At 08:37 -0400 on 29/07/02, william ahearn wrote: >information. pickle stuck his name on it and instead of
I didn't "stick" my name on anything. The FAQ was named by someone else, if you recall, which you obviously do not. I had nothing to do with its naming other than I left the name on it that Luc gave it. >there are numerous -- pickle managed pretty much to >alienate all the early contributors. Yes, I do have a No, I didn't. You and your gang of cronies are the only ones who keep bitching at me. Yes, I do have a list. >else. All the answers are somewhere else. The FAQ was >developed before search engines became as sophisticated Oh, bull. Google was around then, was just as good as it is now, and you bloody well know it. And you knew it then. >as they are now. "Check the FAQ" could be replaced just >as easily by "google it." Discussion should not be Ben Koh left these lists for exactly that reason - too many people asking too many elementary questions that they could have answered in 10 seconds with either Google or the TIL. Remember, bandwidth costs something too. And whether or not the end user ever directly sees the bill or not, it's there. It's why Apple is charging $100/year for a glorified iTools account. It's why Dan can't pay the bills at LEM enough to cut himself a check. It's why most of the Mac web sites now have PayPal banners on their front pages. Anyone who has ever used the FAQ ought to be bowing down and kissing Tarsi's feet, because without his generous donation of hosting, the FAQ wouldn't be there. Lord knows it doesn't pay for itself, especially in terms of all the crap I get from ingrates like you. There's a HUGE difference between "discussion" and "answering a simple question." "My Mac says the date is 1956. What's wrong?" can be answered simply with "Your PRAM battery is dead." "Why does my Mac say the date is 1956 (or 1904) and not 1954 or 1905 or 1928 or 1492?" is a question for discussion, although the answer to that is also rather well-known (Kyle, I challenge you to answer this one). "Can I use my Mac without a hard disk sled?" is another good example worthy of discussion. "Will my [insert video card name here] drive [insert monitor name here]?" is not, because it's a simple "yes" or "no" answer. Frankly, I'd love it if the FAQ was completely irrelevant, if everyone knew how to use Google and the TIL/KBase/KArchive to their fullest extent. It's part of the whole "teach a man to fish and he'll fish for a lifetime" thing. But because not everyone knows/wants to learn, there needs to be an intermediary source of some sort, and that's where the FAQ comes in. It saves folks the trouble of digging through the (admittedly difficult at times) KBase, and it sorts right through the chaff that Google can generate interspersed with useful hits. If you want to write your own, or if you want to take over maintenance from me, be my guest. Then when all the questions/bitching/attitude comes down on you, I'll be the first to sit back and ask, "How's it feel now?" Not so fun, is it? This isn't a thankless job, but it's damn close, and people like Ahearn and Kyle don't make it any better. >And what -- pray tell -- is that? I'm not going to give you the satisfaction. -- the pickle FAQ <http://macfaq.org/index.shtml> Software Archive <ftp://download:[EMAIL PROTECTED]//Users/thepickl/Sites/Archive/> <http://www.members.jmug.org/%7Ethepickl/archive/> _________________________________________________________________ -- Compact Macs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/>. Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Compact Macs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/compact.shtml> The FAQ: <http://macfaq.org/> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive:<http://www.mail-archive.com/compact.macs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
