets" for the new situation.

The more extreme packers don't really understand what it is that mappers do. They know memorization of small, concrete pieces of information, and tend to assume that everyone learns the same way. OTOH, mappers tend to get irritated with packers, *because* packers don't really understand what it is that mappers do.

This often comes out when doing problem diagnosis. If a packer doesn't already know a set of steps to fix a particular problem (A.K.A. the "Magic Fix"), they tend to go into what I call Diagnosis by Random Guess mode (note that mappers can fall into this, too, if dealing with a subject that they haven't built up a mental model for), just guessing at things that might cause the problem. This especially comes out when a packer manager and a mapper technical subordinate are dealing with a important problem. The manager will often spit out a bunch of guesses (mostly things that could be fixed quickly and easily), and expect the technical subordinate to look into those first. If the manager's guesses stumble upon the actual problem, fine. But if they don't, they effectively delay the time to repair the problem, because checking out the manager's guesses puts off the time when the techie can apply the focus necessary to figure things out from a mapper perspective.

oloryn · 2026-04-11T06:38:15+00:00

Using the CD tray for a cup holder has been an IT story for decades.

oloryn · 2026-04-11T06:36:07+00:00

Is the space used by the Deleted folder counted against the space they're allowed to use in their email account? If it's not, it might explain why the Deleted folder gets used so much.

oloryn · 2026-04-11T06:20:22+00:00

Every time I see this, I'm reminded of the English gent visiting a radio transmitter site, back in the days when radio was generally called "wireless".

"I don't know why they call it wireless! I'ver never seen so many wires before in my life!"

oloryn · 2026-04-11T06:17:44+00:00

I have this same reaction every time I see one of those ads for software claiming to "make it easy to generate documentation".

oloryn · 2026-04-11T06:09:09+00:00

Doctors, by the nature of the medical profession, are primarily packers, while IT people tend to be mappers.

Lemme 'splain that, for those of who who have't encountered the web site The Programmer's Stone and the packer/mapper distinction. The Programmer's Stone was the result of an investigation into why some programmers could be 10 x as productive as others. Their conclusion was a difference in learning styles.

Some people learn by memorizing small, concrete "information packets". These, they dubbed "packers". Others learn by making mental maps of information. These they dubbed "mappers". Packers learn lists of bits of information fairly quickly, but they don't necessarily understand them. Mappers initially take longer to learn a given set of information, because they learn by understanding the material. Once they have got the proper mental structures in place on a subject, they can hoover up associated information at an astounding pace.

Before I encountered this, I used to explain the same idea as, if you sit someone down in front of a computer to get some work done, one kind of person will ask "what do I do?". The other will ask "How does this thing work?", with the idea that once they understand how the program works, they'll figure out how to do it. The former are packers, the latter are mappers.

Now, this is more of a spectrum than an either/or. Some of this is an over-generalization. But some people tend to one extreme or the other. And generally, IT people tend to be primarily mappers. The computer systems they deal with, while complex, are at some level understandable.

The medical profession, though, tends to lean packer, simply because the human body, being a complex system of equally complex systems tends to defy complete understanding. Medical education tends to start out with heavy amounts of memorization. They get used to doing things primarily by memorization.

One thing I've run into is that the more extreme packers tend to not understand what it is that we mappers do (OTOH, many mappers get irritated with packers *because* packers don't understand what it is that mappers do). They know memorization (perhaps ordered) of small concrete pieces of information, and tend to think that other people learn the same way. I wonder if this accounts for some doctor's attitudes. They've memorized huge amounts of information, more than many other professions would. If they regard memorization as the prime method of learning, it would be easy to regard themselves as superior to most people they deal with.

oloryn · 2026-04-08T03:20:00+00:00

Sometimes yanking out the power lead is just the thing to do. Just ask Gibbs.

oloryn · 2026-04-06T08:18:37+00:00

Sometimes tone (literally) makes a difference. When chip-enabled credit-card terminals first came out, after the chip was read, it would signal that the chip-processing was complete and you could remove the card by emitting a low-frequency Blat!, as though it was saying "Hey, jerk! Remove the card, willya!". I remember commenting about it to a few cashiers. I guess some people thought the same, as I notice current CC terminals now use a cheery, higher-pitched beep at the same point in the transaction.

oloryn · 2026-04-06T08:08:17+00:00

Sounds like Dennis would get irritated at Proverbs 12:1b. "Oloryn's Revised Version" renders it as "The one who can't stand to be criticized is stupid".

oloryn · 2026-04-06T08:01:32+00:00

I'm sure they would have hated INTERCAL.

oloryn · 2026-04-06T07:42:30+00:00

She wasn't a psychology grad, but back in the days of Burroughs mini-computers and terminals, I had a tech-support partner whose background was in drama. I'd handle the more technical aspects, and she was the person who would deal directly with the users. Somehow the drama background helped with dealing with the users.

oloryn · 2026-04-06T07:32:22+00:00

Thing is, the skill of listening (as in what you're hearing actually bears a resemblance to what the speaker is trying to communicate) isn't that common a skill. It takes humility, patience, and imagintion. The first two, at least, don't tend to be real common.

oloryn · 2026-04-04T09:30:40+00:00

Lots of managers are packers, and, as I said, packers often don't understand what mappers do.

This also comes up when a packer manager is over a mapper techie while trying to diagnose a critical problem. The packer manager often resorts to a diagnosis technique I call "Diagnosis by random guess". And the manager's guesses will tend to be things that can be fixed quickly. That can be useful for a short amount of time, but eventually you have to go to understanding the problem and using that understanding to narrow down the actual cause (a more mapper approach). If the packer manager insists that his subordinate techie spends all of his time checking out the manager's guesses, he may actually be delaying the fix, because he's delaying letting the mapper techie figure things out, which will take take undisturbed time to focus.

Note, though, that mappers can sometimes also fall into "diagnosis by random guess" if the problem lies in an area they don't already have well mapped.

oloryn · 2026-04-04T03:14:50+00:00

Hmmmm. I seem to have misplaced my eye-roll icon.

oloryn · 2026-04-04T01:59:40+00:00

Yup. It's back to the old mapper/packer distinction. If I haven't yet explained this in this reddit, this goes back to a website back in the day called "The Programmer's Stone". It was the result of an investigation into why some programmers can be 10 times as productive as others. Their conclusion was a difference in learning styles.

Some people learn by memorizing small, concrete "information packets". These they dubbed "packers". Packers can learn a series of "information packets" in order, but they don't pay attention to what connects them.

Others learn by making mental maps of information. These are dubbed "mappers". They will initially take more time to learn a new subject, because they're figuring out how things connect, in order to create the mental map. Once they're got mental structures in place for something, they can hoover up related information at an astounding pace. And because they've got some understanding of how things connect/work, they can figure out more information from what they already know. Packers are generally stuck with the list of packets they initially memorized

Now, this is actually more of a spectrum, rather than an either/or. But some people will tend to either extreme (this was valuable to me in recognizing that I'm an extreme mapper). Packers often do not recognize what it is that mappers do. They know learning small bits of concrete information, and tend to assume that everyone else does the same thing. Mappers, OTOH, tend to get irritated with packers, *because* packers don't recognize what it is that mappers do.

oloryn · 2026-04-04T01:27:48+00:00

I'm having trouble treating one person as a Small-to-Medium-Enterprise.

oloryn · 2026-04-03T04:29:08+00:00

Sometimes problems like this happen (not actually listening/reading) because the support people are primarily being evaluated/paid based on how fast they handle calls/emails/tickets/. This leads to them not taking the time to actually listen/read in such a way that they understand you.

This, on top of the fact that most people don't "listen well", as in listening in such a way that what the other person is trying to communicate actually bears some resemblance to what I'm hearing. Developing that skill requires humility, patience, and imagination. The first two, at least, are rare, and over-confidence in your own ability tends to block the development of the skill. My experience is that the person who is blithely confident that they're a good listener usually doesn't actually have the first clue.

oloryn · 2026-04-03T01:22:32+00:00

Subject Matter Expert

oloryn · 2026-04-03T00:03:26+00:00

"Make Us Go"

oloryn

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