Re: Debian User List
Kamaraju S Kusumanchi <kamaraju@bluebottle.com>:
> Michael Pobega wrote:
> >> It would surely cut down on the number of RTFM and STFW responses, which
> >> I have to say don't appear as often as I expected they would.
> >
> > Actually, I have yet to see anyone on the list tell anyone to RTFM and
> > STFW. I see that more or less on IRC (Because it's so fast moving
>
> If the list is getting RTFM questions, it also means that the manuals are
> just not good enough to be understood. So probably trying to improve the
When I started, manpages were pretty difficult for a newbie, and I
imagine they still are, especially for those who're unaccustomed to
the command line interface (I was, and still they were difficult).
However, I don't think the manpages are not good enough to be
understood. I do think using them and understanding them is an
acquired skill.
I always tell newbies, "xman -notopbox -bothshown &", giving them a
pointy-clickey interface to man. I would like it if all manpages
included an example usage section. That's missing in many.
And though I tend to like it, the Openlook interface of xman is a
little dated, and perhaps xman should fork (perhaps it has?) and
produce alternatives that don't expect Openlook's oddball mouse
actions to drive it.
--
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