I am of the opinion that your statement would be an unnecessary addition to
the FAQ. The sentiments you express are exactly those of the most helpful
posters in the newsgroup. If you want to see a newsgroup where they are not,
try any of the USENET C or C-variations newsgroups.
I rarely see helpful participants here be anything but polite in requesting
clarification so they can help. I often see those asking for help get very
antagonistic when they are asked to clarify -- apparently thinking that
"something went wrong somewhere, fix it for me, d**n you" ought to be enough
detail; if a few normally-helpful participants take exception to such a
response, I can understand why. It is not a matter of posts that aren't well
researched, or aren't well constructed, it is a matter of posts that just
don't contain enough information to specify what the problem is in
sufficient detail so we can help.
I also see nothing wrong with referring posters to the FAQ which encourages
research, or directing them to Google when a subject has already been
discussed many times and the answers haven't changed. My assumption in such
cases is that the person posting the question is not aware of the sources of
information suggested or that they could have Googled on particular keywords
and found previous discussions.
Except for the fact that it is quite condescending to those who invest lots
of time and effort in keeping the newsgroup going, and already do everything
that is asked, there's nothing wrong with the post. Except perhaps the
futile hope that every person who answers a question here will read it, take
it to heart, and be bound by it. In any sufficiently large group of people,
there will be some who are not easy to get along with.
Larry Linson
<sa****@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:11**********************@g14g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
It would be great if we could all suggest variations of this caluse
that we feel is reasonable to be included in the newsgroup FAQ.
Hopefully we can come up with a version that we all, including the
silent majority, feel leads to improving out collective experiences in
this newsgroup.
Thanks for your participation.
"to existing members of the group: please understand that for every
expert in a field, there are many new comers who will need direction
and help to get started. Please encourage new-comers by being tolerant
of all questions, even if not well-researched, or well-phrased. These
qualities cannot be expected of someone lacking the necessary
coordination in a given field, and without our intial help, we will
only delay these new-comers' progress in getting the necessary skills
to become productive memebers of this group. If you don't feel like
answering a post because it is not well researched, or well
constructed, please ignore the post."