Fixpoint

Continued from part 2.

It took some time to finish my GPG preparation (probably longer than I should have let it drag on, though there were a number of steps including hardware provisioning and process rehearsal); once ready, I asked lobbes for voice in #trilema to get the key registered.⁽ⁱ⁾ He told me the new policy was in effect whereby noobs were to start out in the surrounding castles, so I dropped into the two that looked active: #asciilifeform and #ossasepia. At the time I was vaguely aware of the "Young Hands" project but hadn't really delved.

In what I'd soon recognize as her typical manner, the Marquess cut straight to the heart of the matter, asking what I wanted to get from being there and directing me to have a look around, ask any questions necessary and say if I wanted to submit to training. I attempted to establish expectations as to what this would mean; she suggested I read the full channel log and clarified that it was a general mentoring relationship, thus dependent on the individual's needs as she saw them and not any kind of prescribed program. No minimum or maximum, just bringing people up as high as they can go; no loopholes for protecting stupidity; and no monetary cost but a long-term commitment.

Worth noting is that I also contemplated inquiring with the Lord Admiral Stanislav Datskovskiy aka asciilifeform, whose works I was more familiar with, as to whether he would take an apprentice. I had often found his writings stimulating, his knowledge on a range of subjects as seen in lengthy discussions in the forum remarkable, and his technical outputs - at least the more polished ones - wonders to behold. A part of me was eager to talk and perhaps earn the privilege of working with him. The main trouble I perceived was that his blind spots and deficiencies, which had been criticized at various points, seemingly without resolution, were dangerously similar to my own.

~ To be continued ~

1. It turned out you can do this by private message to deedbot. I encountered some difficulty in getting it to load the key from my own web server, for reasons still uncertain, worked around by using a deedbot paste. [^]