From owner-freebsd-newbies Sat Feb 10 8:29:39 2001 Delivered-To: freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org Received: from albatross.prod.itd.earthlink.net (albatross.prod.itd.earthlink.net [207.217.120.120]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8198137B503 for ; Sat, 10 Feb 2001 08:29:21 -0800 (PST) Received: from aviating.com (pool0158.cvx36-bradley.dialup.earthlink.net [216.244.18.158]) by albatross.prod.itd.earthlink.net (EL-8_9_3_3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id IAA06778 for ; Sat, 10 Feb 2001 08:29:19 -0800 (PST) Message-ID: <3A856C5F.D56B06D9@aviating.com> Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2001 08:29:19 -0800 From: Jim Allen Organization: none X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.72 [en] (Win98; U) X-Accept-Language: fr MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Hello from russia! References: <20010209171114.A1291@hnet04.kellyhendrix.com> <001801c0932d$94384160$1401a8c0@tedm.placo.com> <20010210190719.H19976@welearn.com.au> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org As one of the newest newbies, I appreciate all this clarification. My impression from reading the FreeBSD site stuff was they had created the newbie list to take all the questions that newbies have that get asked over and over and over and over again, kind of like a pre-school, from which one eventually graduated to the "Big Stuff[tm]" where one could get answer to big questions. I have the Complete FreeBSD 3rd Edition and the CD-ROMS, and now, with many mis-steps, have managed to get the operating system booting on an older machine to the ? prompt. Does anybody have any suggestions about the issues I should take up first as I try to learn about this. I have no background in Unix whatsoever. I am starting from ground zero and frankly, very little of what I have read makes much sense yet. I have fiddled with microprocessors since the 6502 and 8008. All I have at present is FreeBSD operating on a machine, the manual, and an intense desire to "Say Goodbye to Bill". TIA Jim Allen Sue Blake wrote: > > On Fri, Feb 09, 2001 at 10:49:13PM -0800, Ted Mittelstaedt wrote: > > Frankly, and I sure hope that I speak for everyone, I've > > always welcomed thoughtful questions from anyone on any > > FreeBSD-related topic, that were asked by a user of any level, > > who had taken the trouble to read the documentation on > > the website. > > Just to clarify, I think you're referring to posts to > freebsd-questions. This is an example of the attitude of > the majority of people who offer help on freebsd-questions. > We are very lucky to have such capable volunteer supporters > who are open to all kinds of questions. In any group of > over a thousand people, you're bound to get an off reply > occasionally. That experience can make it difficult to > realise how good the majority are. Thanks Ted, and others. > > > I've personally always felt that with the exception of a > > little humor now and then to lighten things up, that it's > > not productive to post metadiscussion to mailing lists > > or newsgroups. (a metadiscussion is > > a discussion about a discussion for those that don't know) > > Yes, everyone seems to feel like that, except when they > are newbies. Fortunately we have the freebsd-newbies list > where newbies can engage in what you call metadiscussion > without impinging on the other lists. > > > Posters that need guidance should be sent a polite e-mail > > steering them to the appropriate forum, and if we start getting > > too many of them a general e-mail should be sent out that > > explains the charter of the list. Many lists do this > > automatically once a month. > > Actually, freebsd-newbies sends one out automatically once > a week. So does freebsd-questions. People still ask for it > to be sent more often, but I think that would be excessive. > > -- > > Regards, > -*Sue*- > > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message