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Date:      Tue, 17 Oct 2000 08:45:20 +0300
From:      Giorgos Keramidas <keramida@ceid.upatras.gr>
To:        Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com>
Cc:        Rick Hamell <hamellr@heorot.1nova.com>, David Johnson <djohnson@acuson.com>, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: -newbies
Message-ID:  <20001017084519.B2973@gray.westgate.gr>
In-Reply-To: <20001014132608.A5353@sydney.worldwide.lemis.com>; from grog@lemis.com on Sat, Oct 14, 2000 at 01:26:08PM %2B1100
References:  <Pine.BSF.4.21.0010120654170.16556-100000@heorot.1nova.com> <39E6E839.3A0EC2B6@acuson.com> <Pine.BSF.4.21.0010120654170.16556-100000@heorot.1nova.com> <20001014132608.A5353@sydney.worldwide.lemis.com>

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: Oops!  This is being cross-posted.  Do we really need to post this in
: both of them lists?

On Sat, Oct 14, 2000 at 01:26:08PM +1100, Greg Lehey wrote:
> On Thursday, 12 October 2000 at  8:34:20 +0000, Rick Hamell wrote:
> >
> > 	FreeBSD-newbies needs to be removed. I've been on it since it was
> > created and can say that it is not living up to it's orginal purpose. If I
> > remeber right, and a quick check of the archives seems to confirm,
> > -newbies was created only if no questions were asked there. In the last
> > year or two it has been a low-traffic list. Most every post across it has
> > either been a cross-post, OR a question! Despite my and several other's
> > efforts to keep it on topic, and questions posted where they belong, it is
> > somehow attracting questions. Many of which are not even close to being
> > newbie questions!
> 
> Indeed.  I've been watching this with some concern.  A bit of
> background: newbies arose from some discussions Sue Blake and I had
> about traffic on -questions.  She voiced the opinion that the topics
> were too intimidating for real newbies, and that we needed a different
> list.  I disagreed, but in the end suggested we try it for a while.
> In addition, I promised not to answer any questions on -newbies.  For
> a while, every time somebody asked a technical question on the list,
> Sue would get up and redirect them to -questions, but she hasn't been
> doing that lately.

I started working with FreeBSD and reading the lists around August 1999,
which means I am a newbie in many ways, the same way I am not a newbie
in other ways.

After hanging around for a while without posting anything, I saw a lot
of posting that were in short "you should not post questions here,
because -questions is made for exactly this kind of thing".  I have also
seen people answer questions.  In an effort to get the best of both
worlds, I tried to come up with a combination of the two, and I ended up
posting replies to questions posted in here that include some references
that will get the newbie in question started, plus a nice and kind
warning that they should post questions to that `other' list from now on.

I am probably acting in violation of the list charters, but I can still
understand why someone would post a newbie-question to a list called
-newbies.  I am still unsure if I (or anyone else on -newbies, for that
matter) should send newbies asking technical questions away, without at
least a reference to get them on their way.

I do agree, however, with those who have pointed out that having a
single list where "technical questions are asked" is a good thing.  But
then again, the mailing list search interface in freebsd.org can search
in more than one list at once.  Ah well.  I probably sound kind of
confused already.

-- 
Giorgos Keramidas, <keramida@ceid.upatras.gr>
For my public pgp2 key: finger -l keramida@diogenis.ceid.upatras.gr


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