Re: BE MORE SIMPLE!!!!
Subject: Re: BE MORE SIMPLE!!!!
Date: Fri, Jun 11, 1999 at 09:11:49AM -0700
In reply to:Clyde Wilson
Quoting Clyde Wilson(clydew@clydew.net):
> On Fri, 11 Jun 1999, Eric Gillespie, Jr. wrote:
>
> > On Thu, Jun 10, 1999 at 09:31:54AM +0200,
> > Urban Gabor <urban@lhsystems.hu> wrote:
> > > no disrespect, but M$ makes you forget thinking. (Cf the subscription! :-)
> > > )
> > >
> >
> > It is not Wintendo that makes people forget how to think, it is something
> > We should not encourage this process. I see so many questions on this list
> > that shouldn't be answered. Instead, the user should be told how to use
> > man pages, info pages, etc. For example, someone asked if there was a package
> > containing the Howtos. Instead of telling him the name of the package, he
> > should have been told how to grep the Contents file, that way he can find
> > things on his own instead of asking the list every time. Remember, catch
> > a man a fish and you feed him that day, teach the man to fish, and he'll
> > never starve again.
>
> Or, answer a technical question and you keep your user happy for a day.
> Teach him to program and you loose your job...
Or, give a man a fish
feed him for a day
teach a man to fish
feed him for LIFE.
I happen to agree with Eric. I really think we are doing a
dis-service by just giving the answers out. If they don't learn to
find the answers themselves, they will ask first, why work if someone
is willing to spoon feed you.
As an example, look how many people have to ask "how do I
unsubscribe". I believe it is better that they 'do' unsubscribe
because they don't even understand the statement at the bottom of
every message on this list.
Just my 2 1/2 cents. I was an Instructor for far to long, I guess.
--
Real computer scientists despise the idea of actual hardware. Hardware
has limitations, software doesn't. It's a real shame that Turing
machines are so poor at I/O.
_______________________________________________________
Wayne T. Topa <wtopa@mindspring.com>
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