interesting experiment.

[Deedra Waters]

I think honestly that if beginners have an easy start it may help some in
the long run. I honestly think that there are some people who want to
learn but are having a hard time in which case, helping them can be
useful.

I'm bad at sitting and reading manpage after manpage trying to find
things, and I was even worse at the beginning. I had a great deal of help
in the beginning, and there was a lot I  didn't understand.

I'm not really sure where I'm going with this accept to say that there are
people who have a real hard time by just reading, and helping them, or
trying to walk them threw some things  doesn't always mean that they need
to be spoonfead


On Sun, 19 May 2002, Toby Fisher wrote:

> On Sun, 19 May 2002, Octavian Rasnita wrote:
> 
> > Hi, thank you.
> > No, I don't like Windows. I don't use to play games because I don't have the
> > time.
> 
> Oh now you don't know what you're missing, I can recommend GMA Games for
> one, for a bit of light relief.
> 
> <snip>
> 
> > But I also don't like to see a lot of people from this list, nor
> from any
> > list, thinking that Linux is better than Windows.
> 
> Actually, if you look carefully at most of what you view to be
> anti-Windows comments, they are, in the main, aimed at the company that
> spawned it.
> 
> > Windows is better than Linux for multimedia development but Macintosh is
> > even better than Windows  for this thing.
> >
> > Some Unix graphic stations are better probably than Macintosh for their
> > purpose.
> 
> Yes, but until very recently Macintosh had a problem with expensive
> hardware, for example, on some power macs there was only 1 make of modem
> you could use because of the connection it required; guess what, they're
> not made any more so my friend is going to have to buy a new computer,
> this is, imho, a potential problem which can arise when hardware and
> software are made by the same company, as used to happen back in the big
> mainframe days.
> 
> <snip>
> 
> > I like the Linux users to be a kind of helpful community, because
> they are
> > not very many, especially blind, but all the experimented people in linux
> > give the beginners criptical commands without explaining too much, RTFM,
> > etc.
> 
> I believe that there are reasons for this.
> 
> First, what that person may want is a means to get up and running as
> hasle-free as possible.  Second, explanation of the command may, and note
> I use the word may, cause confusion, until the person has read some docs,
> which they may be unable to do due to whatever problem it is that has
> caused them to write to the list.
> 
> Third, it does not help anyone, least of all the beginner, if they are
> spoon-fed, as they may then be unable to help themselves if they are ever
> stuck without an internet connection, or otherwise unable to call on
> required assistance.
> 
> Cheers.
> 
> -- 
> Toby Fisher	Email: toby at g0ucu.freeserve.co.uk
> Tel.: +44(0)1480 417272	Mobile: +44(0)7974 363239
> ICQ: #61744808
>    Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments.
>    See http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html
> 
> 
> 
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