On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 1:36 PM, Bob Taylor bob8221@gmail.com wrote:
I've just installed CentOS. my X doesn't work. Now what do I do to fix it.
A valid question needing a valid answer. List maintainers can do what I do. Skip the thread.
But asked in a totally inappropriate fashion. The question should be posted as:
"I've just installed CentOS 5.2 32-bit on an XXX CPU machine with xxGB of memory and xxGB of disk (in an LVM or whatever). My X doesn't work - when I try it I get this:
<disturbing problem output>
I've read the man pages and Googled for this, but nothing shows up that explains it (or my search criteria <yadda yadda blah> weren't an effective choice)."
Even moderately experienced Linux people like me need at least that much information just to know if I know enough to answer, and eventually this information should come out anyway. Putting it up front shows a) the user knows enough to ask a decent question and b) more experienced users who might be able to answer should have enough either to answer or ask more specific questions leading to an answer.
This is basic list etiquette, and in the last two weeks I've seen more questions in the first form above (Bob's) that required digging in toward the second form (my example) before anything was forthcoming. That's a waste of the list's space and the user's time, if we read them at all.
I've made noises about this from time to time, but now I just don't care enough to answer them any more because, as little as I know from my ten years with Linux, almost 2 with CentOS and not quite 29 with computers in general, I'm not willing to waste my time or delve into my experience to answer such illiterate questions. If I did, the answer would probably be RTFM, STFW or something like that (pretty much what I've been told :-).
I'm beginning to understand why Vandaman was so stiff about his responses, and the more BS we allow in, the more we'll get.
This is NOT to say that newbies and newcomers to the list should never ask questions, but for heaven's sake - do some research FIRST, and then provide as much useful information as you can when you DO ask. You're supposed to read the list (or lurk, I suppose) for at least a MONTH before asking a question, just so you can get a feel for what works best and how people interact (read the list etiquette "rules" linked at the page at the bottom of this, and every, post).
And, yes, Read The Flicking Manuals, Search The Frigging Web and THEN ask if you don't have an answer. And, yes, even I (sounds grandiose but I don't mean it that way...) sometimes miss one of those, or ask something dumb - it happens.
When you've shown that you know how to ask, preferably more often than not, you get some courtesy from those who know because you have made the effort. Sometimes searching the web is trickier than it seems, and one query might not give you everything if you don't ask quite right.
</rant2>
mhr