[crackmonkey] [Majordomo@svlug.org: Majordomo results]

[Rick Moen]

On Sat, Dec 12, 1998 at 07:45:00AM -0800, Chris J. DiBona wrote:

> Well, that's your call, but remember why the SVLUG discussion list
> exists, namely to help out newbies and to discuss SVLUG goings on. 

No, I think Nick is dead-on correct.  Remember when it was an urgent
problem that list regulars were threatening to de-subscribe because 
of the excessive volume of clueless and off-topic posts?  Well, I 
think svlug at svlug.org has gone past that to the next stage, where
regular won't _bother_ to post such warnings because they see the
problem as past fixing -- that you'll wake up one morning and find
that everyone with a grain of sense has quietly de-subscribed.

The problem is worsened when an officer stunningly misses the point
and frames the question as "Are we about helping newbies or not?"

That, of course, is not the question.  The question is whether it's
OK for a rising flood of such people to post their personal problems
after doing ZERO initial investigation.

Consider the recent nth re-posting of the "How do you make Linux 
recognise more than 64 MB?" question.  C'mon.  Bloody hell, Chris,
that's in section 1 of the Linux FAQ!

People who post "help me" questions should state along with their
questions what elementary steps they've taken to investigate the
matter for themselves.  If they don't, that conveys the message 
"I don't value your time.  Also, I have no desire to learn."

It's common sense to check some man pages, check the LDP, check
some of Googol, Infoseek, Altavista, DejaNews _before_ imposing on
volunteer Linux users.

I would be willing to start and maintain an SVLUG Linux Self-Help FAQ,
linked from http://www.svlug.org/.  However, I'll do this only if
I think there's a receptive climate among SVLUG's officers.  If
"we must help out newbies" means SVLUG officers really do think that
crud like the 64 MB question is just fine, than I have better things 
to do with my time -- and will no doubt eventually leave the list.

-- 
Cheers,                     "All power is delightful, but absolute power
Rick Moen                    is absolutely delightful."  - Kenneth Tynan
rick (at) hugin.imat.com 
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