On May 5, 2009, at 12:58 PM, Aaron Wolfe wrote:
I fully believe that the experts on this list have good intentions and
I appreciate the time they spend helping us. However, this scenario
has happened quite a few times.. A new user asks questions that are
vague or easily answered by the docs, etc and then (justified or not)
gets offended by the responses. Is there any interest in creating a
postfix-noobs (or postfix-lusers :) list where all questions,
especially these types, are allowed and those who care to offer
assistance can do so? A kinder, gentler list of sorts that the real
experts here can simply ignore?
I would not go the road of list fragmentation for a beginners list.
You end up with a list that beginners go to, but the only way for them
to get answers is if experts are in that list. With a list of that
nature, questions of "How do I set up postfix" will be far too many.
I myself have only recently come to this list. I am a beginner, and I
came with some trepidation. I learned I need not have, but there is a
certain way to do things. Every list is a little different; if you
have not posted to a list before, you *must* lurk a while, and get a
feel. At the very least, you *must* read some of the archives. Put
your question into search, see what comes up.
The help I got was on the order of what I would consider better than
any paid for consulting support I have received, and I got it for no
cost. I am massively grateful for this, and if I have to do a little
du-diligence to get that, I take no issue with that at all.
The issue the OP had, and I saw it the second I read the OP's first
post, is that my assumption was that the question was not possible to
answer. In order for it to be answered, the list people would have to
ask questions, just to get to a point where they could answer
questions. Mailing lists are for getting answers, list users are not
apt to coax questions out of posters.
If a question comes up and a link to the docs is given, that is a
gentle suggestion to dive in, start settings things up, and report
back with your first stumbling block. Then your reply will not be a
link to the docs, but to a specific *section* within the docs. Solve
that issue, move on to the next, rinse and repeat until you are done.
I have been given links to sub sections of docs, I give it a shot, if
it makes sense, I move on, if not, I re-read the section multiple
times, hit up google, and do all I can to make sure I can not find
alternate ways to answer the question on my own. If I can, I try to
come back and report success and where I got stuck, so perhaps, some
other person reading the archives will be helped later on.
Email servers in general are a complicated thing, postfix is one part
of the puzzle, you still need a pop/IMAP server, spam filtering,
filter rules, greylisting setup, and the list goes on and on. I can
certainly see why.
I wish to use my Postfix system (v2.1.5) to accept mail for, and relay
mail to another MTA. How do I go about doing this?
Pointing the user to:
http://www.postfix.org/BASIC_CONFIGURATION_README.html
http://www.postfix.org/STANDARD_CONFIGURATION_README.html#firewall
In reality, is about as good as it is going to get. The guidelines
state to post postconf -n output, that alone is helpful. The OP's
question lacked far too many details, any answer had a high chance of
being a waste of the list members time. We need to know current
config, current workflow, why the OP wants to do this, perhaps a
config change would render the need moot, etc etc.
I always look at mailing lists as if I am asking someone to help me
move because they have a truck. To a degree, I am burdening them, and
try my best to make it as simple on them as possible. I apply that
same line of thought to mailing lists.
New mailing list users need to read the guidelines/faq, lurk a while,
and see how things work.
My two cents.
--
Scott * If you contact me off list replace talklists@ with scott@ *
