From owner-freebsd-newbies Thu Mar 26 16:18:45 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id QAA19745 for freebsd-newbies-outgoing; Thu, 26 Mar 1998 16:18:45 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from phoenix.welearn.com.au (suebla.lnk.telstra.net [139.130.44.81]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id QAA19734 for ; Thu, 26 Mar 1998 16:18:40 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from sue@phoenix.welearn.com.au) Received: (from sue@localhost) by phoenix.welearn.com.au (8.8.5/8.8.5) id LAA16960; Fri, 27 Mar 1998 11:18:10 +1100 (EST) Message-ID: <19980327111804.21299@welearn.com.au> Date: Fri, 27 Mar 1998 11:18:05 +1100 From: Sue Blake To: Andrew Cc: Christopher Martin at Home , freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Asking Questions References: <199803252129.WAA01084@mail.keyworld.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mutt 0.88e In-Reply-To: ; from Andrew on Thu, Mar 26, 1998 at 09:41:01PM +1100 Sender: owner-freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org On Thu, Mar 26, 1998 at 09:41:01PM +1100, Andrew wrote: > There's nothing worse (ok there probably is but you get the point) than > seeing heaps of traffic resolving a particular problem and then someone > who has only just subscribed to questions jumps on and asks the same > question again. Also be aware that the FAQ and search may not provide you > with an answer even though it was discussed on the list. Cover yourself by > saying that you read the FAQ and searched the archives but still couldn't > find the answer. Makes it look like your trying and wins points with guru > question answerers. (Is that a word?) You can post to freebsd-questions without subscribing first but you'll have a much better idea of what/how/whether to ask if you have already been subscribed to freebsd-questions for a while. Of course you have to use the handbook, FAQ, and archive search either way, but that doesn't always catch all of the recent questions you'd see if you were subscribed. Everyone here should be interested enough to subscribe to freebsd-questions unless that's difficult (and I know it is for some). There is a lot of mail but that means there's a lot to learn from. You'll pick up info from the easier questions, and the difficult or irrelevant questions are good for getting ideas about how to ask for help. You'll also get an idea of the volume and quality of the mail that confronts the highly skilled volunteers who help out there when and if they enjoy doing it. Tip: It's surprising how many times someone else asks about a problem just as you were wondering how to fix it yourself. I've managed to hide a lot of my goofs by waiting a few hours for someone else to confess the same thing :-) A lot of us, me included, find it hard to know what makes a question good or bad. Maybe if we pool our thoughts and experiences we can sort some of this out together? Feel free to let the others know (gently) if you agree or disagree with what they suggest, and why. Some ideas to start us off: If you were advising another newbie about how to ask a question, what would you suggest to help them write a good question that'll get a good answer? What would you warn them against doing? When someone asks a question really badly, what do you think is their reason? -- Regards, -*Sue*- find / -name "*.conf" |more To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message