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On what is helpful and what is not [was: Re: Wifi]



On Du, 09 mar 14, 01:39:56, Steve Litt of Troubleshooters.Com wrote:

[big snip]
 
> Everyone,

The least you could do when you hijack a thread would be to change the 
subject, otherwise you'll be swamping the OP with OT chatter that 
doesn't even help him (quite the contrary).

> Doesn't it seem that, on every list and IRC channel, there's always that
> guy? The defender of the perfect symptom description, who has completely
> memorized every portion of "How To Ask Questions The Smart Way"
> except for the portion on how to answer questions in a helpful way.
> The vigilante who just has to jump on every less than perfectly clued-in
> post and insult the guy. I'm not talking about insulting the dweeb who
> asks, then doesn't even read the answers, and asks again. I'm not
> talking about insulting the guy asking the question that a two minute
> web search can find the answer to. I'm talking about the guy who insults
> people like the original poster, whose symptom description wasn't all
> that bad, at least for a first stab at it. A symptom description that
> others felt was good enough to suggest diagnostic processes.

Nope, pretty much everyone was stabbing in the dark due to lack of 
information. Now, there's a good chance one of these "stabs" actually 
hits the target (my money is on firmware), but pretty much everyone 
assumed the OP is able to identify the correct firmware package and 
install it by himself (if his WiFi is not working he might not even have 
easy access to the internet).

> The angry and insulting behavior of the defenders of the perfect
> symptom description does nothing but cut down on technical
> communication, raise the noise level, and often raise the heat level.
> Why do that? I mean really, is it too much to ask that these guys simply
> ignore posts they think are bogus? Or if the thread bothers them,
> filter the thread? The list will be better for it.

Stan has helped a lot of people with his expertise, especially when it 
comes to hardware. His style is definitely blunt and can often be 
perceived as insulting, but I read his initial reply several times and 
in my very humble opinion there was no insult. As far as I'm concerned 
the "take home message" is:

    The lack of detail in your problem report suggests you have never 
    used Linux, or that you've never participated in a technical forum.  
    Please tell us your Linux skill level so we can reply with 
    appropriate level of instruction.

Kind regards,
Andrei
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