Geoff Wright wrote: hi list, after reading this and related posts, i will certainly post back to the list my my results. thanks for raising this point as i was concerned about putting too much traffic back on the list. to several folks, i have forwarded direct to the requestor with ideas. i will now just reply back to the list as the list has clearly indicated this is the community choice. the below points are Very well made, a structured problem report would be a great time/bandwidth saver for all. perhaps an item in the faq that says, how do i report a problem to the list? that item could have a cut/pastable list of details to fill in in prep for posting to the list? just an idea, thanks, jackc... > > I agree as well. I am a newbie as well (not just to Xfree86 but also with > Linux in general). I suspect that my experience with these > newslist/communities is similar to many other newbies and was thinking of > ways that it might be improved. > > Some sort of "Report" that newbies are required to fill out as they submit and > get their problems answered may be beneficial to the community as a whole. I > understand that more advanced users would find this experience tedious and > restraining but speaking as a newbie, I think that it would prove to be very > helpful for me. If I were forced to fill out fields of information, I might > resolve my question before I even have to put it to the list. For example, > what version of XFree86 am I using? What operating system? Which kernel? etc. > Those type of questions could form the first part of the "Report". Next, > might be a section on a statement of the problem. Then, perhaps, a section > outlining any error messages that were given and a few lines from /var/log > files... > > I believe that there are three main advantages to this: > > 1. Forces newbies to work through their problems systematically and ensures > that they provide the specific information that will allow a more advanced > user to make meaningful suggestions. As a newbie, I am not always sure which > information is important to provide in a post and which is just extraneous. > > 2. The addtional structure and organization may make it easier for others > experiencing similar problems to find an answer more efficiently. > > 3. It may encourage newbies to follow-up with how they resolved their > difficulties. I, for one, would appreciate a more guided tour of the problem > solving experience and if I knew that a follow-up was my "payment" for all of > the helpful suggestions that I got along the way, I would be more than happy > to give back to the community. To be completely honest, I am nervous about > sending back a message that "such and such approach was successful" for fear > that it was redundant and was just creating more "spam" on the list. > > Anyways, if you think that this is a good idea and are willing to put in a > little time to make it happen, I would be happy to hear from you so that we > can write up a more formal proposal. I apologize for yet another off-topic > post but I think of it as "short-term pain for long term gain". > > Take care, > geoff > > On Tuesday 04 June 2002 09:41, Christensen Tom wrote: > > I would have to agree, I hate that about lots of forums/message boards I > > visit, people will be discussing a problem, with suggestions, and the > > person with the problem goes and tries this and that, and then after the > > last suggestion there's just nothing.. did the last suggestion work? Did > > the person just give up? There's no way to tell, unless you want to go > > through and try everything in the whole message thread, and then see if it > > fixes the problem. I do think as a community it should be understood that > > when you get your problem fixed you should reply, and detail how you fixed > > it, so that people with the same problem can see how to do it. > > > > > > From: Dexter Filmore <Dexter.Filmore@gmx.de> > > > > >Reply-To: newbie@XFree86.Org > > >To: newbie@XFree86.Org > > >Subject: OT wrong attitude? was Re: [Newbie]Can't get mouse to work in X > > >Date: Tue, 4 Jun 2002 15:19:46 +0200 > > > > > >On Mon, 03 Jun 2002 14:50:35 -0400 > > > > > >"Joel Limardo" <admin@j-enterprises.com> wrote: > > > > I'll give that a try. If you don't hear from me again, it worked. > > > > > >Is it only me who thinks that this is not the right attitude among open > > >source folks since there's a differnce between a community and a free > > >supoort hotline? > > > > > >Dex > > >_______________________________________________ > > > > > >Newbie@XFree86.Org > > >*** To unsubscribe , or change message options, see: > > >http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/newbie > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > Newbie@XFree86.Org > > *** To unsubscribe , or change message options, see: > > http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/newbie > > _______________________________________________ > > Newbie@XFree86.Org > *** To unsubscribe , or change message options, see: > http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/newbie -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jack Craig ImageIntegration 831-684-1375 jackc@imageintegration.com
