Fred A. Miller wrote:
"Users can solve that problem, though," Diedrich says, with the help of
the Internet, since the Linux community is happy to provide fellow users
with help. That's why Diedrich recommends going online before selecting
a Linux distribution and checking out the corresponding community. Are
the people who use a given distribution ready to help, or more arrogant
techno-geeks?
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/56912.html
This is very unhelpful. It is misleading to suggest that Linux support
fora are unlimited sources of help and assistance. There are (or should
be if provision of support is to be sustainable) constraints on what is
expected to be asked and what kind of answers can be given. If a user
isn't willing to get their hands dirty and make some effort to resolve
problems they have for themselves, they should either pay for support
(via Novell/SuSE, or perhaps a local firm of the sort M Harris seems to
run) or not be surprised or upset when it doesn't work. This is true of
all computer systems, in fact. Judging distributions (or operating
systems) by how "civil" or "friendly" the mailing lists and fora are is
a silly idea, and will only benefit people who "make nice" in order to
shift products.
From http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#courtesy
Which is where, IMO, pretty much all quests for (free) technical help by
newbies should start.
"Be courteous. ...
To be honest, this isn't as important as (and cannot substitute for)
being grammatical, clear, precise and descriptive, avoiding proprietary
formats etc.; /hackers in general would rather get somewhat brusque but
technically sharp bug reports than polite vagueness/. (If this puzzles
you, remember that we value a question by what it teaches us.)"
And http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#keepcool
"Dealing with rudeness
Much of what looks like rudeness in hacker circles is not intended to
give offence. Rather, it's the product of the direct,
cut-through-the-bullshit communications style that is natural to people
who are more concerned about solving problems than making others feel
warm and fuzzy.
When you perceive rudeness, try to react calmly. If someone is really
acting out, it is very likely a senior person on the list or newsgroup
or forum will call him or her on it. If that /doesn't/ happen and you
lose your temper, it is likely that the person you lose it at was
behaving within the hacker community's norms and /you/ will be
considered at fault. This will hurt your chances of getting the
information or help you want.
On the other hand, you will occasionally run across rudeness and
posturing that is quite gratuitous. The flip-side of the above is that
it is acceptable form to slam real offenders quite hard, dissecting
their misbehaviour with a sharp verbal scalpel. Be very, very sure of
your ground before you try this, however. The line between correcting an
incivility and starting a pointless flame war is thin enough that
hackers themselves not infrequently blunder across it; if you are a
newbie or an outsider, your chances of avoiding such a blunder are low.
If you're after information rather than entertainment, it's better to
keep your fingers off the keyboard than to risk this. "
There are far more important criteria for choosing a distribution than
how nicey-nicey people are.
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