Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 09:30:47 +0700 (ICT) From: pirat sriyotha <pirat@center.oaep.go.th> To: Sue Blake <sue@welearn.com.au> Subject: Re: Using freebsd-questions Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.96.980715092917.370A-100000@parwati.oaep.go.th> In-Reply-To: <19980715102533.57907@welearn.com.au>
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On Wed, 15 Jul 1998, Sue Blake wrote: > Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 10:25:33 +1000 > From: Sue Blake <sue@welearn.com.au> > To: freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG > Subject: Using freebsd-questions > > Recently a few people have mentioned being surprised by some of the > responses they get to questions posted to freebsd-questions. > I'm going to try to put this into perspective so that you can make > sense of the range of interactions you'll see there. > (Note to those easily impressed: this is all personal opinion) > > When someone answers a question they convey two kinds of information: > technical and social. Being unix types [and here I duck the flames :-)] > they tend to express the technical and be unaware of the social > messages that come through at the same time. > > Add to this the fact that the -questions subscribers are an enormous > group showing the expected range of human diversity in any large group, > including making mistakes and needing to learn sometimes, and you'll > see that we've got an exceptionally good bunch of volunteer supporters. > Compared to similar newsgroups or mailing lists for other systems, > they're very well behaved towards newbies and give reliable information > promptly. I'd like to see it stay that way. > > The technical side of answers works really well. Generally nobody > answers unless they really know what they're talking about. If there > are several possible answers you're likely to get them all, along with > help to decide which way is best for you. If any of these answers > contains an error, someone will follow up pretty quick and correct it. > Similar support groups that I've seen elsewhere are plagued by people > giving wrong advice, which to a newbie is worse than no advice. This > doesn't happen here. Someone new to freebsd-questions might give a > half-baked answer once in a while, but peer pressure quickly teaches > them that FreeBSD people don't do guesses. > > The social side is largely ignored, but to us as insecure newbies it > can be the most salient feature of our visit to freebsd-questions. > Again, here we are pretty lucky. The guys who answer most of the > questions (you know who they are) do so with a level of courtesy and > understanding that is not easily found elsewhere. They do it because > they want to help, not to make themselves indispensable heroes, never > to show off or put anyone down, and that comes across whether they are > aware of it or not. > > In any large group of people there will be a few who excel, and a few > who are too new to understand the social environment, or who are there > for the wrong reasons. On rare occasions you might encounter someone > answering questions who is misguided, insensitive, or plain wrong. > > If this happens to you, please don't take it as an indication of the > general feeling of those who help in -questions. Hang around and you'll > see that they are far from typical, nor do they represent the > established FreeBSD spirit of quality help for anyone who shows they're > trying. They need time to learn the social ropes, just like we need > time to learn the technical ropes. There's no reason to let it upset > you; it's their problem, not yours. Ignore them and show your > appreciation for the pleasant majority. Never doubt yourself, and let > your behaviour as a confident newbie speak for all newbies. Even the > experts can make mistakes, and they will learn from their own peers > soon enough if we give them the chance to try. > > > -- > > Regards, > -*Sue*- > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message > thanks for your informations. rgds, Pirat Sriyotha pirat@center.oaep.go.th To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message
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