Re: [SLE] Juvenile antics on the list

From: Danny Sauer (suse-linux-e.suselists_at_danny.teleologic.net)
Date: 10/08/04

  • Next message: James Knott: "Re: [SLE] Juvenile antics on the list" 
    Date: Fri, 8 Oct 2004 11:17:09 -0500
To: SuSE List <suse-linux-e@suse.com>

    Powell, wrote regarding '[SLE] Juvenile antics on the list' on Thu, Oct 07 at 17:35:
    > I have included Patrick's reply below merely as an example. Telling people
    > to RTFM or search on Google is not terribly helpful. For either of these
    > methods to be useful, you have to know what it is you're looking for in the
    > first place. This kind of treatment only serves to deter people from asking
    > questions.
    [...]
    > I'm all for the "Teach a man to fish" philosophy, but sometimes, you just
    > need a quick fix for something so you can move on and get past it. Don't
    > forget, today's 'noob' is tomorrow's guru.

    That "guru of tomorrow" will never attain guru status if he never learns
    to 1) brush off responses that appear hasty and 2) search for himself before
    asking for the quick fix. When people ask questions to which the answers
    could be found in the first couple entries google returns, or by simply
    reading the man page, then it seems totally appropriate to direct them to
    google or the man page.

    That said, I prefer to provide a sample search string for those posts
    where I recommend google. I'm also not real keen on providing man page
    references unless I also mention what to look for on the man page itself.
    Even without those things, what's wrong with asking a follow-up question
    like "what should I look for on google" or "I don't understand the man
    page - it was written by some grumpy, documentation- hating programmer as
    an afterthought"? I've only seen maybe one example of someone asking that
    question in response to "read the man page".

    I'd think that, if responses like "check google" or "read the docs" didn't
    work, there'd be more "I tried that and it didn't work, now what?" posts.
    It may seem callous, but if these users get all sad when told to read the
    docs first, I'd just as soon not see them posting. Then, I don't care if
    Linux takes over the world. It's taken over my network, and I just don't
    see a need to get even more people using it. That means nearly nothing to
    me. I don't want it to die, but the current userbase *is* adequate to keep
    it alive. That's also a gripe for another day, though. :)

    While we're wishing for things, can everyone just stop encouraging Bahram
    Postsirreleventcrap for a while? I can block his misguided posts, but then
    I just get a bunch of responses from people I don't want to killfile. Then,
    maybe SuSE can put a notice up on the list subscription message noting that,
    if you're told to read the docs, you should try to actually *read* the docs
    and then come back if you still don't understand. One day, mailing list
    nirvana may yet arrive. One day...

    --Danny, who wishes there was a unisex replacement for he/she that wasn't
    as cumbersome as "one"... 

    -- 
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  • Next message: James Knott: "Re: [SLE] Juvenile antics on the list"

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