I'm not saying we're supposed to be rude -- that's even as bad as posting rants and complaints. What I'm saying is that people need to understand that in order to receive help (for free on a forum like this) you need to put some effort into it yourself.

About the vacation, you're probably right. And I have been on one since spring. What I realized, though, is that the Linux community does not need more users to be viable. We have achieved the critical mass for HW vendors to acknowledge Linux as a platform worth supporting. In that perspective you don't really need to _convince_ the ranters to stay. Get my point?