On Thu, 2005-02-03 at 11:29 -0700, Tom Connolly wrote:
Mr. Jan Hearthstone wrote:
There should be a Debian for idiots by idiots list;
at least the rest of us (non-programmers, non-techies)
could not feel superior to each other, and instead we
would eventually get our legitimate questions answered
in terms that we would understand.
Even the FM's are written by the experts for the
experts who would never (so it would seem) consider
that a mere, mud-treading mortal would ever aspire to
using Debian.
I asked in this list, on numerous occassions, how to
actually use the "rescue" floppy.
Every single advice I got did not work for me. I
dutifully reported that, and so far no one could see
me through the ordeal to a satisfactory end.
I, repeat, am serious about the Debian for Idiots
list. How should I go about seeing one to materialize?
Deeply prostrating, in all awesomness respectful
Mr. Jan Hearthstone.
I think your idea is on the right track but first, you would have to
call it something other that "Debian List for Idiots" because that is
very condecending. You would get a better reaction to "debian-newbies"
or "debian-beginners" or something like that. As for the idea in
general, I would subscribe.
I believe, nobody would subscribed to it outside of Debian helpers and
such, making it a YADML everyone would have to subscribe to. The Debian
Newbies feel they aren't, as they came for "other" linux distributions
therefore NOT being newbies. Some of them even feel obligated to post
"Spot-On Debian-User" questions on Debian-Devel.
So, this suggestion gets mentioned about once a month or two and it gets
mulled over... and rejected, again and again.
There are some valid points about a Newbie list, but many more that
invalidate it. Such as the skill and knowledge of this list (albeit
aggressive at times) far exceeds other mailing lists even here on/at
Debian. Since D-U is required for Developer to be on, it only makes
sense that there is no OTHER list. Plus, you get to read 10,000 messages
a week. What better benefit is there, than that! (maybe being on the
LKML too (include me there) or the samba and exim lists too (include me
there too))
Sorry, there just is not enough time in the day to help yet another
list... even if I did subscribe to it. Not to dismiss your idea(s) about
it, but think about it: newbies helping newbies.
How long do you think it would take to get an answer (let alone answers)
to configuring Exim v4 with Malware scanning, archive scanning, Amavisd,
ACL with perl, SpamAssassin, RulesDuJour, CLAMAV, teargrubbing, SPF,
multi-domain routing (with domain specific aliases),
multi-virtual-domian hosting (with domain specific aliases), with
Maildir delivery and/or procmail, maildrop or .forward support?
Yeap, now you see my point.