[nycbug-talk] list protocol. . .

[Marc Spitzer]

On Wed, 18 Feb 2004 00:03:02 -0500
"G. Rosamond" <george at sddi.net> wrote:


> 
> 3.  and on a more general NYCbug (yes, nice) level, RTFM (read the f'g
> manual) is an inappropriate response to anyone.  this list is open to
> all, and part of nycbug's goal is to provide a bridge to newer *BSD
> users.  if something is obvious to a responder who has some decades of
> bsd experience, then please provide a link to online documentation to
> help enlighten the poster.

Well it the 'friendly' manual after all.  And I think that rtfm is
proper when it will fix the problem.  I personally do this with a man
page, ie man ifconfig or man man to get people started.  I have found
that this helps people become competent much quicker because they are
learning how to interact with the system in a productive manner so as
new problems come up they have a procedure in place to solve them
instead of continually asking for help and when they do need to ask for
help they ask better questions.  This gives them better and faster
answers so everybody wins.

Admittedly there are people who do not want to do this, clients is a 
good word for them.  This is not meant as an insult just a statement 
of fact.  They do not want to deal with this but need it done so they
pay someone to do it for them.  

marc