Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1998 17:48:01 +0100 (BST) From: David Marsh <drmarsh@bigfoot.com> To: Sean Harding <sharding@oregon.uoregon.edu> Cc: freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: RE: FreeBSD Newbies FAK Message-ID: <XFMail.980726205111.drmarsh@bigfoot.com> In-Reply-To: <Pine.SGI.4.00.9807231636010.14440-100000@gutenberg.uoregon.edu>
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On 23-Jul-98 Sean Harding wrote: >On Thu, 23 Jul 1998, David Marsh wrote: > >> FreeBSD-questions is a very busy list, and so far, I'm duly >> subscribed to it, but it is very timeconsuming to wade through. From >> my previous internet experience, I know that it's generally >> considered rude to fire questions at a list you don't subscribe to. > >I think that this is different in the case of -questions. It's just >like any other tech support list at a company (which the users wouldn't >be *able* to subscribe to). You send questions to the generic support >address, whoever knows the answer first replies to you and cc's the >list so that the others will know that the question has been answered. >That's how all of the support lists I am on work.... Ah, I see, now that you put it that way... Having previously come from an Amiga environment, the concept of Official End-user Support [TM] mailing lists has been a luxury I've never experienced.. All the Amiga lists and newsgroups, I suppose, *appeared* to be similar to -questions, in that there was that happy mixture of experienced users and 'official' developers mixing and matching in providing advice, *on a purely voluntary basis*, for the love of it, but always with the 'normal' usenet ideal that if you were *really* part of the user community, you'd be subscribed and keep an eye on the ongoing discussions anyway. Now, of course, the FreeBSD project is also voluntary, but now that you've made me think of -questions as a slick, 'corporate' and most importantly 'Genuinely Official' list, I can see the difference :-) If FreeBSD-questions is intended to be *THE* official support channel, as well as being a labour of love for all involved, then that gives me even greater respect for the experts and developers who take the time to answer users' questions, no matter how mundane they may seem.. It must sometimes be a 'tiresome' enough task for commercial companies to maintain official support lists (but at least they have been paid to provide that service), but when I remember that everybody here is doing this out of the goodness of their hearts.. Thinking of -questions as a 'formal' developer -> user channel and 'support desk' might make me feel a little less guilty if I do decide that I don't unfortunately have the time to wade through all of the messages and can't remain subscribed at all times. And it does make me all the more grateful for the excellent advice that is given there, day in, day out, by the 'wise ones' ;-) The other great thing about an 'open' tech-support list is that anybody else who does have useful knowledge to impart can also join in to help ease the workload of giving advice and tips. I hope eventually that I'll be able to provide some useful advice in turn. Dave. --- David Marsh,drmarsh@bigfoot.comPLEX | http://squelch.home.ml.org/ | Glasgow/Glaschu, Scotland. *If urgent, phone: +44 141 400-0577*| > CYCLEWAY: cycle activism GB/IE: http://squelch.home.ml.org/cycleway/ < > includes bikes on public transport, & cycle organisation directories < To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message
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