Re: Thoughts on RTFM
Jeff.Chimene@etest.com wrote:
> I really don't want to single out Viktor Rosenfeld
[rosenfel@informatik.hu-berlin.de],
> but his opinion is the pearl seed for a particular observation.
> Simultaneously, it represents the "rational" voice of most people
> who try to carry the stone, and is astonishingly wide of the mark.
> So:
>
>> [1] I don't really have anything against step-by-step
>> instructions, I've read a lot in my learning process and I've
>> written a couple of myself to help out others. I just think that
>> step-by-step instructions should serve as a base to familirize
>> (sp?) yourself with the problem. Once you get it going, you
>> should follow up some of the information.
>>
>
> This is the sort of Pollyanna Principle thinking that will keep
> Linux on the sidelines. For example, I just purchased the Debian
> distro from LSL. Guess what? They probably pressed it using
> multi-session CD format; which format my 5 yr. old SCSI CD-ROM
> drive won't read. RTFM is clearly not an answer: how will that
> answer solve a problem created by such an arbitrary decision by a
> vendor? No amount of "RTFM" is going to help here. No-one, on any
> list, is going to attempt to answer a question like: "I just bought
> a CD and my computer won't read it. What's wrong?" And no, I
> haven't asked LSL in which format they burned the CD; such a
> question is likely to be met w/ shrugs, stares, and a lip curl that
> could lift 10 stone.
>
I think that the conflict you are having is not the issue of RTFM, but
that you have been suckered into thinking that everything is too easy to
fix.
But it all depends on where you come from.
When you spend 6 years with Windows, the easiest fixes are those that
come from Windows - reinstall/reboot.... kind of stuff.
But with other OSes, those options simply will not fix 90% of the
problems. You're trying to compare a horse and a car. Same road,
different engines!
I do have a specific example and point to all of this.
I had problems with my email. Having used linux for 3 year (and no
Windows at all), I fired up a few goodies and diagnosed that the pop
server was not able to respond to my inquiries, though smtp server did.
That gave me the hypothesis, based on previous experience with email
servers with another ISP, that the email files where somehow corrupt for
my account only.
I called the ISP.
Two hours later, after stripping my entire network, firewall, rebooting
into Windows and outright trashing one PC, it was determined that there
was probably something wrong with the files on the email server.
The two hours was spent on going through the Windows-centric step by
step instructions on diagnosing the potential problems. Unfortunately,
I didn't have a choice with the person I was talking to for her to
consider that I did RTFM and knew what I was talking about.
My point is this:
If all you ever want is the step by step instructions, that is all you
will ever know.
Windows is that same way - If someone asks me to help them set up a
Windows PC, I dump in the disks and click through the EULA's. But if it
fails to work the first time - I walk away and tell them I can't fix it
unless it gives some *good* clues.
If I do the same thing with Debian, I have the option of at least
reading a manual that has enough information in it to help me diagnose
the problem. This is true with ALL linux distributions.
But even in Windows, sometimes you will have to RTFM to get things to
work. If you don't think you do, then you are kidding yourself or have
not had enough experience with Windows to hit this one yet. Linux is
the same basic way. Keep in mind that a typical Windows installation
does not include a web server, email server, and database server of the
caliber that Linux does by default. A more accurate comparison would be
the Windows Server editions
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