Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!cbnewsh!mbb From: mbb@cbnewsh.ATT.COM (martin.b.brilliant) Newsgroups: news.newusers.questions Subject: Re: Telling people to Read The F Manual Message-ID: <4210@cbnewsh.ATT.COM> Date: 25 Sep 89 22:29:08 GMT References: <14729@bfmny0.UU.NET> Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 39 From article <14729@bfmny0.UU.NET>, by tneff@bfmny0.UU.NET (Tom Neff): > In article <130@ubbs-nh.MV.COM> noel@ubbs-nh.MV.COM (N. Del More) writes: >>1. It takes up as much if not more bandwidth to follow-up on a users >> request for information only to tell him to RTFM. > > Nonsense. If you try to do the manual's job for it, you will get 10 > little niggling correction followups ..... Well, how about a middle course? > If I go over to comp.lang.c and post something saying, "I AM NEW HEAR > AMD I WANT TO INKRIMENT A VURIABLE BY 1 (OONE) IN "c" AN D CAN YOU TEL > ME HOW." -- what do you think the appropriate response is? Post a > chapter length dissertation netwide on the ++ operator, together with > the expected raft of followups? Or mail, yes MAIL the guy a kind > request to RTFM before posting? One appropriate response might be "x++; RTFM for details." That was half a line, not a chapter. Posting it tells the innocent newuser what to look for in TFM, and it might help other innocent newusers too. And it doesn't say enough to warrant a niggle. Experts can and should guide novices through the manuals. That takes knowledge of what's in the manual, and what's missing from it, and how to find what you need. The experts have that. The novices will eventually get it, and then they can be experts, too. A real expert is not afraid to share knowledge. An insecure half-expert, having barely enough knowledge for one person, says "RTFM" for two purposes: first, to avoid exposing his/her own ignorance; second, to keep the novices from catching up too fast. If you show some knowledge, you can avoid that charge. M. B. Brilliant Marty AT&T-BL HO 3D-520 (201) 949-1858 Holmdel, NJ 07733 att!hounx!marty1 or marty1@hounx.ATT.COM Disclaimer: Opinions stated herein are mine unless and until my employer explicitly claims them; then I lose all rights to them.