Date: Mon, 04 Oct 1999 17:15:48 -0700 From: Darryl Okahata <darrylo@sr.hp.com> To: "Daniel C. Sobral" <dcs@newsguy.com> Cc: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Developer assessment (was Re: A bike shed ...) Message-ID: <199910050015.RAA29289@mina.sr.hp.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 05 Oct 1999 02:52:44 %2B0900."
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"Daniel C. Sobral" <dcs@newsguy.com> wrote:
> It's very simple: if I (emphasis on "I") think answering your
> message is worth the time in which I could read ten, twenty other
> messages, I'll do so. The same applies to each other person on the
> list, developer or not.
Very true.
> There are things one can do to improve their chances of seeing the
> message answered. For example:
... excellent advice, which everyone should follow.
... however, how the H*LL are the clueless newbie hordes supposed
to know or learn this? As much as we'd like them to be, they're not
exactly born with this knowledge, and I somehow doubt there's an "XXX
for Dummies" book that covers this.
In many respects, venturing into a newgroup or mailing list is
much like visiting a foreign country, where the customs and social mores
are different than yours. For example, let's say that you've never been
to the United Kingdom. Since people there speak "English", you won't
have any problem communicating, right? Well, not quite. You might get
some amused looks if you ask for the "public bathroom", and you might be
very puzzled if someone says to you, "I'll knock you up around
half-ten." If you ask for "chips", you may not get what you expected.
In the same way, there are "different mores and customs" in
newsgroups and mailing lists. To us, things like "make the messages
easy to read", "use quoting", etc. are obvious, but how the H*LL are
newbies supposed to know this? I see very few people trying to politely
correct newbies, but many people "going postal" after one-too-many
newbie questions.
> Example of people wanting someone else to do their homework:
>
> "I noticed FreeBSD's malloc() does not return an error when it
> allocates more memory than available. Can't you do [options]?"
While I'm sure you believe that all people who post questions like
this, want others to do their homework for them, I don't see that.
From that one "message", I can't tell the poster's motives or
thought processes. I just see someone asking a question.
Possible, correct response(s) to such a question include:
* Ignore it. If you can't say anything nice, don't say it at all.
* Answer:
"No, doing so is non-trivial. The reasons for this have been
mentioned in numerous other postings, and so, for more
information, please read the XXX mailing list archives on YYY.
Try searchiing for `ZZZ'."
If you do answer, do *NOT* use emotionally-loaded words, like "lazy" or
"clueless". Flamefests lie that way.
[ I'm using the word, "clueless", because I'm trying to hammer a point
across. ]
> This is a recurring thread, you can look up on the archives to read
> how it goes.
And how is the newbie supposed to know this, if no one tells them?
Also, telling them via insults and the like is, well, rude.
> Basically, the person doesn't like the present
> behavior, and would like to have an alternative (or have it changed
> completely).
This is, believe it or not, a reasonable
question/belief/expectation. If it's really asked that commonly, why
not turn it into a FAQ?
--
Darryl Okahata
darrylo@sr.hp.com
DISCLAIMER: this message is the author's personal opinion and does not
constitute the support, opinion, or policy of Hewlett-Packard, or of the
little green men that have been following him all day.
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