[nycbug-talk] list protocol. . .

[G. Rosamond]

->> 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.

i strongly disagree. . .man man is no different than saying RTFM.  if we
want nycbug to be a bridge, we can't charge a toll.

->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

that's funny in some ways, but the reality is that no one should panic
about inquiring about "stupid questions" on this list.

g