On Sun, 14 Mar 2010 16:33:36 -0400, "Gaston Gagnon" said:

> Yes but that is no fun. Give the ignorant what he deserves for asking 
> low level favours to highly skilled hackers. And put an emphasis on the 
> "F" part, it is more effective. If you do well 1) he will be ban for 
> lack of respect by answering back of  2) he will join the 19x0 quiet 
> members of the piclist and not bother anymore or 3) he will go away for 
> good "et bon debarras".
> Mission accomplished

Hi Gaston,

We tried to make the best choice, and "fun" wasn't one of the criteria
we were trying to achieve.

We did make a few assumptions, one is that newbies can be clueless but
should not be declared hopeless if they ask how many pins a 10F200 has.

We also observed that "RTFM" really does incite certain people. For some
people there are words that escalate bad situations.

If someone asks "how many pins does a 10F200 have", different people
will have different reactions:
1. The majority will ignore him.
2. Some will tell him that question is wasting the piclist's time.
3. Some will answer his question.
4. Some will send him a private email.
5. Some will complain to piclist-owner@mit.edu
6. ???

Within reason, any of these is appropriate. You seem to be favoring #2. 

What we are saying is that "RTFM" by itself can lead to a flamewar
including one that involves more than just two people, and it also
wastes the resource of the piclist. Nobody comes off looking good.

If you choose #2, you must do it in a way that does not belittle or
bully the questioner, and also combines #3. You must give some other
value in your answer. You also need to do it in a way that doesn't cause
other people to rise up in his defense, because that really is a waste
of the piclist's time.

All that being said, we admins are pretty involved right now, so you
needn't take it upon yourself to try to correct other people's behavior.

If a newbie posts five stupid questions in one hour, or if it's a
longtime user that is bothering you, then please complain in an email to
piclist-owner. We've seen every possible squabble, let us screw it up
for you! Everybody hates us already :)

Cheerful regards,

Bob


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