Re: Disappointment at attitude

[jeremy@xxxxxxxxx (Jeremy H. Griffith)]

On Sun, 5 Mar 2000 07:47:48 -0700 (MST), Dan Emory <danemory@primenet.com> wrote:

>No one is suggesting anything more than offering newbies a start-up kit and
>asking them to use it. 

I'd certainly like to see the start-up kit.  You'd think it would be
part of the Adobe docs, but we all know better.  And the FAQ is very,
very old and hard to find.  We have had a few initiatives here lately
to create a new FAQ and maintain it, and I'm sure both list-admins
would be delighted to host it.  Until such a FAQ is complete and on-line,
though, it's quite senseless to criticize anyone for not using 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.

Well, this list admin doesn't think it is his place to "warn" anybody
about FrameMaker questions they post to the list!  My only warnings so
far have been to those who persist in personal attacks on-list, which
are a violation of Net rules not to speak of common courtesy.  And that's
how it will remain.  No question, however ill-informed, is forbidden.

>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.

Straw man, and a poor one at that.  The analogy just doesn't hold.  We
don't have sit-down presentations here, with everyone arriving at once
and hearing the same thing.  It's more like a marketplace, with a constant
flow of buyers and sellers coming and going.  So you heard someone hawking
apples a few minutes ago, and your neighbor who just got there asks where
the apples are...  Do you berate him for missing the announcement?  Isn't
it better just to tell him, "Over there..."?  Even if there's a billboard
with a map of what's where smack in front of you, point it out politely.
This comes up on other technical lists all the time, and the few "gurus"
who are nasty to a newbie promptly get corrected... by their peers.

We've all been newbies.  We all came here naked and helpless.  Let's
not forget that simple fact of life.  Ever.

-- Jeremy H. Griffith, at Omni Systems Inc.
   (jeremy@omsys.com)     http://www.omsys.com/
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