Date: Sat, 20 Jun 1998 01:12:17 +0100 From: Nik Clayton <nik@nothing-going-on.demon.co.uk> To: "Michael P. Sale" <mike@merchantsnet.com>, Nik Clayton <nik@nothing-going-on.demon.co.uk> Cc: freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Lists, newbies & support (was: Re: Where to get Windows Internet stuff/ More on Windows & BSD) Message-ID: <19980620011217.40053@nothing-going-on.org> In-Reply-To: <01bd9b2a$07d9fc20$3d06bccc@708644668>; from Michael P. Sale on Thu, Jun 18, 1998 at 07:29:05PM -0700 References: <01bd9b2a$07d9fc20$3d06bccc@708644668>
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On Thu, Jun 18, 1998 at 07:29:05PM -0700, Michael P. Sale wrote:
> >When said newbie finally gets the answer (either because they've worked
> >it out for themselves, or because someone's provided them with sufficient
> >pointers (or even a working solution)) do they then write it up and
> >contribute it back to FreeBSD?
>
> I doubt it. I would guess there are three reasons for this though.
>
> a. Fear of looking silly and don't think they can really contribute (yet)
*How* do we break this barrier down? Part of it is trying to get people
not to be as sarcastic as they can be in -questions (anyone that saw a
response from caleb@<mumble> earlier today will know what I mean).
But what else? From a 'newbie' perspective, what would make you think that
your contribution was wanted?
> I also suspect that a newbies-questions group may allow some of the thoughts
> and input you are looking for. Free thinking unafraid questions tend to
> generate more thought and input than anything else I've found.
I remain to be convinced about the value of a newbie-questions mailing
list.
1. How do you know which list your message is more appropriate for? I
suspect a lot of people with problems will post to both lists in the
hope that they'll catch someone who can help.
The comp.unix.wizards newsgroup had the same problem. It was intended
for Unix wizards to swap wizardly ideas (<grin>) but was swamped by
people trying to get help.
2. Presumably fewer people knowledgable in FreeBSD and/or Unix will
read newbie-questions -- the quality of advice would therefore be
correspondingly lower. At least with one -questions the focus is
more tight.
3. Other 'question' mailing lists (-multimedia, -scsi, -database) are
split along easily understood lines. If you've got a problem with your
SCSI drive then it makes more sense to post to -scsi than it does to
-questions. I don't think this would be the case with newbie-questions
(this is really point #1 above, but worded differently).
There's no reason -newbies can't be the kind of place for 'free thinking
unafraid questions' that you spoke of.
However, IMHO, those questions should be of the "What if?" and "How about?"
variety, not the "How do I?" kind.
N
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