[cobalt-users] Rebuttal: It's in the Knowledge Base (Was:Re: [cobalt-users] permissions (again))

[Jeff Lasman <jblists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

[saturday-morning-rant]
Okay, I've read your position, and I even understand it.  I hope you'll 
give me the common courtesy of reading mine:

At 05:39 PM 3/3/00 -0500, Ray Yon wrote:

> One little rant about the list service, if you are going to respond and
> answer "It's in the knowledge base", please don't waste my time or yours.

If answers are a few lines or so, and they're readily at hand, either in my 
head, in my archives, in a book on my shelf or in a folder handy to my 
desk, I'm happy to type the answer in again.

But if the answers are long and complex, and take some research through 
files or books (or both) to make sure everything is exactly right, it might 
take a half-hour or more to come up with the gist of what's needed for an 
answer.

If the answer has been posted in recent memory (a few weeks at the most), 
or if the answer is well known and easily found, why should I or anyone 
take the time to research it again, to type it in again?  Why should I even 
take the time to find it for you?

Why should I inflict a few K of download time, disk storage and reading on 
people who take their linux seriously and have already gone over the 
answers?  Believe it or not, it's a lot of Ks before everyone on this list 
gets the message.  And believe it or not, a lot of us actually pay for the 
bandwidth we use to download the messages, for the time it takes to 
download them.

How do you ever expect to learn how to research the answers if you don't 
want to take the time?  Do you really expect that for the rest of your 
Linux career you'll just ask someone else to do the research for you?

You do, okay.  Then look at it from another angle:

My time, and the time of others on this list (including yours) is quite 
valuable.  If you need the answer and aren't interested in spending the 
time it takes to find it, then shouldn't you at least be willing to spend 
the money it takes to buy the time?  If I spend one hour a day answering 
posts on this list (some days I spend more, some days I spend liess), I've 
given up forever the opportunity to make us$75, which is my hourly rate.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind doing it.  But I do mind answering the 
same questions over and over again; the ones that have been asked 
yesterday, or last week, or last month.

Often I answer them anyway, even though I mind, because I understand the 
frustration of the person asking the question.  That's when I usually get 
just a little upset with myself for being the patsy, and that's when I say 
"read the archives" or "it's in the knowledge base".

I suppose you could say I'm self-centered and selfish.  Perhaps if you do, 
others will agree with you.  To those of you who say that, I recommend you 
join two lists; they are the very antithesis of each other.

First I'd suggest you read the majordomo users list 
<majordomo-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, which has replies set to individuals 
because it's owners and subscribers don't want to waste time reading things 
they already know.  People often ask the same questions over and over 
again, and if the information is in the Majordomo FAQ, or the list 
archives, in general people don't even bother to answer.  So the same 
question gets asked over and over again, and no answers are even 
posted.  It's a majordomo list, and if you don't know how to subscribe, I 
suppose you can always "find it in the knowledge base" <wry grin>, or just 
try sending an email to <majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> with the words 
"subscribe majordomo-users" (without the quotes) in the body of your email.

The second I'd suggest would be <list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; it's an extremely 
active list, often much more active than this one (though not within the 
past week).  It's got such topics as how to program a router, how to find 
the best routes between two points, which is the best provider for OC-3 
lines, where to best peer, which car you should buy with your newfound 
wealth, and the joys of sushi.  Nothing is off-topic once you've been 
accepted in the circle, and the list is always an enjoyable hour (or more) 
a day.  It, too, is a majordomo list; to learn how to subscribe, you can 
either "find it in the knowledge base" (there I go again <grin>), or just 
try sending an email to <majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> with the words 
"subscribe list" (again, without the quotes) in the body of your email.


After immersing yourself into these two very different lists for a month or 
two or three, one of three things will happen:

Either you'll decide you like sparse lists like majordomo-users, and find 
more lists like it to suit your needs.

Or you'll decide you like verbose lists, with lots of friendly comraderie 
and enjoyable fellowship with some of the really important (rather than 
self-important) people in the industry, and you'll find more lists like it 
to suit your needs.

Or you'll realize just how diverse this community of ours is, and how much 
you can learn by just reading (often for hours on end), memorizing, 
printing out, filing and storing and yes, even trying out for yourself, the 
information available if you're only willing to go and look for it.

If you decide you want to really learn how to learn, rather than just 
asking people for information (and yes I know how busy you are; do you have 
any idea how busy the rest of us are?), I suggest you point your browser at 
<http://www.isp-lists.com/>.  There you'll find 56 Email Discussion Lists & 
Digests, 13 Moderated Discussion Lists, and 8 Targeted Announcement 
Lists.  The site was created by "Sparky" Christopher Knight, magazine 
columnist and definitely one of the really important Internet people.  It's 
now owned by Internet.Com; and as it says right on their home page:

The ISP-Lists make it easy for busy professionals to manage their
ISP resources. Select from a variety of pertinent business and
technical discussions or digests, time-saving moderated discussion
lists, or targeted email announcements from venders and industry
leaders.

I've learned an awful lot from his lists, and I imagine you will, too.

> I
> don't know enough about Linux to even know what I am looking for in the
> knowledge base.

If this is your chosen career path, it's time to learn.

> Believe me, I try to find the information before sending a
> msg to the list.

I do believe you.  I'm dancing as fast as I can.
[/saturday-morning-rant]

Boy that felt so good I may do it every Saturday <smile>.

Jeff

--
Jeff Lasman <jblists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>