(I can't believe I'm responding to this. But, I'm in a bad mood today, so there you have it. I don't doubt your sincerity in wanting to make the world a happy happy lovefest where people are nice all the time, but here's a cynic's take on it.) On Thu, Feb 06, 2003 at 12:19:56PM -0800, wo shi ni baba wrote: > In my opinion, no stupid&useless&flamy satires should be directed to a > question no matter how naive the question is. Give me a break, we all > started from a beginner some point in our lives. Yep. And I got flamed just as much as the next guy for not doing my homework before asking a stupid question. It was a sobering lesson, and one that most people under-value. By the way, you might want to look into the line-wrap features of your mail client. > If you ever think that you are too professional to answer a stupid > question, then shut up and let other people answer it, why even bother > to waste your valuable time to send some satires to the person(unless > you are really bored and have nothing better to do???) Not that I was involved in this thread, but I bother because I hope to encourage people to ask smart questions in the future. Doing all the legwork for someone does just the opposite. > Here's what I think how questions should be handled: You're entitled to your opinion and poor grammar. Isn't the Internet a wonderful place? > 1.In the case the question is posted to the wrong forum, politely direct > the inquirer to the correct forum. The website and introductory message to these mailing lists are quite clear about their charter, as are the introductory messages to most mailing lists. Nipping random "I don't know where else to ask, so I'll just post here" approaches to problem solving early helps all of us. Be part of the solution. "Bad poster. No cookie." :-) > 2.In the case the question lacks a title, politely tells the person that > he/she should put an appropriate title next time. Repeat of 1. above. Social pressures (such as ridicule) are often excellent techniques for rapid behavior modification. ;-) Unwillingness to learn about the community and general social norms prior to throwing your hat into the ring will earn a quick reflexive response. Rudeness begets rudeness. > 3. in the case the question seems ambiguous, try your best to figure out > what the person is asking, or ask the person to rephrase. Do not through > any stupid comments out. Do you get paid to provide support on mailing lists? Cool. I don't. I'm here to answer questions that interest me, and to learn from other people. I'm not here to make you feel better about yourself. Call Dr. Phil if that's what you need. > Don't make us techines/software engineers look $bad$ than it ALREADY > seems. BE OPEN AND HELPFUL to other people, especially the people who > are not technical enough. After all, if he/she is professional enough to > read the manuals, he/she can solve all the problems in theory, why do we > need a forum then? Red Hat makes a good deal of money helping people who can't help themselves. Online forums have always demanded a certain degree of willingness on the part of the participants to DO THEIR OWN LEGWORK. For example, I frequent a number of automotive enthusiast websites. If someone pops on there out of the blue, without having done any prior research into either the website, it's history, or their specific question expecting free assistance or asking inane questions (like, "I just saw the Fast and the Furious, and I'm gonna make my car run 10s! How do I do that?"), they'll be told to sod off and go hire a shop to do the work, since they're not going to get far on their own. It's not just the geeks who demand "smart questions" from people. It's anyone who helps people for nothing, and faces the same stupid questions every day. -esm (there are no stupid questions, only stupid people) -- Edward S. Marshall <esm@logic.net> http://esm.logic.net/ Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas. _______________________________________________ Redhat-devel-list mailing list Redhat-devel-list@redhat.com https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-devel-list
