On Fri, 14 Jan 2011 05:06:15 -0800, leoboiko wrote: > Of course I searched for one and couldn’t find; that goes without > saying. Otherwise I wouldn’t even bother writing a message, isn’t it?
You wouldn't say that if you had the slightest idea about how many people write to newsgroups and web forums asking for help without making the tiniest effort to solve the problem themselves. So, no, it *doesn't* go without saying -- unless, of course, you want the answer to also go without saying. > I disagree people should cruft their messages with details about how > they failed to find information, as that is unrelated to the question at > hand and has no point other than polluting people’s mailboxes. This is total nonsense -- how on earth can you say that it is unrelated to the question you are asking? It tells others what they should not waste their time trying, because you've already tried it. You don't need to write detailed step-by-step instructions of everything you've tried, but you can point us in the directions you've already traveled. Think of it this way... if you were paying money for professional advice, would you be happy to receive a bill for time spent doing the exact same things you have already tried? I'm sure you wouldn't be. So why do you think it is okay to waste the time of unpaid volunteers? That's just thoughtless and selfish. If you think so little of other people's time that you won't even write a few words to save them from going down the same dead-ends that you've already tried, then don't be surprised if they think so little of your time that they don't bother replying even when they know the answer. > I also see no reason to reply to a simple question with such > discourtesy, and cannot understand why someone would be so aggressive to > a stranger. If you think my reply was aggressive and discourteous, you've got a lot to learn about public forums. -- Steven -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
