Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!unido!sbsvax!yxoc
From: yxoc@sbsvax.UUCP (Ralf Treinen)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Latex help
Summary: there is a corps of LaTeX helpers
Keywords: TeX LaTeX TeXhax
Message-ID: <1213@sbsvax.UUCP>
Date: 24 Oct 89 10:06:49 GMT
References: <1573@xn.LL.MIT.EDU> <1341@colon.gmv.es> <288@orchid.warwick.ac.uk>
Organization: Universitaet des Saarlandes, Saarbruecken, W-Germany
Lines: 76

In article <288@orchid.warwick.ac.uk>, maujt@warwick.ac.uk (Richard J Cox) writes:
> In article <1341@colon.gmv.es> jjsf@colon.UUCP (Julio Sanchez) writes:
> >In article <1573@xn.LL.MIT.EDU> cogen@XN.LL.MIT.EDU (cogen) writes:
> >>What do you suppose the appropriate newsgroup for tex and latex questions is? I
> >>
> >	TeXhax-request@cs.washington.edu
> 
> You could try comp.text - this handes mainly *roff stuff, but there is
> quite alot of TeX/LaTeX(...) stuff in there also.
> 

The TeXhax mailing list is distributed via USENET in the comp.text newsgroup.
The following might be interesting for all LaTeX novices (the author is
Max Hailperin, Stanford):

=============================================================================

Users' Guide to LaTeX-help
------ ----- -- ----------

All sites with LaTeX should have one or more LaTeX experts to help users.
Those experts communicate with each other about difficult problems through
various forums, including the TeXhax mailing list.

Lately, many sites have installed LaTeX without having, acquiring, or
developing a LaTeX expert.  Many simple LaTeX questions from those
sites have been posted directly to TeXhax, clogging it and prompting
redundant replies.

Therefore, a number of TeXhax subscribers have formed a volunteer LaTeX
question answering corps.  LaTeX users with questions should take the
following steps:
 1) Read the manual very carefully, including a careful check of the index.
    Most questions are answered there.
 2) Check whether anyone locally can answer your question.  Consider
    not only paid systems staff but also more experienced users.  Similarly,
    if you paid a commercial company good money for LaTeX, you should demand
    customer support from them--after all LaTeX is available for free.
 3) See if you can work it out yourself, and in the process build LaTeX
    expertise, by use of careful test cases, tracing mode, examining the
    LaTeX source files, etc.  Don't go crazy if you're a non-programmer, but
    give it a shot.
 4) If all of the above fail, *don't* send mail to TeXhax.  Instead, send
    mail to LaTeX-help@sumex-aim.Stanford.EDU  .  Your mail will automatically
    be forwarded to a member of the volunteer corps, in a round-robin
    rotation.  You should hear back shortly, either with a solution to your
    problem, a request for additional information, or the remark that it
    exceeded the volunteer's abilities and has been forwarded to other
    experts, including further volunteers and the TeXhax mailing list.  If you
    don't hear anything after waiting a reasonable period, write to
    LaTeX-help-coordinator@sumex-aim.Stanford.EDU with as much
    information about your original mailing as you have, and I'll try to
    track down how it got lost.

Please do not abuse this service.  We volunteers have lots of work of
our own to do, and will not continue volunteering if the burden is
excessive.  Make sure you try steps 1-3 before step 4, and always be
eager to help others locally who are a step behind you.  Also, join TUG
(the TeX Users' Group) if you haven't and avail yourself of their classes and
publications to develop in-house LaTeX expertise.

If you have any questions or comments on this, please write to
LaTeX-help-coordinator@sumex-aim.Stanford.EDU -- not directly to the
current person holding that position, as it may change.

==============================================================================

-- 
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| X400 : treinen%fb10vax.informatik.uni-saarland.dbp.de          (preferred!) |
|                                US sites should add : @relay.cs.net          |
| UUCP : ...!uunet!unido!sbsvax!treinen        or        treinen@sbsvax.UUCP  |
+--------------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Ralf Treinen                         | Universitaet des Saarlandes          |
| FB 14 - Informatik (Dept. of CS)     | D-6600 Saarbruecken 11, West Germany |
+--------------------------------------^ Phone: +49 681 302 2065 -------------+