Re: FreeBSD-newbies group is a compromise community.

From: Johnson David (DavidJohnson_at_Siemens.com)
Date: 03/22/04

  • Next message: Ion-Mihai Tetcu: "Re: FreeBSD-newbies group is a compromise community." 
    To: "Kevin D. Kinsey, DaleCo, S.P." <kdk@daleco.biz>
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2004 11:41:03 -0800

    On Monday 22 March 2004 11:06 am, Kevin D. Kinsey, DaleCo, S.P. wrote:

    > Finally, is this something we might agree on?
    > Technical questions aren't permitted, but
    > "your experiences" are....
    >
    > Newbie A: "I'm having trouble with foomatic..."
    >
    > Newbie B: "I had trouble with foomatic, but by
    > changing the $bar variable in my $file, I was
    > able to overcome this difficulty."

    The problem is that setting the $bar variable in $file might be exact
    WRONG answer for the user in question. Newbies by their nature don't
    understand the fundamental concepts behind the answer, and will blindly
    perform the steps without question.

    For some questions, the wrong answer can be very harmful. The wrong
    instructions for setting up XFree86 can physically destroy some older
    monitors. Less obvious harm can result by opening up security holes in
    the system.

    As much as we want to be helpful to other people, newbies should never
    answer other newbie's technical questions. All technical answers should
    be coming from experts, and on a list where other experts can instantly
    jump in a correct any wrong answers.

    However, it is very appropriate to point newbies to sources of correct
    information. The handbook, FAQ, man pages, additional documentation,
    freebsddiary, onlamp, etc., are all good sources of information that
    the newbie might not know about. If you know that the answer is
    addressed specifically in one part of the FAQ, for example, simply
    provide a link to that section.

    David
    _______________________________________________
    freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org mailing list
    http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-newbies
    To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-newbies-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"

  • Next message: Ion-Mihai Tetcu: "Re: FreeBSD-newbies group is a compromise community."

    Relevant Pages

    • FreeBSD-newbies group is a compromise community.
      ... arrival to FreeBSD or Unix world think that they are coming to another new ... Many new comers are always thinking that their questions might be too easy ... I used to see a newbies group for Linux community ... I realize that FreeBSD-newbies is not for technical questions but it is just ...
      (freebsd-newbies)
    • SV: Creating multiple static IPs
      ... there seems to be some link on the FreeBSD site leading us newbies ... > And this is why technical questions should not be asked on the newbies ... To unsubscribe, ...
      (freebsd-newbies)
    • Re: FreeBSD-newbies group is a compromise community.
      ... Johnson David wrote: ... Newbies by their nature don't ... Less obvious harm can result by opening up security holes in ... > answer other newbie's technical questions. ...
      (freebsd-newbies)
    • Re: silent semantic changes with reiser4
      ... Rik van Riel wrote: ... There are quite a few technical questions ... send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in ... Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/ ...
      (Linux-Kernel)
    • Quantcast