Anand Buddhdev wrote:
>
> I haven't contributed to the war on this list so far, but I feel I have to
> say something: Alex, you've come in and really angered many of us. This
> list was so serene and peaceful, until you jumped in. From your posts, you
> sound like a little spoon-fed child. And it's exactly the method you're
> using to teach newbies. Your words "Teaching is sacred... blah blah..." are
> fine, but one never learns properly unless one is taught to question
> oneself and the knowledge around them. Spoon-feeding only makes people
> dull, and I feel that many of the intellectual people on this list would
> prefer to lead a newbie to the answer than serve it on a plate. Please, I
> beg of you: stop this war of words, make peace with the list members, close
> your mouth, and listen for a while. You might actually like it here, and
> learn something along the way.
Anand,
You have articulated precisely what I was thinking myself.
I have been fortunate in learning qmail (and unix admin) for that matter
in that I have had a friend to help me along the way (as well as this
list). However, his help has never consisted of merely showing me the
solution to a problem; he always makes me find out the answer myself. A
typical discourse might be:
Me: Hey, Mark. I'm doing blah blah blag, and when I blah, it blahs.
How do I do blah blah?
Him: man foobar :)
I now know considerably more than if I had been spoonfed.
Some people just need to learn that it's OK to not know how to do
something; the real problem is not knowing how to find out!
R.
--
Two rules to success in life:
1. Don't tell people everything you know.
-- Sassan Tat
