Date: Thu, 02 Apr 1998 15:39:33 -0800 From: Studded <Studded@san.rr.com> To: newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: login_getclass unknown class Message-ID: <352421B5.A6A76318@san.rr.com> References: <Pine.BSF.3.91.980401173352.19507A-100000@user.xtdl.com> <199804020125.TAA08568@darkstar.connect.com> <19980402113719.25471@welearn.com.au> <19980402095351.50685@iii.co.uk> <19980403023433.63772@welearn.com.au>
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Sue Blake wrote: Nik said: > > I think this is part of the "Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. > > Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime." philosophy, although > > (IMHO) Frank could have phrased his answer a little better. > > I wholeheartedly support that philosophy, but when properly applied it is > easily distinguishable from the punitive teasing responses we sometimes see. I am disturbed by this response. The fact that you think of a terse answer as "punitive and teasing" indicates to me that you're applying very negative motives to people who are just trying to help. The fact that they might not be helping in the best possible way doesn't mean they are bad people or trying to do harm. In the particular case under review, the problem with the login.conf file is well known, but not as an example of new user incompetence. It was not their fault that the file wasn't there, it was a simple error when the CD was put together. The location of the answer to that problem has been well known for months, and I myself didn't know that 2.2.2-RELEASE wasn't on the ftp site anymore until someone mentioned it. As it turns out http://www.freebsd.org/releases/ is now the place to get that information, and there is nothing wrong with pointing users to it. As long as the location of the information is correct and the information itself is accurate and reasonably complete, teaching users how to help themselves is a good thing. This is not to say that some people who answer questions in -questions couldn't use some help with their technique, but you should never attribute to malice what can more easily be attributed to lack of ability or time to be more thorough. Finally, I didn't respond to sue's post in response to my last for the simple reason that no one else indicated any interest in the topic. I don't want this to be "the doug vs. sue show," so I will simply say that sue did not accurately represent my thoughts about this list. If anyone actually is interested, mail me privately. Studded To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message
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