From: mert0407 AT sable DOT ox DOT ac DOT uk (George Foot)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject: Re: The DJGPP Oracle
Date: Thu, 14 Aug 1997 23:29:09 GMT
Organization: [posted via] Easynet Group PLC
Lines: 37
Message-ID: <33f37ca0.48373528@news.easynet.co.uk>
References: <Pine DOT SUN DOT 3 DOT 91 DOT 970813131624 DOT 4132F-100000 AT is> <19970813200900 DOT QAA21426 AT ladder02 DOT news DOT aol DOT com> <5stghq$i43$1 AT vnetnews DOT value DOT net> <33F31847 DOT 4B4440D2 AT alcyone DOT com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: foot.easynet.co.uk
To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
DJ-Gateway: from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Precedence: bulk

On Thu, 14 Aug 1997 07:37:59 -0700, Erik Max Francis <max AT alcyone DOT com>
wrote:

>M. Schulter wrote:
>
>> Of course, reading the docs is only the starting point. People can miss
>> details, misunderstand things, or fail to realize that a problem they
>> perceive in one way is really synonymous with an issue covered in the
>> FAQ
>> or other DJGPP documentation under a different name.
>
>I make a distinction between someone who has looked at the README and the
>FAQ and still doesn't understand (for whatever reason), and those that
>haven't even bothered looking and want me to find the passage in the FAQ
>for them.

Yes; I think it's helpful to answer courteously nonetheless. For
example, rather than saying `This is explained in section X.Y of the
FAQ' and giving a short description, perhaps it's better to say
`Search the FAQ [contents/index] for "zzzzzzz" and you'll find your
answer'. I don't know, though; it seems more sociable (to the asker)
to give the exact reference.

Of course, saying that it's explained in section X of the FAQ (not
giving the subsection number) would force the reader to look through
the contents page, thus possibly seeing answers to many more questions
they would otherwise have asked the next day.

Perhaps a web-based version of this Oracle would be most effective at
guiding FAQs away from the group; I don't think people really look at
what they've installed on their hard drive. Then again, I wonder how
many newbies here have bothered to read the DJGPP User's Guide; though
incomplete, it is instructive and might be more what they're looking
for in terms of documentation, rather than the lasagne-code FAQ :)

-- 
george DOT foot AT merton DOT oxford DOT ac DOT uk