Message: 5
Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 01:26:20 +0530
From: Manas Alekar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [PLUG] What is wrong and what we need tp
know.
To: Pune GNU/Linux Users Group Mailing List
<plug-mail@plug.org.in>
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Hello All!
This is Manas Alekar. I have been on the PLUG list for
some time now.
I have been following lots of mail about mailing
etiquette and
behaviour of people on the mailing list in general.
There are some misunderstandings on this list which
are leading to
waste of a lot of bandwidth at all our places. The
battle seems to be
between two factions, the 'power users' and the
'newbies'. I am firmly
entrenched in between both camps :).
I AM HAPPY THAT,YOU HAVE FRAMED THE PROBLEM CORRECTLY.
IF YOU DONT MIND,I WOULD LIKE TO ADD SOMEMORE TO IT.
The newbies seem to complain all the time that;
1. There is too much RTFM.
2. The big boys are rude.
3. The answers are not much help except people proving
they are smart.
THESE POINTS OF NEWBIES ARE RIGHT.
Thinking from the point of a newbie, I agree, that
undertones such an
attitude might seem present in the mails of some of
the people.
EXPERTS SIDE IS NOT ALL THAT CONVINCING.
The experts always complain that;
1. The newbies don't do their homework.
YOUR DEFINATION OF HOMEWORK MIGHT BE DIFFERENT THAN
THAT OF NEWBIES.
2. The newbies don't know how to ask (which is just
[1] in the first
place).
SO THEY ARE CALLED AS NEWBIES.
3. We got RTFM at some point in past, and we did not
mind it!
SOMEONE HAS TO STOP THE RAGGING CYCLE.[WHY NOT WE?]
The saddest part of the story is that they seem to be
correct in their
own rights too.
I BEG TO DISAGREE.
I have a slightly different take on this though. This
looks more to me
like a problem of newbies are from Mars, experts are
from Venus. We
seem to speak different languages.
It is important for the newbies to understand that
every community has
a way of functioning. The rules that govern the
behaviour mandated
from it's members are not born out of whimsical
personal fancies, but
out of evolution. They help the community flourish and
be efficient. A
lot has been learnt from experience and some axioms
are best followed
rather than questioned.
Bottom posting in mailing lists and being polite are
two such
examples. The abstraction from human interface that
the Internet
provides should not be abused. Talk to people on the
list the way you
would talk to them in person. Realise that most people
could be your
father's age or way more adept at things being
discussed than you are.
It is not *cool* to be abusive. Full stop.
Secondly, it is really unfair to ask a question just
because you were
too tired to look for an answer yourself.
SO CALLED EXPERTS ALSO ASK QUESTIONS WHICH MORE
EXPERTS CAN SAY RTM. **I INSIST ON RTM**.
Although I agree that
collective experience should be made useful to the
members of the
community, in communities like ours, it is not exactly
appreciated if
you ask for help without trying yourself first. In
other communities,
such behavioral patterns might get characterised as
*looser*.
That said, there is one more very important thing that
people need to
understand. RTFM _is not_ Read The Fucking Manual. It
stands for Read
The Fine Manual.
PLEASE DONT FOOL YOURSELF.[FINE DOESNT MEAN ANYTHING].
Please remember that this is not intended to be
derogatory way of looking down upon newbies. It is
just a way quick,
efficient way for a person who found the relevant
information in the
manual to tell you that it exists there. It means -
"Well, I know that
this information is given in the manual. Can you just
look it up, so
that we can save my time and our bandwidth ?". Don't
feel offended at
RTFM. Similar is the situation with GG.
Lastly, the mailing list admin is our friend. He is
here to help us
run a more productive list. If you want to take up an
issue with him
or want to know why your mails are not going through,
you can always
mail him. It might be a trivial settings mistake which
he made by
mistake. He is human.
As for the experts, can you guys be more humane
towards the mortals ?
I know newbies waste a lot of your time and ask stupid
looking
questions, but in forgiving lies greatness.
That said, if anyone thinks that they disagree with
what I have said,
*sod off*. :))
THANKS AGAIN TO PUT THE PROBLEM PROPERLY. I WISH WE
SHOULD HAVE A FULL LENGTH DISCUSSION ON THIS TOPIC IN
OUR MONTHLY MEETING AND TRY TO FIND OUT SOME GOLDEN
MEAN SOLUTION.
Regards,
JAYANT
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