Re: [9fans] the futility of #plan9 on irc

[Jack Johnson <knapjack@gmail.com>]

On 5/24/05, Dan Cross <cross@math.psu.edu> wrote:
> Because the data isn't accumulated over time, the damage
> done by the bad data remains done.  The correction is never applied.

So, this begs the question, do people using IRC understand this?  If
so, then the newbie swears, tries again with a new crowd, or tries
9fans and waits.  If not, then they assume the software is broken or
that it will not do what it asks and they give up.

If I were really concerned about the quality of information on IRC, I
would donate an hour a week to straightening out the locals or just
roll an infobot that references the wiki and the mailing list archives
and let the locals qualify the result with their own $0.02 (though
possibly not USD).

Otherwise, I would assume the visitors were looking for easy
information and that they realize they might not walk away with
answers.

-Jack