I think the thing to remember is not everyone reading mailing lists as things come in or worse later down the road in some sort of archives, is not going to always be familiar with the history of users. So depending on the person lashing out, it could bite them in the butt later on. Obviously someone more known in the community though it would be doubtful to bite them but guess it depends on how often they do it. So with that said, sometimes it is best just not to say anything at all if someone is asking questions that "annoy" people.
On Tue, Jun 3, 2008 at 1:42 PM, Charlie Griefer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Tue, Jun 3, 2008 at 11:17 AM, Katrina Chapman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > I haven't been a member of this list for a few years now, but I remember > it being a place where even the most beginning person could come for advice. > This is a community and not a place for you to show how much more you know > than the next guy. > > I really don't think this response is appropriate and I'm sure that most > of the community feels the same way. How about next time instead of saying > "You're an idiot," you either give some good advice or don't respond? That > way there's no "waste of everyone else's time" reading posts that aren't > helpful. You might also find that you'll get better responses to any > questions you have if you're nice. > > *Down off my soap box now* > > ok so this is just my $0.02... > > It's not unreasonable to expect that when somebody asks for help (asks > for you to give up your own time) that they've already made > *reasonable* efforts to solve the problem on their own. The "How To > Ask Questions The Smart Way" page > (http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html<http://www.catb.org/%7Eesr/faqs/smart-questions.html>) > is pretty well > known for illustrating... well, how to ask questions the smart way. > > That being said, the person in question has posted numerous times to > this list and his questions never seem to indicate that he's even put > forth the smallest amount of effort to learn how to do what needs > doing. In Brian's defense, he (Brian) has responded to questions > posed by Erik numerous times in what I considered to be a fairly > courteous manner. He's pointed out the link that I referenced above, > he's tried to teach Erik how to figure things out on his own. When > you've been doing this for a while (answering questions on mailing > lists), you get a sense for who is genuinely making an effort and who > is just looking for a quick answer. When it's the latter, you're > hesitant to provide that quick answer because you *know* that person > will just keep coming back for the quick answer, expecting others to > spend their time answering his/her question. > > Brian's advice (again, IMHO) *has* been good. Very good. Assuming > that the person actually has an interest in learning. > > I like to believe the purpose of lists like this is to teach people. > Not to answer questions for (e.g. do the work for) people who don't > want to learn. > > /me passes the soapbox to the next person in line. > > > -- > A byte walks into a bar and orders a pint. Bartender asks him "What's > wrong?" Byte says "Parity error." Bartender nods and says "Yeah, I > thought you looked a bit off." > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;192386516;25150098;k Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/message.cfm/messageid:306724 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4
