One thing to keep in mind is that people have fluctuating demands on their time. The same person may give very terse advice when he's busy but cite, quote and provide a link for the documentation when he has time. Also, some will invest more time helping those who have done their homework.
________________________________________ From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> on behalf of Brian Westerman <brian_wester...@syzygyinc.com> Sent: Monday, September 4, 2023 1:36 AM To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Subject: Re: With regrets, after many years I will no longer be following IBM-MAIN I think even the ones that abuse the list the most still provide assistance from time to time that is very useful. I completely understand that oftentimes they want the person to RTFM, which makes a lot of sense because you also don't want the list to become a primary school. The "new guys" need to learn how to use the manuals and I think the "old guys" are trying to, in their own way, help them to see that using the manuals and figuring stuff out is a good thing. Where it becomes an issue is when the newbie honestly can't figure it out and may have truly tried to find the solution on their own. It might be helpful for them, in fact everyone, to disclose what you have already tried or read about, that way everyone will see that they are trying and won't just kiss them off as using the list instead of manuals (and the internet) as opposed to using it in conjunction with attempting to learn. Sometimes they may have actually read the solution, but just don't see it as such, and by disclosing what they have tried so far will allow people to let them know where they missed something. I think that no one likes to think that the guy asking the question is not even really trying to work the problem. But without disclosing the path they are currently on, we have no way to know otherwise. Just a thought. Brian ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN