Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2004 14:21:25 -0600 From: Nikolas Britton <freebsd@nbritton.org> To: Giorgos Keramidas <keramida@ceid.upatras.gr> Cc: Wes Peters <wes@softweyr.com> Subject: Re: Time to shut down this list? Message-ID: <41D311C5.7080400@nbritton.org> In-Reply-To: <20041228154047.GA29577@gothmog.gr> References: <6587631D.5034AB43.0F75C5EC@netscape.net> <200412271330.05504@zaphod.softweyr.com> <200412271403.12158.krinklyfig@spymac.com> <20041228154047.GA29577@gothmog.gr>
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Giorgos Keramidas wrote: >On 2004-12-27 14:03, Joshua Tinnin <krinklyfig@spymac.com> wrote: > > >>I realize that there is a certain personality to the lists, and the >>people on FreeBSD's lists are more courteous than most (at least in my >>experience), but how do you convince someone it's worth it to ignore >>the noise? Moreover, I've found that most people in such a situation >>don't want to ask the -questions list due to the traffic, although I >>suppose it's always possible to post to the list without joining it. >> >> > >The most important detail is the one you list near the end of this >paragraph. It is not obligatory to _subscribe_ to the freebsd-questions >list to post a question there :-) > >There are no traffic problems when you just post a few messages in a >single thread. > >I know that people are reluctant to post to -questions. I just don't >know why yet, but this is something that, in my opinion, _can_ be helped >by the presence of the -newbies list. > >My relatively aggressive PR in favor of FreeBSD in the Linux companies I >hang out with, has started to bear fruit. Many people here in Patras >have now heard about FreeBSD. Some of them have also tried to use it >for real work. Most of them seem very reluctant to post to the >-questions list though. > >I have had a few conversations with those who don't post to mailing >lists and tried to discuss this reluctancy they seem to have. One of >the major causes of questions that remain unanswered is the fear of >"asking stupid things". Which is silly, but that's the way the guys >I've talked with think. > >When I point out to them that, in fact, "there is no stupid question" >and that they should do at least the following (in this order): > > - Look at the existing FreeBSD documentation. > - Ask me for pointers to the existing documentation. > - Look at the documentation again. > - Search Google. > - Search the -questions archives. > - Post to -questions if all else fails. > >They always feel thankful for at least having a clear 6-step plan for >troubleshooting. > >THIS is what a newbie needs most of the time. Not the real details of >setting up a firewall with PF or IPFILTER, not all the gory details of >IP routing and network address translation, not even the delicate >instructions for editing `inetd.conf' or even `rc.conf'. Most of the >time, the newbies I've had to deal with have questions that they don't >know what to do about. All they need is a pointer towards the docs or >just a friendly pat in the back and a couple of kind words: "Oh, that's >ok. You should read the manpage of `inetd.conf'. If you need more help >with that, post to -questions, since I haven't ever tinkered with FOOBAR >services myself". > >I think that -newbies should not provide technical answers, detailed and >fancy as -questions. But it may make a huge difference, when people >don't know what to do about some problem they have, by providing exactly >this sort of guidance: a mini summary of what can and should be done. > >The rest of the time, we can brag about our accomplishments as usual >(which, admittedly, happens very rarely these days) :-) > >- Giorgos > > > I think I understand why they are overwhelmed now. There not using message filters, everything is just flowing into there main inbox (as well as there normal email), This would overwhelm me too.home | help
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