Charles Howse wrote:
I'd like to start a calm, respectful, reasonable discussion of the reasons
that we tell people to RTFM, or reasons that people don't get their
questions answered on mailing lists and usenet groups.
FLAME BAIT!
Sorry, couldn't resist :-)
Google for
+how +ask +question
turns up a very good site.
[snip]
I don't really know where to start, so here are some random thoughts...
Maybe I got told to RTFM because I missed something in it? Well, could you
just politely point me to the section I missed, please? Or give me a link
to a howto or some html page where it is explained?
That's the job of "apropos". You might need to pipe into "grep".
Maybe the question has been answered in the FAQ for the list? Just point me
to it, you don't have to say anything else.
That's a whole separate issue. One should first lurk. If one cannot find
the pointer to the FAQ using Google, or lurking, then a quick request
for a pointer to the FAQ doesn't get bad results. Asking questions
which are in the FAQ w/o having looked for it is bad manners.
I've seen lots of posts to this list and others with no subject or a subject
that has nothing to do with the question, but the question was answered
respectfully. So, when I post with a good subject, one that will show up in
a Google search, help me out.
I normally delete entire threads if they don't have a subject or a
subject of "(none)". The only question more stupid than an unasked
one is one with a subject of "(none)", IMO.
[snip]
I think the members of this list are mostly doing things the way I would
like to see them done, but I also think we could all do better, eh?
I don't mean to step on any toes, just want to start some discussion.
Does anyone else have any thoughts on why questions don't get the respectful
treatment they deserve?
Hmm? Very rare here, I think.
Mike
--
p="p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}";main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
This message made from 100% recycled bits.
You have found the bank of Larn.
I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
I speak only for myself, and I am unanimous in that!
