OT: Mailing list help (was Re: GnuPG: prblem installing on Woody)
On Fri, Oct 20, 2000 at 02:27:04AM -0700, kmself@ix.netcom.com wrote:
> Better more data than less, particularly if I ask for it. I've been
> getting mightily peeved lately by people who post "how do I solve foo"
> to which I reply "post output of <command list>"...which never happens.
> I'm going to start killfiling idiots like that real soon, then I'm going
> to take out hits on them....
>
> But enough of that.
Yes indeed. Karsten, you have to realize that some people (known as
"lurkers") are not quite as comfortable writing to mailing lists as you.
It takes a really big problem and then they say, "how do I solve foo."
And then they disappear again.
When you say "post output of <command list>", you probably have some
idea what's going on but want confirmation (otherwise, you'd just be
adding noise).
So instead of just saying "post output of <command list>", say "if
<command list> returns foo then do bar, if it returns baz then do quux,
otherwise post it and let me have a look at it." The games of 20
questions and gratuitous posts of outputs do not make for interesting
reading or even very helpful help to the people that asked in the first
place.
This is just a suggestion and you in particular do a very good job in
helping a lot of people so I hope you can take it in the spirit that it
is offered. And of course it is a very general suggestion that I know
won't work in all cases.
Finally, killfiling lurkers is going to make for a large .procmailrc but
is not going to do all that much.
Cheers,
Chris
--
IF I HAD A MINE SHAFT, I don't think I would just abandon it. There's
got to be a better way.
-- Jack Handley, The New Mexican, 1988.
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