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Date:      Tue, 27 Jun 2000 09:43:34 -0700 (PDT)
From:      Rick Hamell <hamellr@aracnet.com>
To:        "Dimitrios T." <midios3@hotmail.com>
Cc:        freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: no questions?
Message-ID:  <Pine.LNX.4.21.0006270913580.31633-100000@shell1.aracnet.com>
In-Reply-To: <20000627063745.18078.qmail@hotmail.com>

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> >Umm... NO....! This is why questions are not supposed to be asked
> >on -newbies.
> 
> I thought -newbies was meant for newbies' questions..
> If not, could anyone, explain to little me, what's the purpose of it?

	That is part of the problem. If you read the First Aid kit post
that Sue posts about once a month, it explains what this group is
for. Essentially, questions are meant to be of a 'WHERE' to get
help/information for those of us who maybe taking their first steps into
FreeBSD/Unix. -Questions is for HOW questions. 
	For instance, if I ask how to configure IPFW, that belongs in
questions, but if I ask where to find more info, this would be the
place. On the same token if I just spent 42 hours getting my DSL running
with Natd and IPFW and want to tell others about it, this is the
place. This is also the place to make suggestions on how to improve the
newbie friendlieness of FreeBSD (though you'll most likely be told to go
ahead and fix it. :)
	The reason why questions are not answered here is for the very
reason I pointed out yesterday. Newbies haven't read all the
documentation, they've not used the system a lot yet, they've not spent
enough time reading -Questions to know what the common problems are. The
question I refer to yesterday comes up about once every two weeks on
-questions, and there are step by step instructions on how to fix that
problem.
	The person who answered was wrong through simple ignorance, which
I grant is not his fault. But if he'd learned a little bit more he would
know that BASH is the default shell for root and should never, ever be
changed under any Unix system. He was also not given any useful
information on HOW to fix the problem. If that person was say a system
admin new to FreeBSD and his job (and company!) rely upon that system
being up... He could possibly lose his job because he was given the wrong
information to attempt to fix a problem. 
	Now, I'm not trying to put anybody down, I merely wish to
preserve this group, it serves a useful purpose for the Newbie. But if the
powers that be see to many questions being answered here, and worse yet
answered wrong, they will remove this group, especially in light of how
much trouble it was for Sue and others to create it in the first place.


					Rick



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