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Date: Thu, 23 May 2002 10:10:42 -0400
To: "John Vincent" <jpv50 AT hotmail DOT com>, cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
From: "Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc)" <lhall AT rfk DOT com>
Subject: Re: Plea regarding sarcastic comments
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At 08:50 AM 5/23/2002, John Vincent wrote:
>Please,
>
>I know it can be very tempting to make sarcastic comments
>about people who ask questions in this list when the answer
>is freely available elsewhere, but please remember that now
>cygwin is getting more popular, many of the people using it
>do not have English as a first language, and so do not always
>understand everything on the web pages. I know that this list
>should be limited to sensible questions, but if you can't
>answer someone's query, it's best not to post a reply at all
>(In my opinion).


Unfortunately, not responding at all can lead to the original 
poster re-posting.  For some reason, there are some on this list
that insist on getting some response to their query and will keep 
posting until they do.  So simply not responding to posts is not
a clear option either.  However, your point is taken.  While I see
no problem with responses that point the poster to other sources of
information (i.e. FAQ, email archives, etc.), it makes sense to make
any such response as clear as possible.  It just cuts down on general
confusion.  However, I would point out that if the poster has already
checked these common repositories of information, the burden is on 
him/her to let the list know that when they ask for information/help.
With very specific information on the source of the poster's problem, 
the more specific the response can be.  Otherwise, the only logical 
response is to point to pertinent sources of existing information which
really cannot be posted here in their entirety with every request.  So 
good questions makes for good responses.  For anyone unclear on what
constitutes a good question, see:

http://cygwin.com/lists.html 


It behooves posters to do their homework before posting.  That doesn't
mean that posters *must* do that.  Anyone can send any kind of email to 
this list for any reason.  However, not doing ones homework may result
in a bit of sarcasm in the response.  But maybe those occurrences need to 
be clearly marked. ;-)


Larry Hall                              lhall AT rfk DOT com
RFK Partners, Inc.                      http://www.rfk.com
838 Washington Street                   (508) 893-9779 - RFK Office
Holliston, MA 01746                     (508) 893-9889 - FAX


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