[Samba] !!ATTENTION NEWBIES!!

[Robert Adkins II]

< start sarcasm >

HI,

	My name is ANGRY MAILING LIST GUY. I am here to tell you that I
don't appreciate seeing questions that are easily found within the basic
documentation for the somewhat to extremely complex service that you
wish to install on your server. 

	I find it terribly taxing to have to deal with regular questions
from what I consider "newbs" because my level of skill is so much higher
then the rest of you. It doesn't matter that most of those questions
come from people that speak English as a second or even third language,
which means they might have some difficulty in understanding what I
consider standard formatted sentences and manual pages.

	Furthermore, just because a great deal of the available online
documentation is out of date, there is no reason why you plebeians
shouldn't be able to infer how some the sections are configured in newer
versions, even if those sections RADICALLY change how they are
configured. 

	I have had a bad day, so I am going to make sure that the rest
of you all pay for me being in a bad mood.

< end sarcasm >

	Personally, that is how I read the original poster's mailing. I
have been reading this mailing list myself for a few months. While I can
agree that there are many times when similar questions are posted, I
have to vehemently disagree that they are "useless" questions. 

	There has been more then one time when I have assisted someone,
in a far off land, that may have had some serious issues in
understanding the way that the manuals were written. Is it their fault
that the structure of their native language is different then that of
mine? It is no more their fault then it is my own fault for speaking
differing languages. 

	Also, is it their fault that some, if not a great deal of the
available online documentation could be out of date? For instance, I
recently asked about how to make a Samba BDC from a Samba PDC. Using the
online documentation that came with SWAT, I NEVER would have been able
to get it to work. The reason was simple, that function had changed file
formats and the method of getting the SID had changed as well.

	If "newbs" tend to ask the same questions over and over and you
don't like to see what they wrote, delete it. You don't have to respond
and it's not that big of a deal to take a second to read something that
you have no intention of responding positively to.

	You can also do what I do. Nicely answer the question and then
point out a few pieces of material that could assist that "newb" in
expanding their knowledge to a level closer to those of us who were once
"newbs" ourselves. You may make more friends, gain respect and also flex
the "muscles" within your own mind going over the little things that you
might not have looked at in a little while.


Regards,
Robert Adkins II
IT Manager/Buyer
Impel Industries, Inc.
586-254-5800


-----Original Message-----
From: samba-bounces+radkins=impelind.com at lists.samba.org
[mailto:samba-bounces+radkins=impelind.com at lists.samba.org] On Behalf Of
Chris de Vidal
Sent: Thursday, February 13, 2003 3:09 PM
To: samba at lists.samba.org
Subject: [Samba] !!ATTENTION NEWBIES!!

I've been reading this list for a few weeks now and
I've given advice on questions that look challenging
but I've deleted MANY questions like these:

"How do I (easy question found in the documents)?"

Though I don't count myself an expert, I've known
enough experts to see that they _HATE_ it when you
don't invest some time before asking a question.  I
too have been guilty of it, but I understand when I'm
shot down or ignored.

READ the manpages (man smb.conf, smbclient, etc.),
/usr/share/doc/samba*, SEARCH the web (Google is your
friend), SEARCH this mailing list
(marc.theaimsgroup.com), READ the Samba website (I
spend alot of time in the Documentation page), SEARCH
your distro's website (e.g. RedHat.com has a GREAT
docs section with Samba stuff in it), or READ one of
the many fine books.  I learned a TON from "Teach
Yourself Samba in 24 Hours" but a possibly better
book, "Using Samba 2" from O'Reilly is out this month.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do your homework before asking,
else your question will get ignored and you'll burn
out the experts, whose time is better spent improving
Samba than answering simple questions.

/dev/idal

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