Re: Linux user interested in *BSD

From: james hal-pc.org (at)
Date: 12/09/03 

Date: Tue, 09 Dec 2003 16:13:17 -0600

Steve O'Hara-Smith wrote:
> On Tue, 09 Dec 2003 10:53:09 -0600
> "james <at> hal-pc.org" <"james <at> hal-pc.org"> wrote:
>
> J> just a note on an observation...
> J> why does a simple question have to be responded to with a smartass
> J> answer? if it's not "RTFM", then it's "read
> J> http://xxx.xxx/dip***.html".
>
> Would you prefer to see the contents of a man page or web site
> reiterated with random mistakes with corrections and fresh mistakes in
> followups instead of a simple reference enabling you to find complete and
> correct information.
>
> One of the biggest problems with UNIX documentation is knowing
> which man page(s) to read for a given problem, experience helps a lot.
> Another problem is comprehending the man pages, but with any luck a pointer
> to the right man page will enable the confused user to ask more specific
> questions (and get answers).
>

i understand and agree with the "give a man a fish and feed him for a
day; teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime" bit, but not
everything can be solved by looking at a man page or web site. there
are a lot of things that are not documented very well as you said and
when someone asks for a group's opinion on a subject they should not be
replied to with a link or suggestions to seek that information from a
web site.
i know from looking through the man page for BIND that there is no way
that i would have been able to setup my DNS server without having an
example to go by. but all this aside the original question was for an
opinion, not assistance with something that could be found in any
handbook or other documentation. 

-- 
- - J A M E S - - P O O L - -
    < james AT hal-pc.org >
This is your brain:
	LILO...
This is your brain on drugs:
	Starting Windows 95 ...
Any questions?"
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