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Date:      Mon, 23 Dec 2002 06:46:02 +0100
From:      Cliff Sarginson <cls@raggedclown.net>
To:        freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: List etiquette
Message-ID:  <20021223054602.GA16438@raggedclown.net>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0212222036210.15410-100000@janeway.vonbek.dhs.org>
References:  <20021223003837.GC87124@dan.emsphone.com> <Pine.LNX.4.44.0212222036210.15410-100000@janeway.vonbek.dhs.org>

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On Sun, Dec 22, 2002 at 08:39:17PM -0500, John Bleichert wrote:
> On Sun, 22 Dec 2002, Dan Nelson wrote:
> > Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 18:38:37 -0600
> > Subject: Re: List etiquette
> > 
> > In the last episode (Dec 22), Mike Jeays said:
> > > Many times I have asked questions on this list, and had helpful
> > > replies from one or more people.  My usual practice is to reply to
> > > them directly and thank them, and tell them whether their idea
> > > helped.  This avoids cluttering up the list with "thank-you"
> > > messages, but may look as though I haven't bothered to even listen.
> > > 
> > > Should one post such replies to the list?
> > 
> > It's a good idea, so that people reading the thread later have
> > confirmation that the suggestion actually was the correct solution.
> >  
> 
Yes, this is important, I think a thread with an affirmative onclusion
should be registered on the list. Someone in the future may not know you
need to wear a penguin suite and sing the Hallelulah Chorus when you
wish to install Port X.

On a second note, if while waiting for an answer, and you discover it
yourself then post the answer, close the ticket so to speak.

> Agreed - by having a solution confirmation in the archives of this list, 
> it makes searching the archives a little easier and more believable. Not 
> that I minded the private 'danke' :)
> 
> > > Secondly, an occasional question goes unanswered - perhaps because no
> > > one thought it was interesting enough to reply. Is it acceptable to
> > > post it again after a few days?
> > 
> > I'd wait a week before reposting, and then try to ask the question a
> > different way, or provide more info.
> > 
>
Yup, unfortunately you will always believe that someone *does* know the
answer to your question, so re-posting a week or so later sometimes
works. If it does not, then you are perhaps asking on the wrong list or
the people who know are all holidaying in the Seychelles on the huge
profits they make from answering questions on FreeBSD :)
 
> Ocassionally there will be no response because nobody knows the answer 
> *or* it's been answered ad nauseum in the archives. Re-posting with an 
> update, however, does keep the archives up to date.
> 
Private thank you's are nice.,but I think some people will find it
enough that you have acknowledged the solution proposed works in the
public forum. Of course there is a class of questions for which you will
get a shell and an awk and a perl and a sed and a python and a ruby
answer, often many of all of them. Hee hee ,,, 

-- 
Regards
   Cliff Sarginson 
   The Netherlands

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