Date: Fri, 28 Mar 1997 11:40:31 -0700 (MST) From: Wes Peters - Softweyr LLC <softweyr@xmission.com> To: andrew@python.shoal.net.au (Andrew Perry) Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Mailing lists archives Message-ID: <199703281840.LAA10068@xmission.xmission.com> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSI.3.95.970328151803.14461A-100000@python.shoal.net.au> from "Andrew Perry" at Mar 28, 97 03:27:40 pm
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
I recently sniveled:
% GENERAL FREEBSD_QUESTIONS USAGE NOTE:
% You should search for this message in the mail archives before sending
% it to 50,000 people or so via email; this subject has been discussed ad
% nauseum.
Andrew Perry replied:
> I couldn't agree with you more, however, having asked this particular
> question myself, and other equally overasked questions, I think we should
> address what I see as the problem.
>
> When you look around on the FreeBSD sites for help, the mailing lists,
> especially "questions" are put forward as the primary support while the
> "search the archives" option is more of an aside. Maybe it should be
> stressed on this page that you CAN ask on questions for help (as we're
> such a friendly bunch of people), but FIRST one should search the archive
> to see if it's been asked before. (and answered)
Good point. The mailing lists are listed much more prominently on the
web site and the CD-ROM booklet than the mail archives. On the other
hand, this topic is mentioned every month in the 'How to get more out
of the FreeBSD mailing lists' message.
On the other hand, this particular question has been asked 3 - 5 times
every week for nearly three months now. Having personally answered it
a number of times, it is really starting to get redundant. I know that
many of the people picking up FreeBSD these days are new to the net as
well as UNIX, but it really is quite disturbing to see the social
structure that used to be so much a part of internet communications
breaking down so rapidly.
I am amazed (and disappointed) by the number of people these days who
will jump into a mailing list or newsgroup without *any* idea of what
happens there on a daily basis. Perhaps if *some* of the newbies
lurked in this group for a week or two, they'd see something about
these "archives" and go seek them out before asking the same perfectly
good question that was asked, and answered, once every day the week
before.
> Also maybe we should try and encourage people to have more relevant
> subject lines to make the search option a little more friendly.
Given the number of mesages here every day with *no* subject, or a
subject of "Question" or "Problem", I don't see this happening any time
soon. Your best bet is to not waste your time with subject-line
searches. If you have a problem with PPP and routing, search for PPP
and routing in the message bodies.
--
"Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?"
Wes Peters Softweyr LLC
http://www.xmission.com/~softweyr softweyr@xmission.com
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?199703281840.LAA10068>