The reaction I was going for is not the one I was wanting. That tells me that I wrote my response improperly. I apologize; my fault.
More to the subject, let me try to explain my view. Please feel free to comment. I subscribe and watch a number of mailing lists/forums. While there has been a number of RTFM's since long before I was even involved in Linux, I have seen an unusual rise of these responses recently. Maybe it is just me and the number hasn't changed at all. Either way, personally, I don't care for them. We are at another unique point in time with a sudden rise in popularity of various outlets of Linux. This is _not_ another 'year of Linux' rant. It is just that people I know who looked at Linux a few years ago and wanted nothing to do with it are suddenly finding themselves loving their Ubuntu netbook and their G1 with Android. They want to learn more and they want to use Linux more but they don't know where to start. The rise in numbers on the forums/mailing lists seems to back my theory up. I, and many many others, are finding that more and more people are asking basic questions, mostly because they don't know where to start. Telling someone to read a manpage doesn't always help. Case in point, I recently had to explain what a man page was and how to use it. Thanks partially to Google we are at a point where you can find anything on the internet, /if/ you know where and how to look. However, finding someone to help you sort through the mass information is almost priceless. The best way for me to explain is through my own experience. If you Google 'Linux cluster' you are going to find a ton of information out there. If you know nothing about Linux clusters, just jumping in is quite the shock. There are many types of clusters on many types of hardware on many types of Distros. I am far from an Guru as there are many others that know _much_ more then I, but I love experimenting and working with clusters and probably have more experience with clusters then most people ever want to have. On the flip side, if you had asked me a few months ago to explain in detail everything I know about LDAP authentication I would have just looked at you and shook my head. Google offered TONS of data on the subject but by asking around I found someone who did have experience and he gave me a bunch of docs that were much more helpful to me then what I had found on Google. The other issue about asking Google is when I did a search for "Debian how to ask for help" the first page[1] tells me to RTFM! The second link[2], and I quote the first line, says: "Unfortunately documentation on Unix-like systems is a little disorganized." [heavy sarcasm]That's great start for newbies...[/heavy sarcasm] I guess my issue is this, we have mailing lists and forums setup so that people can ask questions to users with more knowledge then they have on a subject and get information related to their questions. So why is it when someone posts "I need help with some-package" there are posts of "Google has 3 billion answers!" rather then "Google brought up this link. Does it help? Explain why not." ? Am I the only one confused by this attitude? It would be different if this was a dev list and they were asking these questions, but on a user forum, why shouldn't they? Yes I know it helps a LOT when you are trying to answer a question to have more detail about the question. Hence why there are pages and pages of "how to ask a question to user group X" which they may or may not see. Even when they search they may not find helpful information (see my Google search above). I know when I did a Google search for Debian help the subscribe page for Debian[3] came up but I don't see a link to pages asking how newbies should phrase their questions. It has been a while, so maybe the pages are sent in the registration/confirmation page? If not, maybe it should be. Maybe instead of responding RTFM (or anything of the kind) to a badly posted cry for help we as a group reply "That question is too broad. Please fill out as much detail using the following link as you can and repost." Where the link posted goes to a page that describes how to ask for help. Wouldn't that be more helpful to all involved? It saves the group from being frustrated with simple questions but doesn't annoy/frustrate the one asking the question. Bonus if the page is written well enough that it can be used on other forums/mailing lists. Again, maybe there is one and I just am not seeing it. If so, post! I'd love the opportunity to educate myself and will start using it. Comments? Helpful criticisms? Am I way off? Or am I just entering into another vi-vs-emacs like battle? :-D ~Stack~ [1] http://www.debian.org/doc/maint-guide/ch-helpme.en.html [2] http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-tutorial/ch-docs.html [3] http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
