Re: FYI: HTML targets in "Smart Questions"

[Christopher Faylor <cygwin@cygwin.com>]

On Sun, Jul 21, 2002 at 10:03:57PM -0400, Jim Balcom wrote:
>On Sun, 21 Jul 2002, Dario Alcocer wrote:
>>The idea is not split the list, but for initial posters (from what I've
>>seen on this list, most first-time posters qualify as newbies) to get a
>>quick lesson in posting meaningful questions *before* they get to post
>>(only for the first post.) That's why I suggested the poster, before
>>they're allowed to post for the first time, get an e-mail asking them
>>(in a cordial tone, obviously) that they *please* read the ESR essay
>>*first*[1].
>
>I find your assumption that all first time posters are newbies and need
>to be trained offensive.

This is perplexing since, AFAICT, your first question in this mailing
list asked to be "steered to the answer".  Obviously you were a newbie
needing to be trained yourself.

>The fact that newbies questions get ignored is upsetting.

Newbies *aren't* ignored.  Or at least, I'd estimate that the vast majority
of newbie questions are responded to.

>Nicholas W?'s attitude is horrible!

Where did this come from?  Nicholas hasn't even responded to this
thread.  As I can't recall Nicholas ever randomly attacking anyone, I'd
have to say that I vastly prefer his attitude to yours.  He actually
seems to be going well out of his way to be helpful.  He answers
questions in this forum and he actually contributes *his time* in trying
to improve cygwin.  Rather than giving vent to unconstructive whines, he
actually tries to improve the process.

>I've learned that this is not a package that I need to waste any more time
>on. I've heard that it is great. But, like OS/2, it won't install and no
>help is available for simple problems.

If you are referring to your message with the subject "Installation
Problem???" sent today at 6:51PM EDT, then chill, dude.  Did you happen
to notice that it is Sunday?  This mailing list is no different from any
other.  It's not a paid tech support service.  People answer (or not) as
they notice the question.

Or perhaps you are miffed by the fact that no one responded to your
first request, made in reply to a totally unrelated subject (Server
Port?).  In this attempt, you quoted some of the previous email
transactions from that thread and somehow tried to equate it to your
situation even though there was no hint whatsoever that it had anything
to do with your problem.  This is a *classic* newbie mistake and is
actually covered in the smart questions url.

Regardless, the question has now been answered.  Since you are still
subscribed to the mailing list as of this writing, hopefully the
answer will do you some good.

As mentioned, this whole thread is about asking smart questions.  I
strongly suspect that you are having an inexplicable emotional response
to something that was not focused at you personally and have not availed
yourself of the referenced URL.

Do yourself a favor and start reading here: http://cygwin.com/bugs.html .
That page has a reference to the smart question url as well as several
other hints.

cgf

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