Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!dino!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!unix.cis.pitt.edu!wct1
From: wct1@unix.cis.pitt.edu (William C Tom)
Newsgroups: news.newusers.questions
Subject: Re: What does 'UNIX' mean ?
Message-ID: <22210@unix.cis.pitt.edu>
Date: 8 Feb 90 22:02:46 GMT
References: <22187@unix.cis.pitt.edu< <11369@attctc.Dallas.TX.US<
Reply-To: wct1@unix.cis.pitt.edu (William C Tom)
Distribution: news
Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh, Comp & Info Services
Lines: 55

In article <11369@attctc.Dallas.TX.US< davidg@attctc.Dallas.TX.US (David Guntner) writes:
<From article <22187@unix.cis.pitt.edu}, by wct1@unix.cis.pitt.edu (William C Tom):
<} 
<} In article <11321@attctc.Dallas.TX.US< davidg@attctc.Dallas.TX.US (David Guntner) writes:
<} <From article <1671@uniol.UUCP<, by kuehnke@uniol.UUCP (Christian Kuehnke):
<} << I wonder where the name "UNIX" derives from: Is it an abbreviation or
<} << just another unix-like slang-expresion (like troff, awk, etc.) ?
<} <
<} <RTFM. :-)  (For those about to whip out the flame-throwers, notice the 
<} <            smiley....)
<} <
<} <I suggest that you subscribe to news.announce.newusers.  About once every
<} <month a whole series of messages get posted there with all kinds of information
<} <that the new Usenetter should know about, including things like the history
<} <of Usenet and UNIX.  One of the articles contain common questions and their
<} <answers (and I've seen that one in there).
<} <                --Dave
<} 
<} I am fairly new to the usenet. Yes, I have read news.announce.newusers, but 
<} unlike some of you guys, I have not been able to memorize all the items.
<} It seems that on this present newsgroup, questions from virgin netters
<} are frequently greeted with "RTFM".  The above response is typical, 
<} smiley-face not withstanding.  If you are bother to answer, why not
<} give the f**king answer , and then recommend RTFM (knowing, superior
<} smile on your face, no doubt).  If you know it all but would rather not
<} tell, then get off this newsgroup.
<
<If your feelings are THAT touchy, then get off of Usenet altogether.  You'll
<never survive.
<
<No one can memorize all the items, true.  That's why it's a good idea to
<save the articles for future reference in your home directory, and then you
<can simply look it up.
<
<Granted, vetran Usenetters fairly typically answer with "RTFM" (with or
<without smileys), because SO MANY new users simply don't bother to do
<so (or even know that it's there (or where to look...) -- that's why I
<followed it up with information on where to look).  It's been a while, but
<I believe the questions-and-answers article I mentioned even says at the
<beginning of it that it's purpose was in part to help stop the proliferation
<of the exact same (common) questions popping up over and over again.
<                           --Dave
<
<-- 
My point was that you could have given the answer AND refer the poster on to
news.announce.newusers.  In fact, another, much more helpful, poster gave
the answer to "what is UNIX" shortly after your reply.  If you and your ilk 
find the simple questions too elementary for your consideration, don't clutter
up the network with vapid asininities.

As for my survival on Usenet, I'm doing quite well; thank you for your concern.  What I *will* avoid from now on, however, is this newsgroup, which seems to
contain more than its share of smug users who seem to think that they are part 
 of some hackers'gnosis.

          			------Bill