From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Msuck: nntp://news.gmane.io/gmane.emacs.gnus.user/9225 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: thesak Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.gnus.user Subject: Re: nntp read: 14535k Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2007 18:58:30 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Message-ID: <1182563910.937406.73970@g37g2000prf.googlegroups.com> References: <1181820543.264081.275820@o11g2000prd.googlegroups.com> <87myz2sqna.fsf@azurservers.com> <1181822679.661171.214770@a26g2000pre.googlegroups.com> <87wsy67g5c.fsf@azurservers.com> <1181851295.350685.294450@i38g2000prf.googlegroups.com> <87vedhv4wd.fsf@aikishugyo.dnsdojo.org> <87tzt0ugv6.fsf@ixod.org> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1182566427 26085 80.91.229.12 (23 Jun 2007 02:40:27 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2007 02:40:27 +0000 (UTC) To: info-gnus-english@gnu.org Original-X-From: info-gnus-english-bounces+gegu-info-gnus-english=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sat Jun 23 04:40:26 2007 Return-path: Envelope-to: gegu-info-gnus-english@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1I1vXy-0005cR-Rw for gegu-info-gnus-english@m.gmane.org; Sat, 23 Jun 2007 04:40:23 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1I1vXy-00061I-7S for gegu-info-gnus-english@m.gmane.org; Fri, 22 Jun 2007 22:40:22 -0400 Original-Path: shelby.stanford.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!postnews.google.com!g37g2000prf.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.gnus Original-Lines: 48 Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: 24.41.5.215 Original-X-Trace: posting.google.com 1182563911 26683 127.0.0.1 (23 Jun 2007 01:58:31 GMT) Original-X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Original-NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2007 01:58:31 +0000 (UTC) In-Reply-To: <87tzt0ugv6.fsf@ixod.org> User-Agent: G2/1.0 X-HTTP-UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X Mach-O; en-US; rv:1.8.0.6) Gecko/20060728 Firefox/1.5.0.6,gzip(gfe),gzip(gfe) Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Injection-Info: g37g2000prf.googlegroups.com; posting-host=24.41.5.215; posting-account=PNjbaQ0AAAC5thnAk87d7WsAgAad0XPS Original-Xref: shelby.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.gnus:79407 X-BeenThere: info-gnus-english@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Announcements and discussions for GNUS, the GNU Emacs Usenet newsreader \(in English\)" List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: info-gnus-english-bounces+gegu-info-gnus-english=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: info-gnus-english-bounces+gegu-info-gnus-english=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.gnus.user:9225 Archived-At: On Jun 22, 11:51 am, m...@ixod.org (Mark T.B. Carroll) wrote: > Gernot Hassenpflug writes: > > 4. Search for Eric Raymond's article on how to ask smart questions. > > http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html How To Answer Questions in a Helpful Way Be gentle. Problem-related stress can make people seem rude or stupid even when they're not. Reply to a first offender off-line. There is no need of public humiliation for someone who may have made an honest mistake. A real newbie may not know how to search archives or where the FAQ is stored or posted. If you don't know for sure, say so! A wrong but authoritative-sounding answer is worse than none at all. Don't point anyone down a wrong path simply because it's fun to sound like an expert. Be humble and honest; set a good example for both the querent and your peers. If you can't help, don't hinder. Don't make jokes about procedures that could trash the user's setup - the poor sap might interpret these as instructions. Ask probing questions to elicit more details. If you're good at this, the querent will learn something - and so might you. Try to turn the bad question into a good one; remember we were all newbies once. While just muttering RTFM is sometimes justified when replying to someone who is just a lazy slob, a pointer to documentation (even if it's just a suggestion to google for a key phrase) is better. If you're going to answer the question at all, give good value. Don't suggest kludgy workarounds when somebody is using the wrong tool or approach. Suggest good tools. Reframe the question. Help your community learn from the question. When you field a good question, ask yourself "How would the relevant documentation or FAQ have to change so that nobody has to answer this again?" Then send a patch to the document maintainer. If you did research to answer the question, demonstrate your skills rather than writing as though you pulled the answer out of your butt. Answering one good question is like feeding a hungry person one meal, but teaching them research skills by example is teaching them to grow food for a lifetime.