[aclug-L] Re: RTFM

[Carl D Cravens <raven@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, 15 Apr 2000, bert wrote:

> Read The Fantastic Manual . . . 
> 
> earlier today i read that RTFM is "the key to learning."
> i can't concur, as it is only one of the keys to learning.
> some people are kinesthetic learners, others are visual
> while still others are auditory learners. learning happens
> in many ways, shapes, and forms. some of us even learn
> from experience.

RTFM = use available resources to answer your question before bothering
live people, whether that is a man page, FAQ, mailing list archive or
whatever.  If there's a video, that's still an FM. (Fine Manual, BTW :)

The bottom line is, people have made an attempt to make answers to common
questions available to *avoid* having to answer those questions over and
over.  To bypass the FM (when you know it's available and don't even
bother to look at it) and ask that question is ignorant at best and rude
at worst.  Just because one might be an auditory learner doesn't mean one
can't read a simple FAQ to see if the desired answer is there.  

You left out an important learning type... the spoon-fed learner. 

> linux, and its various forms and flavors, doesn't necessarily have a
> FM.

If it doesn't have an FM, you can't be reasonably told to RTFM.  You get
told to RTFM when it's known that there's an FM and you obviously haven't
read it.  Some who don't know about your particular flavor might assume
that there's a manual that answers your question, and usually he'll be
right... but sometimes he'll be wrong.  That's why one should indicate
that one has RTFM'd or cannot locate a FM when asking questions... don't
leave things to be assumed. 

If someone says RTFM in the tone of "go away boy, ya bother me," that's
plain rude as well.  But not everyone is like that and there are far more
cases of valid RTFM's than not in my experience. 

> the structures of these flavors doesn't always transfer from one
> distro to another. the neapolitan flavor hasn't reached the market
> yet. one still gets only one kernel.

Which is exactly the way it ought to be.  Distro fragmentation is enough
of a problem, we don't need kernel fragmentation.  
 
> comprehend the fantastic manual would seem to be
> better advice, in most instances. and, again, in most
> instances, one needs a mentor or instuctor to help
> the apprentice along -- to comprehend -- to reach the
> desired goal. of course, an apprenticeship or even
> residency is accomplished in tiers or levels and these
> do take time.

No problem.  But I'm not going to mentor you if you can't take the time to
RTFM.  
 
> since aclug is a linux users group, all the distros
> of linux should be embraced rather than pooh-poohing
> one version and simply saying RTFM or read the man
> pages or i don't use that, so i can't or don't want
> to help.

If nobody has an answer, nobody has an answer.  You can only ask
volunteers to go so far out of their way to help, and you can't make them
answer questions they don't know the answers to.  Nobody's obligated to
help... they do it out of a desire, not a duty. 

If it's not a distro-specific question, don't mention your distro.  If it
is a distro-specific question, accept that nobody your asking may have the
answer.  And for what it's worth, I've seen the Debian power-geeks in
ACLUG answering questions about other distros.  
 
I'm not a distro snob, but I've used nothing but Debian when it comes to
Linux.  I couldn't tell you the first thing about the differences between
Debian and even the other major distros like Red Hat.  I started using
Debian based on several recommendations for a reliable Linux for an
experienced Unix admin and have never had a need to try anything else.  
(One doesn't experiment with different distros when running a 24/7 server
that's not gone down in over a year for distro-related reasons.)

--
Carl D Cravens (raven@xxxxxxxxxxx)
You can tell the nature of a man by the words he chooses.
   -Dr. Ed Cole


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