This is now fixed to: Eric Raymond and Rick Moen have even written an essay entitled "Asking Smart Questions" precisely on this topic. Although somewhat militant, it is definitely worth reading. Note: Please do not send your Java problems to the two authors, follow the essay's advice and choose your forum carefully.
on http://jakarta.apache.org/site/mail.html Hen On Tue, 30 Sep 2003, Henri Yandell wrote: > > Will fix. > > On Tue, 30 Sep 2003, Rick Moen wrote: > > > I realise it's difficult to discern legitimate mail from spam, etc. > > arriving at webmaster aliases, but this request has been fallen through > > the cracks for more a month, and I'd appreciate some help on it. > > > > ----- Forwarded message from rick ----- > > > > Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 15:50:42 -0700 > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Subject: Link to my and ESR's "Asking Smart Questions" page > > > > Hi there! I'm trying to reach the editor of the > > http://jakarta.apache.org/site/mail.html page, which links to "How To > > Ask Questions The Smart Way", > > http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html . > > > > Your page says: > > > > Ask smart questions. > > Every volunteer project obtains its strength from the people involved > > in it. You are welcome to join any of our mailing lists. You can > > choose to lurk, or actively participate; it's up to you. The level of > > community responsiveness to specific questions is generally directly > > proportional to the amount of effort you spend formulating your > > question. Eric Raymond has even written an essay entitled "Asking > > Smart Questions" [link] precisely on this topic. Although somewhat > > militant, it is definitely worth reading. > > > > Two things: > > > > (1) As you'll see if you take a closer look, it's actually co-written by > > Eric _and me_. I'd appreciate your fixing that. > > > > (2) Since you guys posted the above text, probably some time in 2001, > > both Eric and I have been barraged with e-mail by novice Java coders, > > asking us to help them debug their code or solve their Java technical > > problems. I've been trying for two years to chase down where all these > > Java-heads got the addled notion to write _us_, and I _think_ the > > proximate cause is the aforementioned hyperlink. > > > > Eric at least knows some Java, while I know very little, but neither of > > us appreciates having utter strangers (essentially) try to lob their > > homework at us. (And, no offence intended, but I don't even _like_ > > Java.) Their doing so isn't your fault, but it would be really nice if > > you would add something like: > > > > Note: Do NOT send your Java problems to that FAQ's authors. > > They welcome feedback on the FAQ's contents, but are simply > > not a Java help resource. > > > > The crowning irony is that one of our FAQ's very first sections is: > > > > When You Ask > > Choose your forum carefully > > > > -- > > Cheers, Founding member of the Hyphenation Society, a grassroots-based, > > Rick Moen not-for-profit, locally-owned-and-operated, cooperatively-managed, > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] modern-American-English-usage-improvement association. > > > > ----- End forwarded message ----- > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
