Frequently asked questions in these groups deserve a monthly posting

[Paul Houtz]

sahayman at iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (Steve Hayman) writes:

>and I agree.  Isn't it time for a monthly "Introduction to
>comp.unix.questions and comp.unix.wizards" posting, containing
>frequently asked questions and answers?  I think this has worked well in
>some other groups.
>
>For starters, such an article could contain
>
>     - examples of what is appropriate for .questions and what
>       is appropriate for .wizards
>     
>     - "how to get a recursive directory listing"
>
>     - "how to remove a file whose name begins with a dash or whose
>        names contain odd characters"
>     
>     - maybe a list of some good Unix books
>
>Most usenet groups might benefit from having a monthly introductory
>posting.  If all we need is a volunteer to put together such a document
>and post it on a regular basis, I volunteer.   I don't claim to have all the
>answers myself but I'll be happy to organize and edit an appropriate
>monthly posting.

Well, I disagree.  Yeah, every once in a while somebody out there get's his
nose out of joint because he has seen the same question twice.   Well, that's
too bad.   I learn a lot from this group.  I wade through a lot of crud that
isn't of the slightest interest to me.  It doesn't bother me.  I also answer
questions with answers that I have gotten from this group.   I think that
it is serving it's purpose.  

I definitely DONT think you should start discouraging people from asking
questions by flaming them for posting questions that have been posted
before.   How are they going to know?   And I sure don't want some 
self important #*&@(*$ weeding out information that I might need because
he has seen it before.   

All you are going to do with this course of action is limit the excellent
communication that goes on in this group.  I am definitely against it.

Paul Houtz
HP Technology Access Center
10670 N. Tantau Avenue
Cupertino, Ca 95014
(408) 725-3864
hplabs!hpda!hpsemc!gph 
gph%hpsemc at hplabs.HP.COM