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

[Russ Cox <russcox@gmail.com>]

On 5/24/05, Chris Collins <xfire-9fans@xware.cx> wrote:
> Russ Cox was once rumoured to have said:
> > Tim Newsham:
> > > Despite what Andrey said (most of which is true), IRC is still
> > > the first place I'd recommend someone with a plan9 question
> > > go ask.  Depending on who is watching, they could get a good
> > > answer, or perhaps just a snide 'RTFM.'  When it works it
> > > works well and when it doesn't, there's 9fans for a slightly
> > > less timely response.
> >
> > I think reading the FAQ, poking around the Wiki, and then
> > asking on 9fans is a much more reliable way to go.
> >
> > Poking around the IRC logs from the first week of May,
> > I have learned that the /sys/src/9 kernels have no
> > SCSI support (only /sys/src/fs does) and that there is
> > no way for acme to pipe the current buffer through a
> > program.  Sometimes, when such misinformation is stated
> > as fact, someone is around to correct it.  But just as often
> > it seems that no one is around to correct it.  And if you're
> > a newbie and you get the latter, I don't believe that you've
> > done better than asking on 9fans and waiting a little while.
> 
> Of course, if you had actually bothered to hang around and listen, you
> would have had heard the prior case (SCSI support) corrected at the
> very least. (I was online to see that one myself).

Sometimes, when such misinformation is stated
as fact, someone is around to correct it.  But just as often
it seems that no one is around to correct it.  And if you're
a newbie and you get the latter, I don't believe that you've
done better than asking on 9fans and waiting a little while.

The SCSI comment did get corrected, eventually, though
the comment about acme not being able to pipe a buffer
through an external program did not.

Russ