Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Mon, 10 May 1999 13:44:39 -0700 (PDT)
From:      "K. Marsh" <durang@u.washington.edu>
To:        "Mr.Delicious" <elcoz@usa.net>
Cc:        freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Mailing List vs Newsgroup
Message-ID:  <Pine.A41.4.10.9905101332090.84462-100000@goodall2.u.washington.edu>
In-Reply-To: <19990510201538.29656.qmail@aw164.netaddress.usa.net>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On 10 May 1999, Mr.Delicious wrote:

> I am fairly new to FreeBSD (running about 3 months now) and about the only
> thing i don't like about FreeBSD is the fact that you have support through a
> mailing list. In fact, I hate it. I can't read by thread or anything. It also
> appears snobbish.

I have to chuckle reading this message.  I know exactly the frustration
you are going through.  The freebsd-questions is monitored by some very
knowledgable and involved individuals, and they have little patience for
dumb questions.  I was very glad when freebsd-newbies was started, but
alas, newbies isn't for dumb questions either. :-(.  IMO, there really
needs to be a freebsd-dumbquestions list.

The freebsd-questions people are not snobs, though.  They just don't want
to spend time helping people who have not spent any time helping
themselves.  If you have a question, you really should consult the man
pages, the handbook, and the archives for your answer before you go live
and ask the pros.  You must be familiar with the man pages and handbook by
now.

For the archives, I get best results from www.dejanews.com.  For example,
I want to install bash on my system.  I go to www.dejanews.com and search
for "FreeBSD install bash".  The second item on the search list is a
detailed description from comp.unix.shell on how to install bash on a
FreeBSD system.  It doesn't always go this easy, but you can usually
answer your own questions.

One more resource that will make you independent of live tech support is
Greg Lehey's book, The Complete FreeBSD.  I'd get the third edition.  By
the way, does anyone know if edition 3 is out yet?

  Kenneth J. Marsh             University of Washington 
  durang@u.washington.edu        Chemical Engineering



To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message




Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.A41.4.10.9905101332090.84462-100000>