Last but not the least advocacy is a part of the culture and not the only motive of this group. We are not missionaries trying to spread any kind of religion but trying to have fun and help others in this process.
I would say that all of us have gained something from the community. in terms of skills, in terms of technical help, in terms of software that we can use - "freely"
I have a feeling that we have to give something back to the community. i am incapable of giving it back in terms of code, thus i give it back by spreading the word across. Thus for me, I have a specific goal wrt. FLOSS ie. increase the user base.
I feel obliged to be newbie friendly thus. others may have a different opinion, with due respects...
Since we clearly have two catagories of people regardign their opinion about being newbie friendly, why dont we have two seprate lists.
1. the newbie lists - the person who joins this list is expected to be tolerant enuff to entertain all types of stupid sounding questions form newbies. this shall be a lil less strict.
2. the general list - this list is used as a regular collaboration medium for the gnu/linux community in and around bombay.
This way the posting of theselists can come to two diff folders in your inbox, and u can assign a time of the day(say15 mins in a good mood) to answering newbies. whereas your regular collaboration with your gnu/linux mates stays undisturbed from the crap of a few newbies.
whats say? gurpreet ------------------------------------ GNUrpreet Singh MPIT 1 (Nw specialization) Symbiosis Center for IT www.scit.edu
On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 04:08:54 -0600, gnurpreet@softhome.net gnurpreet@softhome.net wrote:
Last but not the least advocacy is a part of the culture and not the only motive of this group. We are not missionaries trying to spread any kind of religion but trying to have fun and help others in this process.
I have a feeling that we have to give something back to the community. i am incapable of giving it back in terms of code, thus i give it back by spreading the word across. Thus for me, I have a specific goal wrt. FLOSS ie. increase the user base. I feel obliged to be newbie friendly thus. others may have a different opinion, with due respects...
Being newbie-freindly does not necessarily mean spoon feeding. Spoonfeeding is bad. as the chinese proverb goes : <quote> Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he'll eat forever. </quote> This is the difference most do not understand. This is not just a technical support list. That difference needs to be understood. No one is paid on this list to support newbies. Everyone will welcome newbies to this culture but they need to understand the rules. Just as when you need to drive on the roads you need to know the rules. (it is another matter how people drive on the roads). Just as drinking and driving is looked down upon in society so is asking question without trying to help yourself. It isn't too difficult to search google is it ??
<reference> How To Ask Questions The Smart Way http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html </reference>
Since we clearly have two catagories of people regardign their opinion about being newbie friendly, why dont we have two seprate lists.
- the newbie lists - the person who joins this list is expected to be
tolerant enuff to entertain all types of stupid sounding questions form newbies. this shall be a lil less strict. 2. the general list - this list is used as a regular collaboration medium for the gnu/linux community in and around bombay.
This question has come up earlier as well. Most of the people on this list are not in favour of splitting the list. Also how does a newbie know when he is good enough to be on the general list ?? How are you going to categorise the users of the list ?? Splitting the list will only complicate matters and not solve them.
whats say?
I hope this is not the start of another flame war. I am getting a sense of deja vu after seeing your mail.
gurpreet
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gnurpreet＠softhome.net -
Vinayak Hegde