[kwlug-disc] Begging for presentation offers

[Andrew Kohlsmith (mailing lists account)]

On Wed, Nov 16 04:03:15 PM unsolicited wrote:
> Another is, keeping everything (electronic) means never have to say
> you're sorry or being disappointed that what you didn't think was
> important to you then, is important to you now, but you don't have it.
> 
> Course, there is a data storage and backup cost to this.
> 
> And a perpetual piece of mind that if and when you need it, it's
> there, somewhere. And you didn't spend any time you didn't need to to
> organize or label it. Until it became important to you to find it. If
> it ever does.

I respectfully disagree. I am a data hoarder. I have stacks of old electronics 
magazines with interesting little design ideas that I figure I might need to 
use some day. I've got piles of CDRoms containing damn near anything you can 
imagine, mostly electronics or hacking related. I also have boxes of circuit 
boards with neat components on them that I know I won't be able to get if I 
were to actually search for them.

The problem with this hoarding is that when I *do* need to find something, it's 
a massive undertaking to locate it, and is not always successful. About twice 
a year or so I get fed up with it and try to organize my piles. I clip out the 
interesting articles and throw away the magazines. I depopulate the boards. I 
never do erase the data though. :-) This has limited success, but it does make 
me feel better.

I thought for a while that indexing and tagging would save me. I haven't been 
able to give it a real honest effort yet, mainly because I haven't been able to 
sit down and really start tagging things. I tried sorting things into 
directories and that leaves me with multiple piles of directories. It is also 
helping, though. 

But I think Raul's right. There's a clear distinction between hoarding and 
collecting. Collecting takes FAR more time and effort, but being able to find 
what you've stored away makes it worthwhile.

-A.