On Thursday 23 June 2005 12:16 pm, Johnson David wrote: > From: cali [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > The idea is, the newbie gets repeatedly told "RTFM", so that > > eventually they get the idea that they must work it out for > > themselves because they develop this inner fear of asking for help > > and being ridiculed, ie they don't want to portray themselves as a > > "lamer". Usually it works. > > If by "works", you mean people leave the community, then you are > correct. We all know what "F" in "RTFM" means. While we may not say > it with those words anymore, we still often say it with the same > abusive attitude. It's far more productive to say "RTM" than "RTFM". > > It is an unfortunate fact that many other communities have trained > their users to never read their manuals. Some communities don't even > have decent manuals to read. We should not be punishing these users > for their ignorance on the proper means to ask questions. Let them > "RTM". The next time tell them "RTM on page 29". If they say they've > read the manual but haven't, tell them "sorry", but don't abuse them. > They're not lying so much as doing what they've been trained to do. > Only when they persist in not reading the manual so you flame them a > new orafice. And then do it off list. > > David
I have, on occasion, used "RTFM", ignoring the "F"; but not thinking about whether the reader would ignore it as well -- poor form on my part. I will certainly drop the "F" in the future. Thanks for the lesson. ;-) Andrew Gould _______________________________________________ freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-advocacy To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]"
