> Exactly my point. We need to raise the bar of the behavior we tolerate. > This should not be tolerated. We need to set an example. The person in > question clearly understood english and I have never seen a person who > could use mailing lists but not google. So that's out of the question. > > We are not free consultants. And you are not entitled to shit. You are > probably being paid to work on that project. We are not. Your problem. Fix > it yourself. Or at least have to courtesy to google it. >
While I can understand your frustration, I disagree with your position.
It is too subjective and difficult to apply/adopt such a strong position and could too easily backfire, resulting in a perception of an elitist, unwelcoming and unfriendly community.
Banning should be reserved for the most serious and abusive cases. Banning because someone appears to be acting entitled or lazy is hard to assess in a non-bias manner and likely has too much cultural variation to applied consistently. Someone you feel who is being entitled or lazy might be someone I feel is frustrated, may lack good communication and/or social skills or might simply be immature and in need of some guidance and education. My response may also differ depending on my own state of mind and mood at the time when I read the message.
I've been on the postgres lists for some years now and to be honest, have not noticed this type of issue very often. There are occasionally rude and lazy individuals who may appear to be acting entitled, but they soon go away. In some respects, the list is self-moderating because people who do act poorly soon get ignored and their messages die out with no responses.
The great benefit of lists like these is that you can just ignore anyone you think are rude, entitled or fail to put in the effort you believe is warranted before their question/issue needs attention. Many mail clients will even allow you to 'block' specific senders. I have done this once with someone from a different list. I don't know if they are still behaving badly as now I never see their messages.
My advice would be to just delete and move on, a luxury you don't have when you are employed and paid to deal with such messages, which is one reason I don't like or have the temperament to fulfil the difficult service/support desk roles which too often maligned and fail to get the recognition they deserve.