Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!auspex!guy
From: guy@auspex.auspex.com (Guy Harris)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: comp.unix.wizards-in-their-own-minds
Message-ID: <6339@auspex.auspex.com>
Date: 27 Feb 91 21:13:54 GMT
References: <22886@hydra.gatech.EDU>
Organization: Auspex Systems, Santa Clara
Lines: 53

>  To all of you out there that answer questions straight forward sans flame,

I sometimes answer them that way, albeit often in email.  I sometimes
answer them by mentioning the section in the documentation where the
answer can be found, without doing the asker's work for them by looking
it up and typing them in for them.

Not all the "please don't use 'comp.unix.wizards' as the first place you
ask your questions" responses are, perhaps, as "nice" as some might
like; however, that does not totally invalidate the point some of them
make. 

Another way of putting some of the same responses that might, perhaps,
be "nicer" is:

	There is some turnaround time involved in asking a question on
	the net; the posting doesn't necessarily hit every news reader's
	machine within minutes of its posting, not everybody is reading
	news continuously, and not everybody responds instantly to
	questions.

	There are other resources that can be used to obtain answers to
	questions, such as:

	    the documentation for your system (either printed or
	    on-line);

	    people in your office or down the hall or otherwise nearby
	    at your site;

	    the list of Frequently Asked Questions, periodically posted
	    to "comp.unix.questions".

	If you can get your answers from one of those sources, you may
	get your answer *much* faster than you would if you'd only
	posted your question to the net, and would thus be able to get
	your job done more quickly.

	In addition, when you ask a question on the net, you run a good
	chance of getting a number of *wrong* answers to it; you
	presumably didn't know the right answer, or you wouldn't have
	asked the question, so it may not be obvious to you which of
	those answers are right and which are wrong.

	Given that, you might find it easier overall to try checking the
	local documentation, or local users, or the FAQ list, first,
	before asking a question on the net.

I.e., it's not "please make *our* lives easier by not posting questions
to the net before trying other sources of answers", it's "why not make
*your* life easier - by possibly getting your answers faster, and
getting more reliable answers to boot - by trying the aforementioned
other sources of answers?"