>> http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
>>
>> Yes
>
> Did you read it all.?

Yes

Presumably you're refering to "How To Interpret Answers"

If so, that's the debate du jour

A new subscriber should be encouraged to read the section on posting,
and even, might I be so bold, asked to demonstrate what they've learned
from it. Including, for example and especially, how some responses come
about and how they would and should react. And be put on moderation
for a few posts. Consider it Boot Camp, or at least Basic Training. Now,
if they don't measure up, are they List material ? That's not being elitist.
I'm sure most people are using this list to advance their knowledge of
PICs and electronics, not as an exercise to see how many "Delete Unread"
filters they can amass or relate anecdotes about "this dick on my email
group...."

Now we come to the nub. If a subscriber has passed Boot Camp, and
been on initial moderation, they should hopefully post thoughtfully and
not attract "objectionable" responses

Despite the Boot Camp allusion, pimply young lads are not being prepared
to go over the top as machinegun fodder. PICList isn't a war zone. A little
training though will save a lot of confrontation down the track

Assuming that everyone on the list has passed through Boot Camp, and
the training wheels are now off, how should the list respond to a blunt
"Duh, how does the PIC's A2D work ?"

Most will see it as a very lazy question and ignore it
Some will be nice and indulge the lazy poster
A few will see indulging the lazy poster as encouraging laziness
A fewer few will hesitate not a moment and send a brusque "RTFM"

We all understand why "RTFM" responses happen. As I said earlier,
that should now include the poster. I understand why some people
consider RTFM rude and others don't. If you're the recipient, it's not
good reading and can give you quite a turn. Others empathise with
that feeling

So, IMVHO there should be

- an amnesty on moderated posters

- a restriction (ban, if you like) on personal epithets such as moron, idiot
etc (is "what you're proposing is moronic" tantamount to calling someone
a moron ? If it was said to me I'd probably take it that way)

- <PC> RTM instead of RTFM </PC> or similar polite / non-adversarial
pointing to a document

- some attempt at heading-off-at-the-pass by admins to stop lazy posts
getting to the list. Traffic is not too heavy, and that type of post is not
all that frequent. Lazy posters should be reminded of what they learned
in Boot Camp. However, if someone like me, who's been here man and
boy, asks a question lazy and dumb enough to deserve an RTM response,
I probably should get one and suck it up. The responders who reply with
RT(F)M are voicing their opinion of the poster with that RT(F)M

wbr, Joe

PS, just how DOES the PIC's A2D work ? ;-)

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