sash wrote:
Jeremy Huntwork wrote:
Gueven Bay wrote:
Hi dear LFS devs,
I am one of the - I think - many silent readers of LFS-dev.
Part of the problem, too, is that many of them *just don't read*. The
answers to the questions they ask are right there in the book.
Yes, they are right there in the book and they are written by geeks who
don't appear to have the ability to write for a normal reader who likes
to learn. The written instructions often don't make sense until you've
already done it. And, the people who write them have done the things
hundreds of times, so for them it's old hat.
I think it's too easy to say "Well people don't understand it because
it's written in a way that's too technical". Yes, that may sometimes be
the case. However, there are also times when people trying to build
using the book really JUST DON'T READ IT. And yes, I do understand what
you said below about the difference between "reading" and
"understanding" - I'm talking about just plain "reading" - some people
just don't bother. And some do read, but don't understand because they
lack the basic knowledge (like stuff that's mentioned in the suggested
pre-reading). There certainly are times when stuff is written in a way
that is actually difficult for non-experts to understand, but you do
have to keep in mind that this is not the explanation for every instance
where someone has comprehension problems.
But with others it's easy to tell that this is a pattern for them.
They just don't read.
Read and understand what you read area two entirely different things.
When they have a question, they don't look for the answer themselves.
They pop into IRC or send a support question to list upon list until
some gullible person (like me!)
gullible? or kind, understanding and compassionate?
You are kind, understanding and compassionate when you answer a few
questions from someone who wants to learn and just needs to know a few
things first. You are gullible if you continue answering question after
question after question for someone who apparently doesn't want to learn
anything and just wants you to personally walk him through every
little step.
hands them an answer. (Most often a simple google search on the
question would have provided the answer in the first two or three links).
There is a printed book on how to search using google. I doubt it was
written because google is so simple to use for geeky things.
What the current support staff *should* do is...
What the support staff on IRC is taught to do is help when they want to
help, be polite if they don't want to help and be silent if they want to
toss insults around the channel.
...asking intelligent questions
imho, there are no stupid questions.
Yes and no. There are no stupid *questions*, but there are stupid ways
to find the answer...like going into a chat room and saying "just tell
me what I need to do step by step because I don't want to bother reading
the book".
sash
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