Re: Call me grumpy, but....
From: Andrew Pearson <apearson@pt.lu> > >"Carlson@WHSmith" wrote: > > ><a lot of stuff including various quotes from other messages> > > > > That should be the point of newsgroup discussions, especially here at > > cdi. I came aboard quite a bit ago and have learned a lot, not to > > mention sharing a feeling of camaraderie with other like-minded Informix > > DBAs from all over the globe. I'd like to think that I have something > > to offer others as well. > >You certainly have Mr. Carlson, you have indeed. I'm in the >process of trying to persuade me colleagues to organise an >Informix upgrade (from 7.23) and to choose between 7.31 or >9.nn... your recent postings on that subject were really very helpful. > >As always, Art's advice was salutary. To get back to the original question. While I appreciate all the comments that have been made, I will respectfully beg to differ from Art, et al. on the issue of RTFMs. As far as I'm concerned, this newsgroup is not called comp.databases.informix.predigested.for.lazy.people (people being the politest term I could use.) I am more than happy to help someone who can't understand things in (or out of) the manuals, or who says "I have looked here and here and I can't find something", but I really get narked at people who make no effort on their part and then expect us to read the manuals for them and spoonfeed it to them. *I* learn stuff here all the time, too. Hell, sometimes I even learn RTFM questions myself. But I get tired of answering questions that are clearly in the manuals and in the table of contents or index. Repeatedly. That's just laziness, and a waste of bandwidth and effort on our part. :-( ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
"Obnoxio The Clown" <obnoxio@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:8js9vh$2m7$1@news.xmission.com... <snipped> > To get back to the original question. While I appreciate all the comments > that have been made, I will respectfully beg to differ from Art, et al. on > the issue of RTFMs. As far as I'm concerned, this newsgroup is not called > comp.databases.informix.predigested.for.lazy.people (people being the > politest term I could use.) <snipped> I agreed with your (Mr. Clown) first comments that it seems there are more "what do I do now" questions. If I have not even tried to run the install/open a book/mounted a CD I DO NOT expect someone to do it for me! I believe the "teach a wo(man) to fish" policy is good for all. Before posting a question I fire up Deja(News) and try to find anything related to my problem (then sco/ta, then informix.com BEFORE I post a question. I try to provide all the details that will be helpful for the "smart" people that have helped me in the past (and future) so as not to waste their time! Thanks to all of you that have helped me in the past! Steve -- ------------------------------------------------- Steven L Cooper Manager, Systems Engineering -------------------------------------------------
Obnoxio The Clown wrote: > > From: Andrew Pearson <apearson@pt.lu> > > > >"Carlson@WHSmith" wrote: > > > > ><a lot of stuff including various quotes from other messages> > > > > > > That should be the point of newsgroup discussions, especially here at > > > cdi. I came aboard quite a bit ago and have learned a lot, not to > > > mention sharing a feeling of camaraderie with other like-minded Informix > > > DBAs from all over the globe. I'd like to think that I have something > > > to offer others as well. > > > >You certainly have Mr. Carlson, you have indeed. I'm in the > >process of trying to persuade me colleagues to organise an > >Informix upgrade (from 7.23) and to choose between 7.31 or > >9.nn... your recent postings on that subject were really very helpful. > > > >As always, Art's advice was salutary. > > To get back to the original question. While I appreciate all the comments > that have been made, I will respectfully beg to differ from Art, et al. on > the issue of RTFMs. As far as I'm concerned, this newsgroup is not called > comp.databases.informix.predigested.for.lazy.people (people being the > politest term I could use.) > > I am more than happy to help someone who can't understand things in (or out > of) the manuals, or who says "I have looked here and here and I can't find > something", but I really get narked at people who make no effort on their > part and then expect us to read the manuals for them and spoonfeed it to > them. > > *I* learn stuff here all the time, too. Hell, sometimes I even learn RTFM > questions myself. But I get tired of answering questions that are clearly in > the manuals and in the table of contents or index. Repeatedly. That's just > laziness, and a waste of bandwidth and effort on our part. :-( You are right but just saying RTFM is not helpful. Often the questioner is a newbie who HAS RTFM'd and did not find it or pored<SP?> through a few manuals for several hours but was looking in the wrong place. At the very least we should be willing to say: Look in the Guide to SQL, Tutorial or Look in the Performance Guide, etc. Art S. Kagel