Andrew, On Tue, February 18, 2003 5:00 pm, Andrew Kohlsmith said:
> Indiscriminately telling people "go there and try" is a little cold in my > opinion, especially since it's so closely related to the list subject and > you already know the answer. > > My father used to do something similar to me -- "What's [insert word here] > mean?" "Go look it up." -- He knew the answer, and it would have taken > less energy and effort to just tell me in a single sentence or two, but instead > he made me go look it up -- what did it teach me? Virtually nothing. When I was starting to learn about qmail and vpopmail I had a former colleague and good friend to call on as a resource. His answers to me were, more often than not, along the lines of "man dot-qmail" or "What do the logs say?". Sometimes this would frustrate me if I was looking for a quick fix but I am eternally grateful to him for this approach as I now know so much more about the subject (take a bow Mark P!) As the saying goes: "Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime." Or, alternatively: "Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to use the Net and he won't bother you for weeks." :o) R. -- Robin Bowes | http://robinbowes.com
