The SoapVox

So, today I found this interesting article in LinuxToday and thought that it was worth a reply.

Eric Raymond and the RTFM Jerks

Isn’t that an engaging header for an article? :) First of all, I don’t understand why ESR got dragged into this…his only mistake (if you can call it that) was writing a document called How To Ask Questions The Smart Way, which explains that exactly. In it, he gives a bunch of pointers into how to ask a question so you actually get an answer that fixes your problem (or tells you that there’s nothing else you can do to fix it).  My guess is that jastiv (the author of the originating post) got sent to that link and didn’t like it :)

He points out that we, the linux community, may be sending away people who can contribute by being mean and telling them to RTFM or pointing them at the smart questions article (ESR’s article). He also points to a couple of articles that talk about ESR and his qualifications (or lack thereof)…but neither of them talks one bit about the smart questions document…so…I have no clue what either of them has to do with the subject at hand, besides ESR-bashing.

Then jastiv goes on to say that “I think many of the people who say things like RTFM newbie do it out of a sense of inadequacy, because they really don’t know the answer to the question the newbie is asking and don’t want to admit it.”. Uhm…ok, he prephases his comment with “I think”, but…well, most of the linux-helping media I use (IRC, mailing lists and netwsgroups once in a while) tend to be “no answer = no know”, and leave the RTFMing to answer those questions that make no sense (”how can I fix my computer?”) or lack enough information to be a real question (”why doesn’t my soundcard work?”).

On the other hand, a lot of helpers go the extra mile to help if your question has at least *some* decent info (”I installed myfundistro linux and my audigy soundcard doesn’t work…how do I fix that?”). If you start with a mildly decent question, you’ll most probably hit paydirt and get some help…think of getting help as going to fish…you *have* to have a decent lure to catch a fish, even if they are in a barrell and haven’t been fed for days.

Yes, the people in the help channels on IRC and the help mailing lists like to help people…we actually *enjoy* knowing we’ve been able to help somebody…but I can assure you, as one of those that have spent a lot of time helping, that I like to help only people that invest in getting that help.

There are two ways you can get my interest in helping you:

• You can invest time and effort into helping me help you. Read a bit, ask a question that lets me know what’s really going on, answer me honestly when I ask you a question (”no, I didn’t install anything new” “are you sure?” an hour later “I have only seen that happen when you install X version of Y program from source in this particular distro” “uhm..yes, I installed that yesterday, but it has nothing to do with my problem!”) and, most importantly, *follow my directions*.
• You can invest money into getting me to help you. Pay me to help you fix your problem, and I’ll only ask “where’s the computer and what do you want to do that you can’t?”.  I actually love these kind of user, they are the ones I make my living out of.

Is there assholes out there that just enjoy yelling at people? Sure! I know plenty of those both on IRC and on mailing lists…but there’s also those of us that like to help…just give us a reason to help you.

And that’s my take on the whole RTFM thing.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!!