Re: Disappointment at attitude

[Dan Emory <danemory@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 07:56 AM 3/5/00 -0500, Jerilynne Sander wrote:
>Dear Friends
>
>I've been a newbie, I've screwed up stuff, I've apologized for making errors
>to this list. I've been reading with increasing dismay the way we should
>handle "newbie" questions.
>
>I routinely send my students here for a taste of the Framers community. And
>yes, they are bound to ask questions that have been asked before. They are
>bound to sound stupid, just like I'm sure I did when I first started using
>Frame (and probably *still* do at times).
>
>As a technical communicator, I also realize that the majority of people
>would rather be given an answer--most archives are just too darned difficult
>to wade through. As are most of the FAQs I've seen.
======================================================================
Perhaps you should have taught your students how to use a FAQ and to RTFM
before they send the equivalent of junk mail to several thousand people.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
>If we're going to add a bizillion rules to how posts are made, where are
>newbies to go? How are they to learn?
====================================================================
No one is suggesting anything more than offering newbies a start-up kit and
asking them to use it. At the most, I've suggested that people who make
posts requesting help on topics that are fully covered by a FAQ that is in
their hands be warned by the list administrator.

For an analogy, think of a live seminar with several thousand well-mannered
people listening to presentations. After each presentation, the meeting is
opened up for questions from the floor. Now, suppose one person keeps
getting up and asking questions that were answered fully during the
presentations. You'd hear shouts of Sit Down!, Pay Attention you jerk!, and
You're wasting our time! That's how some of us feel when we see the same
question asked two or three times within a single week. No one's suggesting
rigid rules for the list, but we are asking people who need help to use a
little self-discipline, and to avail themselves of the resources provided
them in a start-up kit before sending mail to several thousand people.
     ====================
     | Nullius in Verba |
     ====================
Dan Emory, Dan Emory & Associates
FrameMaker/FrameMaker+SGML Document Design & Database Publishing
Voice/Fax: 949-722-8971 E-Mail: danemory@primenet.com
10044 Adams Ave. #208, Huntington Beach, CA 92646
---Subscribe to the "Free Framers" list by sending a message to
   majordomo@omsys.com with "subscribe framers" (no quotes) in the body.


** To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@omsys.com **
** with "unsubscribe framers" (no quotes) in the body.   **