--- Brett Parker brettp@stu.uea.ac.uk wrote:
On Sat, Jan 20, 2001 at 09:08:29PM +0000, kerin wrote:
Hello I've just got my X-Chat to work, so i thought I'd see what was
about, I
visited a Linux Help channel, and could not believe what i saw, a
guy
came in asking for help with lilo he was having to use a boot disc
to
start his linux, and asked if anyone could tell him how to install
lilo
properly. What happened they totally ignored him and carried on
talking
to (well taking the p*** out of some bloke that wanted to record something without a pc or tape deck), after i pointed out this chap
the
reply was "there are hundreds or pages of help written", Its the
same as
taking a car to a garage and the mechanic saying to you go bye a
book
and repair it your self, how can the Linux world expect to
encourage new
users with answers like that, when with "Windows" all you have to
do is
look through the yellow pages and you will find someone to help you despite all the help pages that are written. Kerin
yeah, I must admit that there is a lot of this behaviour, but, at the same time, the documentation is *vast* and written *well* (as long as you hit the right docs!). I have found some of them useful but only if I *really*, *really* can't find any documentation. If you are after help 99% of the time a newsgroup is easiest, if its targetted to a single project try to see if they have there own IRC channel, I have used this approach quite a few times and have always found that it tends to work. The only real quarm I have with most of the "linux" irc channels is that they have a distinct nack of not accounting (at all) for "newbies" to IRC, for example they do put a warning in the channels topic (usually) telling you to go read the FAQs, the reason for this is that 99% of questions are answered nicely, and neatly in that FAQ. I know it sounds as if I'm defending them, and to some extent I suppose I am (I've been asked the same question repeatedly for like 6 hours, it gets *very* annoying).
Anyways, just my 2p worth,
Brett
As a relative newbie, I have found that the default reply on most groups/channels/lists is RTFM. and alot of the DOCS are great if you are very good with programming, understand compiler messages, and know unix very well, But not if you are a raw beginner. I have spent a week trying to install PHP and mysql on a machine and the only answer I ever got was RTFM, which isn't to helpful. Now whilst I agree that I most linux users are very willing to help (well those on this list are, see my PPP problems) alot are very closed to newbies.
Just my 2p.
D - <action=returns to trying to work out why SDL doesn't work>
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David Freeman wrote:
As a relative newbie, I have found that the default reply on most groups/channels/lists is RTFM. and alot of the DOCS are great if you are very good with programming, understand compiler messages, and know unix very well, But not if you are a raw beginner. I have spent a week
This is wrong and very bad, most (if not all) documentation is not written for even someone with good *nix experience, but I have met "3l33t M$ hax00r5" who don't want to let you know the answer.
Most people like the person mentioned in the original posters message probably only need a pointer in the right direction and could take it from there. anyway if anyone needs help with newbie issues let the list know and if it gets boring I will take it to private mail as (fortunatley for me) I work in an enviroment where we have a lot of *nix gurus who will just tell the answer, as we realise that you can't be an expert in everthing (and indeed I have supplied answers to people who have been using *nix for upwards of 20years who have had problems with linux).
just my 3p worth (1p more than Brett :-)) Adam
-
Adam Bower -
David Freeman