Though this initial effort by ern--his very first writeup here on E2--could be construed as "noding about noding" by those of us charged with guarding the integrity of the database, it is clear to me--and I hope to others--that his thoughts, expressed so honestly and well, are informed and--perhaps more important--thought provoking.

Compared to ern we are obviously ALL newbies. Which of us can reflect upon "the old hacker ethos" firsthand? Who among us could have been a hippie, let alone a beatnik?

If one reads carefully, it is clear that ern was a young man when Joe McCarthy was polluting the bandwidth of an earlier version of our holy network. What lessons, I ponder, might be forthcoming should he decide that our little band of brothers-in-baud is worth his time?

From a single writeup, as he meditates openly upon his existence here in our community, those of us who've paid attention have learned that ern has:

I don't know about you, but I want to hear more from a guy who's been around the block a few times, a guy who can both code and write. The words wisdom and experience come to mind.

I've got kids. I know how they get when they sense the story's gonna be good.

More from ern, I say, like a kid. I want more.

(And this is as well, you see, a Letter from a Newbie to an Old Master.)

--riverrun