On Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 11:56 AM, Dinesh Joshi dinesh.a.joshi@gmail.com wrote:
So tell me. We're loud, tell you to RTFM, say we're-not-a-linux-help-channel. Then why do you come into our mailing list, advertise yourselves, ask to help you guys out. You do realize that the same people, with their same habits, are going to probably do the same thing. This is how the whole community is. We're diverse, we're loud, we tell you to RTFM and we will flame and ridicule n00bs who won't try to help themselves and ask dumb questions. This is how our community in-general behaves. You have a problem with it? Make your own community. Spread your "philosophy" through talks, conferences. Don't bother coming into a mailing list where you know people like us live and pick a fight. This is what you did. Your fault.
I notice you used the word "We" all over the above para. s/We/I/. FYI, this is a FOSS help channel in a way -- not a conventional help desk but a _voluntary_ help. You must have seen multiple posts where people like Kartik, Rony, jtd, Kenneth, etc. have helped people on-list with answers to their queries. You too have done that on some occasions.
What people here do not generally tolerate is people asking questions without any prior effort (the please do my homework kinds). I think it was suggested once before (dig into the mailing list for it) that instead of flaming someone for asking such questions, we could simply ignore them or point out to them politely that they ought to put in some effort on their own with google/irc/list archives before they post this.
The key word is polite.