Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 16:49:44 +0100 From: "Christopher Martin at Home" <psycho@keyworld.net> To: "Greg Lehey" <grog@lemis.com>, "Ben Ostrowsky" <sylvar@afn.org>, <freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: Rant: What are we? Message-ID: <199803281548.QAA09711@mail.keyworld.net>
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> As you can see, it's not an easy distinction. Sue had hoped that the > heavies would keep off -newbies, or at least not post any messages, > but that hasn't quite happened. From what I've seen, there are a > number of people active on the list who are quite experienced. This > may not be a bad idea: I was the person who was concerned that > questions on -newbies would give rise to a lot of misleading or just > downright wrong answers. But whichever way we look at it, there's a > differentiation problem. > > Any comments? I personally think we need to let the group develop a > bit, and then we'll be able to decide. > > Greg Hi Greg and Folks, I think it may be a better idea to rethink the whole question. I for instance use the lists to keep a tab on developments and progress of enhancements. When I do find something interesting I relay it to my colleagues at werk. I am more involved in the business decision side of things and as such lack the necessary hands-on practick to really get into detail even though I have conceptual understanding of the way Unix works. However, from what I gather in newbies, many come from non-Unix environments and as such many of the questions would be related to their lack of awareness of basic Unix precepts. FreeBSD is very often their first Unix experience. Thus it is so much harder forthem to get to grips with, jargon, references and sometimes I think even a basic idea of what is found where unless they get hold of the FreeBSD book. It happened to me with Novell Netware as well. Coming back to my suggestion, I think newbies who have had Unix experience in system administration can go directly to questions because they are not going to be asking many of the questions newbies ask. If on the other hand, newbie questions relate to applications for FreeBSD, that is because they may not be aware of the compatibility issues. I think, what should be done is that newbies should monitor questions or at least digests. And that experienced people should monitor newbies to give that occasional helping hand. It may be a good idea though to publish diagrammatic representations of the Unix directory tree for people who are totally new to Unix and a synopsis of what files are found where and a basic explanation of their functions: e.g. os kernels, ports, drivers, user related stuff etc. It may also be a good idea to give a rough explanation on similarities and differences between the bootstrap process in Unix and DOS/Windows devices (i.e. where the conf files come in etc.) This could be published on the web-site and used as a basic reference for all the newbies prior to going ahead. Do not get the false idea that I know what I am speaking about. I stand to be corrected or directed to a site which may already have this up for reading. What do you think? Chris To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message
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