On Thu, Nov 22, 2001 at 08:36:21PM -0800, Brian Nelson wrote:
> But no one wants to read newbie questions. So why are they
> appropriate if no one wants to read them?
Why wouldn't you want to read newbie question? How are the newbies going
to learn to if they can't ask someone with more knowledge for guidance?
> Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with newbies banding
> together and trying to answer each other's questions. Sounds like it
> would be a great learning experience.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with newbies banding together, it may
be more benificial in the long run, but sometimes it helps to ask advice
from someone who has been down the road before.
> Newbies are nothing more than impatient learners. I don't understand
> why it's so important to help them on this list. I think it's more
> helpful to not help them, just point them toward the docs and let them
> help themselves. It will make for a far better Debian experience for
> them in the long run.
Pointing someone to a source of *good* documentation is usually better
help than just giving the answer straight out, given that by the time
the person asking the question gets to their answer they'll probably
have a better understanding of what the problem was and how to tackle
similar situations in the future. The trick here of course is *good*
documentation.
Of course, if they just want an answer and aren't willing to work at
least some of it out for themselves then tough sh*t.
Cheers,
Tom
--
Most places distinguish them merely by using the appropriate value.
Hooray for context...
-- Larry Wall in <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
