On Wed, Mar 28, 2007 at 10:00:20AM -0700, Micah DesJardins wrote:
> I recognize Alex Dean's position that everyone's time is valuable and
> that we should be considerate about what we send out to a mailing list
> because in effect we are implicitly asking a large number of people to
> read what we are saying. I recognize Nathan and Bill's position that
> inclusion and encouragement are more important than the signal to
> noise ratio. (However I submit that coming down on someone to prove
> that coming down on someone is wrong is more than a little ironic.) I
> don't think there's anything wrong with encouraging people to post in
> ways that are of greater benefit to everone on the list, but I don't
> think we need to be heavy handed about enforcing any sort of policies
> either (see top / bottom posting debacle in the archives ;) )
Thanks for saying that so well!
> In general I'd say, all questions are worth asking! However I also
> consider it polite to do your research. To that end I encourage you
> to use Google, use your distribution's documentation, and use the man
> command religiously! My experience is that people are generally more
> than happy to help but it always leaves a good impression when someone
> has made a demonstrated effort to find a solution before bringing it
> to the list. That said, if you don't even know where to start, if you
> have no idea where you would find a solution for a problem that you're
> having, please don't let that discourage you from asking!
Yes, yes, yes!
All of us, from time to time, have trouble with something
that we *should* be able to do on our own. Sometimes it's just a weird,
temporary frame of mind where you can't come up with quite the right
phrase to Google with. If you've tried and you're hitting the wall, then
ask away!
But doing that initial homework really does make a difference. I'm much
more inclined to help someone who is trying hard but is stuck, than
someone who wants *me* to read man pages and Google *instead* of them
having to do it.
Everyone here is pretty friendly and helpful, and thanks to everyone for
that. The nice-to-rude ratio here is already very, very good. If some of
this discussion sticks, it could be even better. :)
--
Darrin Chandler | Phoenix BSD User Group | MetaBUG
dwchandler@stilyagin.com | http://phxbug.org/ | http://metabug.org/
http://www.stilyagin.com/ | Daemons in the Desert | Global BUG Federation
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