> Implicit in this is the idea that "my time is more valuable/important
> than yours". That's obnoxious at best, even if it's true (and in Rick's
> case, I'm sure it is). The very idea of, "You're wasting my time" has
> the same ring to it. Other people don't waste your time. _You_ waste
> your own time by communicating with them, if you want to look at it that
> way. Rather than flaming someone for "wasting" your time, consider that
> _you've_ made a mistake by spending your "valuable" time on them. Learn
> a lesson from it, and in the future, don't "waste" your time that way.
>
> Yes, of course, people like Rick have limited time, and a lot of
> technical talent. So they have to ration it. I simply object to being
> rude to newbies or the clueless, simply because they haven't figured out
> how things work yet.
>
I dislike rudeness, but there is the intent a greater benefit to a well
placed "RTFM". The goal is not just to rebuke the poster for wasting
the respondents time (which, as you point out, would be less wasted if
no response were given). Ideally, the poster does R the F'ing M; now
and forever. The goal (lofty and unrealistic) is to teach the poster to
*always* R the F'ing M as the first step in any future difficulty.
>
> As time goes on, we're going to get more and more people who aren't
> familiar with R'ing the F'ing M. I think we need to gently and politely
> assist them. Those occupying the rarified heights of uberhackerdom
> (where manners appear to be optional), are invited to ignore such
> threads.
>
Hopefully, these people will be asking questions on the SLUG list, about
StarOffice. We cater to newbies (isn't that in our mission statement
somewhere?) If one of these people jumps onto the kernel mailing list
and asks questions about emacs (I use emacs as an example because vi is
self explanatory), the flamethrowers shall roar and the pungent odor of
roasted newbie shall waft on the digital breezes of the Internet.
--ronan
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