pretty much all of the mailing lists that I am on agree on one point. Asking
newbie questions is ok, we were all newbies at one point. BUT, their is a way to
ask them that will give you the most response without having to put on a pair of
Nomex Underwear.
"I did A, I expected B, I received C. Im running on N, and wasn't able to find
this problem in TFM / other checked sources."
Or another popular method seems to be
"Im heading off in this direction and would like pointers to other sources of
info other then the FAQ. A how-to or some such."
An example would be my first post to this list not more then a week ago. After
getting Qmail to do what I wanted, relaying ironically enough, in retrospect it
was a very newbie question. I was still checking out qmail VS sendmail and
hadn't had a chance to read really deep into either FM. But I phrased my
question in a way so as not to be asking for charity, but rather a push in the
right direction. Most projects in this type of community are the same on this
aspect. Ask for a push, not for a handout.
Even though the question about relaying was the same, its how you ask for help.
Jason Baker
