Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2001 14:21:45 +1030 From: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com> To: rootman <rootman@xmission.com> Cc: ML Duke <mlduke@concentric.net>, Brian Astill <bastill@sa.apana.org.au>, Sue Blake <sue@welearn.com.au>, Yong Lim <yong@csfi.com>, Rick Hamell <hamellr@heorot.1nova.com>, "SILVER, MICHAEL A" <MSILVER@scana.com>, freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Function of -newbies Message-ID: <20010210142145.F83943@wantadilla.lemis.com> In-Reply-To: <01020920404502.00330@blackmirror.xmission.com>; from rootman@xmission.com on Fri, Feb 09, 2001 at 08:10:43PM -0700 References: <Pine.BSF.4.10.10102091722130.562-100000@mlduke.concentric.net> <01020920404502.00330@blackmirror.xmission.com>
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On Friday, 9 February 2001 at 20:10:43 -0700, rootman wrote: > On Fri, 09 Feb 2001, ML Duke wrote: >> Personally, if a newbie asks a question and I know the answer -- I >> answer it, as in the recent: mount /cdrom > > Yes but this isn't what the list was ever created or intended for. That in itself wouldn't be a problem. The problem is the "blind leading the blind" syndrome. Many people who answer questions on -questions don't read -newbies. Others, like myself, have promised not to answer questions on -newbies. The result is that people who ask questions on -newbies stand a better chance of getting no answer or the wrong answer than if they had asked the question on -questions. In addition, there are a large number of lurkers on both -questions and -newbies. If you answer a question on -newbies, the -questions lurkers never get to see it. >> My Unix _Mentor_, a real pro, gave me the above. Now we are >> supposed to RTFM, I agree, and while man pages are not _quite_ the >> greek they used to be, mount /cdrom is still invisible as far as I >> am concerned. Told my Mentor so, and in a round a bout way, he >> agreed. But you ask that on questions, and watch for the flame. Based on what I've seen here, it's difficult to comment. I don't even know if the answer was right. > I've asked questions like this on -questions and never got flamed. > In fact, most of the time, it was just the opposite. I got very > helpful responses and even additional/related information and tips. > > Maybe I was just lucky? Or maybe you asked your question in a sensible way. There is a valid point that you're liable to get a negative comment if you ask a question on -questions without engaging your brain. Some people find this unnerving, but few people still send real nastigrams. That's why I send out the reference to http://www.lemis.com/questions.html every week. > Maybe it was because I posted my question in a polite manner and > indicated that I had already tried searching for related info on the > topic before posting to -questions? That's a good start. >> So where's the harm? >> Newbies don't jump each other (with a rare exception). > > The harm is that when people new to the newbies list post technical > questions and they get answered, it just creates a viscious cycle > and confusion. First, they think since their question got answered, > it's all right to ask more..."Hey, tell a friend." Then later, > confusion and frustration set in when they're reminded to ask > questions in -questions. That in itself isn't as important as the ones I mentioned above. Greg -- Finger grog@lemis.com for PGP public key See complete headers for address and phone numbers To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message
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