Re: [OT] improving the mailing lists WAS: Re: Debian VPN
El mié, 04-02-2009 a las 20:13 -0500, Celejar escribió:
> On Wed, 4 Feb 2009 13:06:31 -0600
> "Stackpole, Chris" <CStackpole@barbnet.com> wrote:
>
> > The reaction I was going for is not the one I was wanting. That tells me that I wrote my response improperly. I apologize; my fault.
> >
> > More to the subject, let me try to explain my view. Please feel free to comment.
>
> Please wrap your lines, as per the code of conduct:
>
> http://www.debian.org/MailingLists/#codeofconduct
>
> ...
>
> > Thanks partially to Google we are at a point where you can find anything on the internet, /if/ you know where and how to look. However, finding someone to help you sort through the mass information is almost priceless. The best way for me to explain is through my own experience. If you Google 'Linux cluster' you are going to find a ton of information out there. If you know nothing about Linux clusters, just jumping in is quite the shock. There are many types of clusters on many types of hardware on many types of Distros. I am far from an Guru as there are many others that know _much_ more then I, but I love experimenting and working with clusters and probably have more experience with clusters then most people ever want to have. On the flip side, if you had asked me a few months ago to explain in detail everything I know about LDAP authentication I would have just looked at you and shook my head. Google offered TONS of data on the subject but by asking around I found someone who did have experience and he gave me a bunch of docs that were much more helpful to me then what I had found on Google.
>
> My experience is that for almost any reasonably mainstream topic,
> Google works just fine. On the contrary, when the number of hits is
> huge, this usually indicates that the topic is heavily discussed and
> that excellent informations is probably out there. Google is generally
> efficient enough that the first page of hits will include useful
> resources, and ten minutes of reading will go far toward giving one a
> basic grounding in the subject, eliminating that feeling of being
> overwhelmed, and bringing one to a point of feeling somewhat comfortable
> with the topic and possessing some idea of where to go next.
>
> Your example of LDAP, OTOH, is an interesting one. I've tried more
> than once to grok LDAP, and given up in bafflement. I can't quite tell
> if it's inherently just overkill for my needs, or if my Google-fu is
> just insufficient to find a basic introduction to the system. [I'd be
> using it on my personal systems, to share contact information between
> different application and perhaps across several systems.] Every
> introduction I've seen involves creating from scratch complicated
> schema and doing quite a bit of planning and writing of files. This
> may be unavoidable, and LDAP may indeed be overkill for my minimal
> needs, or I may have merely been unable to find the appropriate docs.
> This supports your point that sometimes asking on the list might be
> appropriate even for subjects that return many Google hits.
>
> Just my $.02
>
> Celejar
> --
I undestand that in the Unix World, the base of information has been the
man pages, secondly the .doc, but for now the man pages are not enough
to comprehend how somethig works. The absence of examples, and ambiguity
of language complecate its understanding.
Taken from man apt-listbugs:
"Description
apt-listbugs is a tool which retrieves bug reports from the Debian Bug
Tracking System and lists them. Especially, it is intended to be invoked
**** before each upgrade by apt in order to check whether the
upgrade/installation is safe."
At the previous example, the words "manually" or "automatically" could
be used substituting ****.
The other point is because of the influenze of the pigs (people who want
to regulate everything), the text .doc) are very long and useless, added
that after install them, i can not find them at the menu. They should be
very specific.
Concluding, why to use untrusted, obsolete, and confused information
(internet), if we can use efficient man pages and .docs, (some effort
could go on them.)
Reply to: