My experience with volunteer groups has been to let the experienced
members hang back when it comes to repetitive or simple questions and
encourage others to tackle responding. In those cases, the normal
monitors take on the role as mentors to new responders, encouraging and
correcting how the the request for help was handled. Corrections could
be done on the mailing list or if necessary a direct post to the newer
responder.
This bares the risk that the question doesn't get answered at all. Who
determines which volunteer should answer the question and which one can
lay back?
Repeat questions need not be boring, but can be useful. To me,
convoluted backwards beginner's questions are a sign of someone who
needs real help not a sign of stupidity simply to be gotten rid of -- or
laziness. For someone new to OpenOffice who may be dieing of frustration
and unable to ask a rudimentary question because they don't even know
where to start, a forced trip down archive alley could be the straw that
sends back to something they know -- like MicroSoft Office.
A frequently asked question is always boring when you read it for the
x-ed time. The basic questions should have standard answers that can be
found really easy, preferably through a clickable interface that leads
the questioneer to a narrower path of options and/or a searchfunction.
Arnold Huzen
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