Kim C. Callis wrote:
>
> It galls me to see people become so arrogant, that they don't have the
> time to answer YASQ. Of course the only stupid question is the one that
> goes unasked. I have made it a standard policy to give a basic answer and
> then guide the questioner to the appropriate man page, ect. This the way
> to create more clued in user, not tell them in effect, "You are a lame,
> that was a lame question and you need to go RTFM, if you want to know the
> answer!".
Well, in general yes, that's how I look at it myself.
Occasionally you see a posting from someone who obviously hasn't even tried
looking at the most basic documentation before asking a very basic question. And
very occasionally you see someone asking for not just one little answer but
something that would fill a whole book, or even thousand's worth of consultancy
relating to their specific question (e.g . "somebody tell me exactly everything
I need to do to make my network secure"). Sometimes these questions are asked in
innocence and so you gently point them in the right direction.
But sometimes you can almost smell an attitude problem in the way the posting is
worded, that the author is one of those people who simply expects everything to
be done for them, probably because of the way they were brought up. And
sometimes (worse still) it's a poster who is barely able to conceal his
excitement at getting such great stuff software for next to nothing, and is now
almost beside himself because he's found that there are even people who will
work out all the difficult stuff for him, completely for free! That's the sort
of person who isn't short of money but bums cigarettes of you and never buys
their own, who always accepts a beer when offered but never buys a round
himself. Sorry, but people like that make my skin crawl. I'm probably not the
only one to feel like that.
Many people on this list, myself included, are able to help anyone who's willing
to do some of the work themselves. But some of us may have little sympathy for
people who come across as unremittingly lazy or greedy. Obviously mistakes can
be made when one is making judgements on such scanty evidence, but that's life
basically.
So for those newbie lurkers reading this now - when you get around to posting a
question, make sure you get your presentation right!
Ralph Clark
--
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Ralph Clark, Virgo Solutions Ltd (UK)
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