On Tuesday 11 February 2003 00:34, Ian Bruseker wrote: > Andy, > > Fair enough. Answers don't have to be long. Maybe "expect a long answer" > wasn't the best choice of phrases. Perhaps "don't be surprised/put > out/offended when answers are more than a simple yes or no, because this > longer answer helps everyone, whereas yes or no only helps the person > asking the question". Like I said, this is a community, and many people > have that in mind when preparing their answers. And as you pointed out, > it's about the content. People like to add content to their emails to make > them relevant to everyone who is interested. > > Further, here is a quote from ESR's "How To Ask Questions The Smart Way" > that I just dug up (obviously this is a paraphrased qoute from the Bible, > but ESR's version is the one that fits here): "Answering one good question > is like feeding a hungry person one meal, but teaching them research skills > by example is teaching them to grow food for a lifetime." I think people > on this list try to do that, and I think it should be encouraged, not > discouraged. Check out http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html for > more on this. > > Finally, I'm sorry if you understood this to be "policy". It wasn't my > intent to dictate any form of policy. I was speaking from experience based > on the types and quality of answers that I have seen on this list, that is > all. I am not a member of the executive nor do I speak on behalf of CLUG > in any official way. Any proposal to create policy would of course be > taken up by the executive and the group at large and be voted on > accordingly. > > Ian >
So what you are saying is: You agree with me ... you had a bad choice of wording ... emails may help everyone in the "community", not just the main recipient ... the asking questions how-to is full of useful question/answer etiquette ... you had no intention to act as a spokesperson for the entire group ... sorry. Is that right? ;-) BTW a person with the same name and email address as me posted the ESR paper a while back too. It's a good read, highly recommended. Cheers, Andy
