> Subject: What is a newbie? (Was Re: Assistance for newbies?) > My question to the list is this: When is a newbie no longer a newbie? > That's not irrelevant, for if we were to construct a monthly posting > for newbies, we'd need a model of the target audience. Nice general question . . . . I think there are at least 3 types of new users. 1) New to Linux in general (Linux-newbies) 2) New to Fedora Core nnn (Fedora-newbies) 3) New to mailing lists / Usenet news groups (Net-newbies) The following is my gross simplification of the new user community. Please hack, slash, and correct. 1. Linux-newbies These people come from other operating systems. They are probably user-task oriented. In other words, they are most likely to ask the following types of questions. a) How do I read mail b) How do I browse the Internet c) How do I play music d) How do I play games e) How do I manage office productivity f) How do I print Their challenges will probably fall into one of three categories. a) What programs do I use? b) What hardware works? c) What formats are supported (mp3, DVD, etc.) We can help them get up to speed by providing them with some of the following. a) A program list for these tasks that come with the core install b) A set of add-on programs that accomplish these tasks c) Hardware that is likely to work out of the box d) Hardware that currently has known challenges The software matrix will be difficult in that we all have our favorites. In addition, facing the massive amount of choice that Linux provides is somewhat daunting to a new user. Finally from a software perspective, many new users do not clearly distinguish between the operating system, the windowing system, the desktop environment, and the applications. This is in large part due to a certain vendor's drive to build the "black box" environment as compared to a tool set approach evidenced in Linux. This philosophical approach to computing should probably be clearly articulated. 2. Fedora-newbies The people who are new to Fedora (all of us?) may actually be coming from other Linux distributions, as well as from other operating systems. The major additional challenge that Fedora-newbies seem to have concerns the rate of change to Fedora. Questions and challenges from Fedora-newbies could include the following. a) Why was software package X replaced with package Y b) How do I get software package Z installed c) How do I get the same functionality with package Y that I had with package X? I think we can help the Fedora-newbies in several ways. First of all, a person running Fedora must be more change-aware than running other distributions. Viewing Fedora as a collection of subsystems that can be managed more or less independently (documenting those subsystems, versions, etc.) is a good start. Mapping software functionality on a task basis for common tasks is another area that we could contribute to. This is probably a more difficult task, since people contributing to this section would have to be reasonably adept at more than one package. Finally, explaining to people that Fedora is a rapidly changing environment with a short span (about 1 year per version it appears) will help them to manage both their expectations and environment. Helping them to identify change impacts would help. For example, when I upgrade my kernel, I have to also recompile my NVidia driver, and either wait for the Linux-NTFS project to provide an RPM or build my own RPM for linux-ntfs. Making people aware of these interactions would save them a lot of frustration. In short, if you are risk-adverse or change-adverse, Fedora core is probably NOT where you want to be. 3. Net-newbies I think Net-newbies are probably the most challenging for many people to deal with. In addition to the technical issues that these people encounter, there are also communication issues. Some of these issues include the following. a) Anger and frustration that Fedora doesn't work like X b) Discounting a technology because you failed to get X working c) The "do it for me" attitude d) The "nothing changed, and now it doesn't work" lament There are several excellent articles on how to ask questions on mailing lists and Usenet newsgroups. I think that pointing these out is a good first start. Gently remind the person that there is a certain amount of information needed before someone else can approach a problem. Documenting examples of that information would be a good idea. Documenting how to obtain that information is also a good idea. Problem solving is an art as well as a science. I'm not sure there are very many good texts out there on problem solving. Maybe a problem-solving approach aimed at Fedora would be a good contribution. Finally, and this is probably not going to sit well with many people, do NOT help those who are abusive in either their questions or their responses. In other words, do not feed the troll. Many of us are in the IT (service) profession, and NOT helping people is really tough to do. However positive reenforcement for negative behavior only encourages negative behavior and gives the other person ulcers. Point the trolls to the proper resources, and then offer support when non-abusive behavior is shown may make all the difference in the world. OK . . . . I've been typing way too much . . . . I'll climb off of my soapbox and watch for the appropriate barrage of vegetables. /mde/ just my two cents . . . .
