On Fri, 2002-05-17 at 18:29, J. Craig Woods wrote: > Randy, > > Your comments are most germane, and tastefully inserted as an addendum > in your reply. Unfortunately, the distinction you delineated between > newbie and expert list has, over the few years I have been here, pretty > much been loss. There are a number of reasons for this to occur. One > reason would simply be the subjective nature of differentiating between > a "newbie" problem and what constitutes an "expert" problem. I have said > it here before, and I'll say it again: I would humbly estimate that > about 60 to 70 percent of the postings on this list are within the > "newbie" range. > > If you or others have a subscription to other UNIX type lists, you will > readily see how this situation is handled. There are usually a few "list > nazis" who do not hesitate to make the newbie feel very uncomfortable > about posting a problem that would have been easily solved by a RTFM or > STFW. > > Because the Mandrake expert list is for Mandrake Linux solutions, I > believe it will always be as it is: a "kinder, gentler" sort of list. > And, as such, you might as well acclimate yourself to the reality that > this list is really just an extension to the newbie list... > > I hope I have engendered some thoughts on this issues, and hopefully we > might see some thoughtful responses... > > Dr John, > The Night Tripper
I note with interest the email struggles of others on this thread. The issue can be distilled down to some basics. First, the primary purpose of delineating the lists into two categories is so that you can have two categories. The categories are "newbie" and "expert". While some ambiguity can be assumed, Dr John's masked frustration is justified; there are perhaps too many newbie questions on this list, and part of the education of any user should be to learn the general difference between a newbie and an expert question. I feel that most experts here can make that distinction, even if it is something that they have not RTFM'ed before themselves. If it is an interesting question, yet still newbie, it can still be posted as an interesting newbie question on the newbie list, which we all monitor here anyway. There's not really a need for an interesting newbie question to be posted on the expert list. Perhaps the expert list should be reserved for interesting expert questions. :) Please note that I blatantly and lasciviously avoid the issue of OT posts. ;) LX -- ��������������������������������������������������� Kernel 2.4.8-26mdk Mandrake Linux 8.1 Enlightenment 0.16.5 Evolution 1.02 Registered Linux User #268899 http://counter.li.org/ ���������������������������������������������������
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