> On Mar 11, 2016, at 4:20 PM, Anant Anurag <anantquantumphys...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > Honestly my second email was an effort to get a reply. That effort was not > elegant though! :)
It was elegant enough! It’s a great point though for some advice applicable to everyone new to open source. You didn’t get a response to your first e-mail because you didn’t ask any technical questions. Open source communications tend to involve productive independence and efficiency, even going so far as to skip introductions (as is strong convention on IRC). As one of the goals of GSoC is to get people introduced to open source software gently, we’re obviously understanding when people are simply being polite. What that all means is that it’s okay to skip formal greetings — you won’t offend anyone — skip platitudes and pleasantries, and to get straight to a productive point. For example, avoid saying “I’m interested in ABC, can anyone help” or “I want to work on XYZ, please guide me” … they are passive pleas, lazily fishing for information. Instead, spend time and do some research, read lots, do some web searching, and ask a question when you are actually stuck. Doing that, you’ll be able to ask a more useful detailed question that moves you forward. When the answer to a question is on the first page of a web search, people get upset. Case in point, if you search for “ask smart questions”, you’ll come across a good paper by someone with initials ESR. It has lots of tips on engaging a technical audience in discussion and is worth reading at least once. Cheers! Sean ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Transform Data into Opportunity. Accelerate data analysis in your applications with Intel Data Analytics Acceleration Library. Click to learn more. http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=278785111&iu=/4140 _______________________________________________ BRL-CAD Developer mailing list brlcad-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/brlcad-devel
