On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 5:12 AM, Craig Dunn <cr...@craigdunn.org> wrote: > >> Would it be a good idea to have a puppet beginners list, where people can >> post dumb questions, and maybe have some patient people posting links > > > [snip] > > Without wanting to pigeon hole or stereotype anyone, my experience from the > IRC channel in particular is that "dumb questions" that get asked often show > that the poster has not read through the online documentation and has jumped > straight into the community support channels instead. No-one minds helping a > struggling beginner, but the old "him who helps himself" saying applies and > I think for most people, if they genuinely read the excellent language guide > properly they would answer the majority of beginner questions on their own. > Some people take offense when told on IRC to RTFM, or given an anchor link > to the docs in response to a question, but it simply is the best source of > information to their issues. > > Providing a beginners mailing list IMO would only encourage people to bypass > the docs even more.
I do not agree with this sentiment. The docs are a great reference, but they can certainly be overwhelming to a beginner. We all should definitely make folks feel comfortable asking whatever questions they have. If the fear is that the IRC channel and mailing list would get bogged down with folks asking the same beginner questions over and over, I offer a couple thoughts: * we can aways go with the OP's suggestions and start new avenues for such questions * answering easy questions scales: that is, the easier a question is, the more people that can answer it. * The corollary to the previous point is that if you find answering easy questions tedious, you do not have to; someone else can most likely pick it up * Opening the floodgates to the easy questions makes it very obvious what needs to go in the FAQ :-) I have been helped out so much by the fine folks on IRC that I love it when I get a chance to help someone out with any problem. ;-) -- Chad M. Huneycutt -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Puppet Users" group. To post to this group, send email to puppet-users@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to puppet-users+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/puppet-users?hl=en.
