Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1998 00:26:41 +0100 From: Christopher Raven <c.raven@ukonline.co.uk> To: Steve Friedrich <SteveFriedrich@Hot-Shot.com>, freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Making A FreeBSD CD-ROM Message-ID: <35F86031.F5F1A601@ukonline.co.uk> References: <199809101531.LAA13414@laker.net>
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Steve Friedrich wrote: > On Thu, 10 Sep 1998 11:12:08 -0400 (EDT), Ben Hockenhull wrote: > > >> I, personally, think it's unfair to ask any of us to spend our leisure > >> time helping you save $40. What does anyone else think ?? > > > >I, personally, think it isn't that big a deal and you need to relax. It's > >no different than asking for help with one's production (read: makes > >you money) FreeBSD system on the list, for instance. > I think there are other people on this list that feel basically the way > I do. If you ask a question that implies you haven't done any of the > research yourself, I give you the answer on a silver platter, and many > others won't either. I get about 200 messages a day, and if we can't > prune out the noise, I'll unsubscribe, just as many others have. I > suggest we have one or two new lists, call them freebsd-lazy, > freebsd-cheap, or combine them as freebsd-lazy-and-cheap. Then you can > spend your leisure time answering questions that the authors of the > questions should have/could have answered themselves, if they had put > forth the effort. I certainly can understand someone who has no > experience asking "where do I begin", and I have helped many people > such as this. But I am tired of going thru hundreds of "I didn't read > ANY FAQs, handbooks, web pages, or any thing else. Would somebody > please install and administer my system for me because it'll make me > money." > > You are responsible for the poor signal to noise ratio. And we need to > do something about it. > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message Apologies for the message length, but ..................... I feel the need to interject here, for although I am a relative FreeBSD newbie (read UNIX in general), I do find that the FreeBSD site IS (read very much) still unfriendly ~ nigh on one year since I installed 2.2.5. This list is freebsd-questions, and whilst I can well understand your ailment (I have been subscribed to several lists during this period) over spaming and generally nauseous (read repetitive) questions, I fully understand the problem. It's the name, freebsd-questions ~ can you stand back and see the problem? I have browsed the mail archives and read the FAQ till my head hurts; and yet I still manage to miss answers to questions which were staring me in the face. Why? Basically, the FreeBSD web site is still not overly accessible to total newbies. People will go only so far before they say o.k., I have tried, and I am stuck, so I will ask. Freebsd-questions is the obvious choice for this. I came from the MSDOS environment where answers were (at least for me) easy to find. UNIX is not the same (thankfully), so either you say in the FAQ that this list is only for those who do in depth research before asking a question or, you either a) provide a new list or web area for obvious (read previously answered- and not the search engine !) questions, or 2) you unsubscribe from this list. You cannot change human nature, either take a deep breath and say - FreeBSD first ! , or b) join a non provocative mailing list (read no questions). For many people, their computer is a hobby and not a profession, i.e. they have only so much time a day / per week to struggle with their computing problems. Whilst I understand that this is a very busy list, and that very many people give most generously of their time to administer it; comments such as yours are very far from helpful. I appreciate that you may well have given much of your free time to answer questions in the past, but there is a growing awareness of FreeBSD and UNIX in general, a growth that can only be harmed by such negative response. Microsoft may not reply too readily, but they don't flame when they do ! I also believe that (whilst understandable) RTFM answers are also truly negative in response. Please don't take these comments the wrong way, they are to pause for thought and not to start a flame war. I have the DEEPEST respect for all those persons giving freely of their time to administer these lists, and answer the questions therein. In fact I have received much help from within these lists over the past year (though often feel I didn't deserve too). Yours sincerely Chris R. FreeBSD Enthusiast & webmaster to various commercial sites To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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