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Date:      Sat, 11 Jul 1998 12:30:10 +1000 (EST)
From:      Sue Blake <sue@welearn.com.au>
To:        freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   FreeBSD Newbies FAK
Message-ID:  <199807110230.MAA17568@phoenix.welearn.com.au>

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                         FreeBSD-Newbies First Aid Kit
                          (Last updated 6 June 1998)
                                       
   This is a regular posting to the FreeBSD-Newbies mailing list.
   It is also available at http://www.welearn.com.au/freebsd/newbies/ 
   
   FreeBSD-Newbies is a discussion forum for newbies. We cover any of the
   activities of newbies that are not already dealt with elsewhere.
   Examples include helping each other to learn more on our own, finding
   and using resources, problem solving techniques, how to seek help
   elsewhere, how to use mailing lists and which lists to use, general
   chat, making mistakes, boasting, sharing ideas, stories, moral (but
   not technical) support, and taking an active part in the FreeBSD
   community. We take our problems and support questions to
   freebsd-questions, and use freebsd-newbies to meet others who are
   doing the same things that we do as newbies.
   
   One of the things we do together is learn more effective ways to find
   help when we need it. Here are some suggestions:
   
When something doesn't work the way you expect

    1. First look at the errata for your release of FreeBSD at
       http://www.FreeBSD.ORG/releases/ for the latest information and
       security advisories.
    2. Search the Handbook, FAQ, and mail archives at
       http://www.FreeBSD.ORG/search.html
    3. If you still have a question or problem, collect the output of
       `uname -a' and of any relevant program(s) and email your question
       to FreeBSD-questions@FreeBSD.ORG.
       
Mailing lists

   When you have a problem that you can't solve by yourself, there's only
   one support mailing list and that's FreeBSD-questions@FreeBSD.ORG.
   
   You don't have to actually join freebsd-questions before asking a
   question there. Replies to your question will normally be sent to you
   personally as well as to the list. Just make sure you have read and
   followed the guidelines for posting, because you might find them
   different to what you're used to. If you do subscribe to
   freebsd-questions you'll have the advantage of seeing all of the
   recent questions and their answers.
   
   Before you post to FreeBSD-questions, please read the guidelines at
   http://www.lemis.com/questions.html Many of the people who answer
   FreeBSD-questions are very knowledgeable, but they get frustrated when
   they get questions which are difficult to understand.
   http://www.lemis.com/email.html is worth reading too.
   
   If you're not sure that you can follow these guidelines, come back and
   ask the other newbies for help on how to post an effective question to
   the support mailing list.
   
   Maybe your question has been asked before. If you search the mailing
   list archives at http://www.freebsd.org/search.html first you might
   get the answer right away. It's always worth trying.
   
   Other mailing lists (http://www.freebsd.org/handbook/handbook344.html)
   cover specialised areas and many are more developer-oriented. You'll
   need to read their charters carefully before participating, but it's
   probably a good idea to ask on either -newbies or -questions for
   advice about where to post a more specialised question.
   
Manuals

   You'll always be expected show that you have made some effort to use
   the available documentation before asking for help. That's not always
   as easy as it sounds!
   
   If you know what documentation you need but can't locate it, send a
   brief query to FreeBSD-questions. If you don't know what you need,
   always have trouble finding it, or can't make any sense of it when you
   do, ask some patient newbies to steer you in the right direction.
   
   Anyone interested in writing or reviewing documentation for FreeBSD is
   encouraged to join the FreeBSD Documentation Project. Details are at
   http://www.freebsd.org/docproj.html
   
Other resources

   [Updated! New links to info on ppp and the X Window System]
   
   A resource list is available at http://www.freebsd.org/newbies.html to
   help new and inexperienced FreeBSD users to find relevant information
   quickly. It includes books, on line documents and tutorials, and links
   to web pages that other newbies have found useful for learning. If you
   have a suggestion for good material to be included, please write to
   freebsd-newbies and tell us about it.
   
But I have seen people asking questions here!

   It is quite common for people to send the wrong kind of post to a
   mailing list. Because we're newbies it'll certainly happen here from
   time to time. The best thing to do if you see a message that doesn't
   belong on a list is to ignore it. There's always someone around whose
   job it is to sort these problems out privately.
   
   The posts to the lists go straight through, whatever their content. It
   is going to be confusing for a little while because we're all newbies
   so we all make mistakes. That's OK.
   
   One thing we're going to see a fair bit is people posting questions,
   believing they're doing the right thing by posting here as newbies,
   not realising how it works. If someone answers those questions the
   situation will snowball. There's nothing wrong with helping someone to
   redirect their question to freebsd-questions, but please do so gently.
   There's nothing wrong with the occasional mistake either.
   
   So all questions, requests for help, etc still go to freebsd-questions
   as usual. Ours is more of a discussion group, a place where newbies
   can relax with other newbies and focus more on our successes than on
   our temporary imperfection. We can talk about things here that are not
   allowed on freebsd-questions. We're also a bit freer to make the
   mistakes that we need to make in order to learn.
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