Possible Solutions: Was Disappointment at attitude

[Dick Gaskill <dgaskill@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Framers,

First, kudos to Stuart Burnfield for the great posts and a solid, positive 
approach to the problem.  Great posts, Stuart.

Second, I'd like to add another suggestion that might make it easier for 
new subscribers to get started and take some of the newbie questions off 
the list at the same time.

Perhaps Brad could add a few URLs (like Stuart sent out earlier today) to 
the list instructions that are automatically sent out to every new 
subscriber.    The section could be labeled "Information for New 
Subscribers", or "Getting Started with Framers", or  maybe even "Please 
Read Before Sending Messages to the List".

Comments?  Brad, what do you think?

Thanks,

Dick

-----Original Message-----
From:	Stuart Burnfield [SMTP:stuartb@tpg.com.au]
Sent:	Sunday, March 05, 2000 7:17 PM
To:	framers@frameusers.com
Cc:	Framers; Framers@Omsys. Com
Subject:	RE: Disappointment at attitude

Hi Jerilynne -

> 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.

Just a suggestion: maybe you could first send your students not to the
list, but to the archives. As an exercise you could get them to research
the answer to a typical question, such as:
- how can I list all the imported graphics in a book?
- how can I all paragraphs called 'Heading 1' to 'Heading1'?
- how can I return to the previous page after following a hyperlink?

What they should learn from this (apart from the answers to the
questions, one would hope!) is:
- there are several archives and other places to look for information
  about FrameMaker. Each has a different search engine and may be
  suitable for different sorts of query
- thousands of questions and answers appear on framers each year
- there's more than one right answer to most questions
- ... but that doesn't mean that every answer people give you is correct
- often the answer depends on the FM version and OS, therefore...?
- people love to help and they love a tough question, but are more
  inclined to answer your particular question if they can see you've
  first tried to find the answer yourself because you've provided
  the relevant background information

Once they've done this exercise, invite them to subscribe and tell them
to make that first question a good one.

Teach a framer to fish...

Regards
---
Stuart Burnfield
mailto:stuartb@tpg.com.au




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