It seems to me that it's the *spirit* behind the saying, which is usually
pretty obvious from context....
There's the rude RTFM that is saying "You bore me, idiot, therefore I feel
safe in saying you bore EVERYONE" (egomaniac sociopath<g>)
And there's the RTFM that is saying "Gee, I could sort of explain it to you,
but I know I'd leave something out, and the man page for this is really much
better than anything I can do" (helpful redirection).
Nobody likes to be on the receiving end of the first one, and I suspect most
of us don't even like to be in the same virtual room where it's being done
to someone. The second one is fine....if you're dealing with an utter
newbie, "ideal" might actually be a variant on #2: "Go RTFM, and if you
don't understand it when you've read it and poked at it a bit, come back and
we'll see if we can clarify it."
Not that this is always an ideal world.<g>
Megan "Piglet" Zurawicz, ListPig
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
Behalf Of Kathryn Hogg
Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2001 7:03 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [issues] Conversation monopolization
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> > um, excuse me, maybe I didn't get your point but what is wrong about
> > RTFM?
>
> A naked RTFM is not terribly helpful - an RTFM which consists solely
> of 'oh, just read the fscking manual'.
It's not what's said, it's how its said. The classic example is of
someone with RTFM printed on the palm of their hand so they can "answer"
any questions without taking their eyes off their monitor.
Kathryn Hogg
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