Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ginosko!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!apple!sun-barr!lll-winken!netsys!lamc!well!fico2!everexn!karen From: karen@everexn.uucp (Karen Valentino) Newsgroups: news.newusers.questions Subject: About R'ing TFM Message-ID: <1989Sep30.001939.20472@everexn.uucp> Date: 30 Sep 89 00:19:39 GMT Organization: Everex Systems, Inc. Lines: 51 From: tale@pawl.rpi.edu (David C Lawrence) David Lawrence writes: DCL> Here is something that many of us perceive to be a big problem with DCL> RTFM postings. Do you really believe that RTFM is a kind request? It DCL> is neither; it is an imperative and a rude one at that. At the risk of perpetuating what is fast becoming a meta-discussion, I'll add that, as a relatively new user with many hours of frustration from wrestling with a new editor and new operating system, and all the new processes and syntaxes attendant, I know how hard it can be to get into second gear on the net. It has taken me a couple of months to be able to RTFmaps, and to FTFmans (find the manuals). Now I know how to get email from here to there, and how and where to post. But it took me some effort and lots of reading news to figure it out. I also had to swallow my pride and ask my system administrator, and others here who know how to use Unix and vi, a million stoooopid questions. Not everyone on the net has a guru system administrator. (Not everyone has a system administrator, period.) Also, some of the system administrators on the net are programmers who have other work to do besides answering neophyte questions. And some of us (this from personal experience) may hesitate to ask the nth Idiot Neophyte Question because we happen to *know* that our system administrator has programming to do. In my case, my sys admin knows lots about Unix, but I always think twice before I bother him. Neophytes need to have a place to go where they don't feel they're imposing/wasting someone's time. This group is a godsend. In reading articles, I've often found interesting and useful tidbits that I might easily have overlooked reading TFM. I say, it's useful to post these tidbits that may be of general interest. And I say, it's useful to help someone locate the manuals (believe me, it can be pretty over- whelming to locate something when you're not even sure where to look). It's *not* useful (IMO) to direct someone to the manuals as if they should already know where they are (or even *that* they are). It's like penalizing someone for not doing something that they weren't aware it was possible to do! Maybe we should start some kind of Neophytes Advocacy Group (NAG?!) (:-) Karen __ Karen Valentino > ..ucbvax!well!fico2!everexn!karen Everex North, Sebastopol, CA < ..uunet!island!grenada!everexn!karen (satellite of Everex Systems > ..pacbell!mslbrb!everexn!karen -- Karen Valentino Everex Systems, Inc. Sebastopol, Ca.