[Samba] !!ATTENTION NEWBIES!!

[Neal Lawson]

Well, i dont , feel that the newbies comment was in the spirit of  the 
open source, This  list is here to help people, and if  sombody is 
asking a question, its part of the opensource comunity's responsibilty 
to try to help


Robert Adkins II wrote:

>< 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documentation is out of date, there is no reason why you plebeians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available online documentation could be out of date?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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>  
>