> -----Original Message-----
> From: centos-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:centos-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx]
On
> Behalf Of Johnny Hughes
> Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2005 7:26 AM
> To: CentOS Users
> Subject: Re: [Centos] Restart centos from Commandline
>
> On Tue, 2005-03-29 at 08:12 -0500, William Warren wrote:
> > I disagree with your response and many here. these kind of
> > responses saying only ask here until you have goggle tell
> > folks..we cannot be bothered with n00bs. This simply fosters the
> > belief that Linux users are aloof and unhelpful. Telling
> > somebody to google or look up the documentation is the right
> > thing..telling somebody to not bother me(or the list) except as a
> > last resort is the wrong thing. Just my .02.
>
> I think asking questions is fine ... even very easy ones.
>
> That is the purpose of the list.
Not really. CentOS specific questions, yes, but general Linux
administration questions or questions about how to configure
applications bundled with CentOS like squid or apache, no. There are
significant resources outside of this mailing list to answer those
questions, starting with the documentation for the software in question,
Google, mailing lists specific to the software (specifically their
archives), news groups, books, this lists archives, etc. This list
should be a last resort for those types of questions. Remember, CentOS
is RedHat AS. There are going to be very few questions that are _really_
CentOS specific or that haven't been encountered by many other people.
> I think RTFM and the like are not very good answers.
They're excellent answers, especially when combined with a pointer as to
where to find the information they're looking for. It encourages the
person the learn where to find the answers they need and to become self
sufficient. If someone knows they can always send a single email to
thousands of people to get an answer they need there's no reason to
learn how to find the information for themselves. Mailing lists should
always be a last resort, not the first.
> There are lots of questions that I (and others) have that are easy for
> someone ... and there are lots of questions that I see asked that are
> easy for me.
As the case may be, but in any event, this list should be the last place
to go for answers.
> This list is growing very rapidly, because CentOS is the best EL
rebuild
> out there. That means there will be lots more experienced users and
> lots of new users. The list volume is going to continue to go up as
> CentOS grows ... which is good, right?
Absolutely not. The more inane chatter and basic questions there are,
the more likely it is that the real questions will get skipped or missed
entirely. I know that I spend about 1-2 seconds glancing at a message
before either deleting it or queuing it for answer simply because of the
volume of this and other lists I am on. That's barely enough time to
register the highlights of the question, presuming that the author
provided clear, useful information. High volume == low quality. The
perception that high volume is good must not be encouraged as everyone
will suffer.
If I had a suggestion it would be that the CentOS guys create a Posting
Guidelines page that included information on where to find answers in
general as well as specific information that should be included when
posting to the list to foster the best chances of getting an answer.
--
Marc
