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in reply to PerlMonks as Ambassadors

While I think the ideas are good, one of the problems that we get here, that was recently mentioned in the thread about Newsgroups, etc, is that there are newbies that do not want to do the 'homework' that reasonably ought to be done before posting their question; they want *a solution* (not just an answer, the difference between like giving a hungry man fish, and teaching a hungry man how to fish) within a few minutes time. One solution that I've mentioned is to disallow the posting by new users for at least 3 days; this would prevent PM from being bogged down by those that want the fast answer and don't want to further work with the community (Anyone have any good stats on how many level 1 accounts are still active?) But this solution will fail as long as there is the Anon. Monk, and I don't believe it's wise to get rid of that. One similar solution is that if you are posting as AM, you are informed that your root-level post will not be visible to the bulk of the users for 24 hrs, and program this in specifically; again, this might drive off those looking for *a solution* inside of an answer.

Sure, there are things that we can do without any modification of the engine by vroom, but there's only so much that we can do in this case, many of the above suggestions are good. But again, I think it does come down to a bit of frustration seeing questions that are clearly marked in the man pages or FAQs asked over and over without indication that they even tried. (two nights ago in the CB, there was discussion of a Tutorial of How to RTFM. This really doesn't sound like a bad idea in this case...)


Dr. Michael K. Neylon - mneylon-pm@masemware.com || "You've left the lens cap of your mind on again, Pinky" - The Brain

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Re: Re: PerlMonks as Ambassadors
by Albannach (Monsignor) on Apr 21, 2001 at 01:57 UTC
    A tutorial on how to RTFM? That's a joke right (no offense meant)? The problem isn't so much a lack of documentation here, it's either a lack of willingness to help oneself (you point of wanting a solution is spot on! Are we being too stuck-up in thinking that people should know how to do things? I don't think so but...), or possibly ignorance. The first we can't help, so we can either tolerate it or think up schemes to prevent it (such as preventing the Anonymous Monk from posting but I certainly don't support that either). Your idea of a cooling off period is intriguing however.

    The second we might be able to work on by making the posting instructions as clear and helpful as possible. There must be something missing in interpretation when so many posters don't even know about code tags, or wonder why the preview looks awful. Unfortunately I don't know what it is. In any case this topic will keep coming back until it is resolved, so it does deserve some creative thinking.

    Update: Thanks for the clarification Masem, but I had pretty much figured something like that. Though I was being a tad flippant, my point is that people are reading very little now, and adding something else to read is not likely to help much. I think what you describe would be useful to many, just not those that we're apt to get most frustrated with.

    --
    I'd like to be able to assign to an luser

      The proposed tutorial on RTFM was not on how to read it, but how to use the existing perl documentation effectively, including man, perldoc, using sites like perldoc.com, perl.com, as well as the perl docs here. This includes understanding how perl documentation is broken down and where finding certain bits of info would be most likely.
      Dr. Michael K. Neylon - mneylon-pm@masemware.com || "You've left the lens cap of your mind on again, Pinky" - The Brain
      When I first started using computers I got on bulletin boards.
      There was one bulletin board that was modified so that new users could
      only access certain areas. This allowed me access to a test message group
      and to use the download area for downloading help files. This helped me from being red-faced.
      Other boards I went to before didn't offer this.
      So being new to computers and to bulletin boards I made LOTS of mistakes until I got on that one board.

      It was very helpful. Maybe this might not be a bad idea for perlmonks.
      I know that for the first three days here I read the docs specific to this site.
      Thank goodness it's offered not to mention visible as soon as you get to the site.
      That was very helpful and even though I still made some mistakes I didn't make huge blunders.

      I am looking right now at something that says Writeup Formatting Tips a quick read that was very helpful.

      Okay my point. Although I took some time when I just began to look at posts
      and see what was already being posted before I began.
      Others may not. A introductory period isn't a bad idea but something helpful should be offered.
      I just didn't want that forgotten.
      An intoductory period without something constructive could be worse in the long-run regarding reputation.

      "Lights, Camel, Action!"
      --Stump
      A Fierce Pancake(1988) *Charleton Heston*(track 8)