188 lines
9.2 KiB
HTML
188 lines
9.2 KiB
HTML
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<title>The Answer Gang's Posting Guidelines</title>
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<h1>
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The Answer Gang's Posting Guidelines</h1>
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by Ben Okopnik
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<p>The Answer Gang is a mailing list run by the Linux Gazette. When you
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send us a question, it is presented to all the members of the list, and
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may be answered by any of them - or not. We are a bunch of volunteers,
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each with their own interests and abilities; whether you get answered or
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not depends on how well you engage and match both of those. There are no
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guarantees of any sort - but people who pose interesting questions, especially
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those of broad scope (i.e., those that would be of interest to more than
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just one or two people), as well as folks who are pleasant, polite, and
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have a sense of humor are not likely to be ignored. Spammers and flamers
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will be either ignored, laughed at, and/or lampooned (a number of the Gangsters
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have a <i>wicked</i> sense of humor.)
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<p>The following material describes the things that you need to do when
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posting to TAG in order to maximize the chances of getting meaningful replies
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to your inquiry. This should also prevent you from getting laughed at for
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being lazy and trying to have others do work that you yourself should be
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doing. It draws heavily on Tad McClellan's "Posting Guidelines for
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comp.lang.perl.misc"
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<br><a href="http://mail.augustmail.com/~tadmc/clpmisc/clpmisc_guidelines.text">
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<http://mail.augustmail.com/~tadmc/clpmisc/clpmisc_guidelines.text></a>
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<p>and the "Netiquette Guidelines" RFC
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<br><a href="http://andrew2.andrew.cmu.edu/rfc/rfc1855.html">
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<http://andrew2.andrew.cmu.edu/rfc/rfc1855.html></a>
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<br>
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<br>
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<p><b>BEFORE POSTING</b>
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<br>
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<li>
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<b>You Must</b></li>
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<br>- Check the <a href="../../lg-faq.html">LG</a> and
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<a href="../../tag/kb.html">TAG</a> FAQs to see if they contain an
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answer to your question <br>- Check the
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<a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/">list of HOWTOs</a>
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for anything relevant - these offer detailed coverage of many Linux tasks
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<br>
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<li>
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<b>You Really, <i>Really</i> Should</b></li>
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<br>- <a href="../../search.html">Search</a> previous issues of LG for
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relevant answers
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<br>
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<li>
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<b>If You Like</b></li>
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<br>- Check Other Resources (books, <a href="http://www.google.com/linux">
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Google!/Linux</a>, etc.)
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<p>
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<hr WIDTH="100%">
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<p>As you would expect, The Answer Gang's discussions are usually technical
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in nature; hence, there is a strong need to observe conventions for conduct
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in these discussions. Following the guidelines set out below will save
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time and effort for everyone involved, and will make answering your question
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much more convenient - which would also make it more likely to be answered.
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There can be hundreds of messages in TAG in any given month, and we all
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must decide somehow which ones we are going to answer. Your post is in
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competition with all the other posts. You need to "win" before a person
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who can help you will even try. Here is how to win the "TAG lottery":
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<p><b>POSTING TO TAG</b>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<b>Question should be about Linux, or of interest to Linux community</b></li>
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<br>The Linux Gazette has a rather obvious and clearly stated purpose;
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our target readership is the Linux community. We may post humorous pieces,
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or "spam slams", or other non-Linux content - but in general, The Answer
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Gang is here to answer Linux-specific questions. We don't usually give
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out advice on cooking rhubarb, passing tests in American history, or making
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your Wind*ws program work... actually, we have done all of those
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in the past, but relying on it would be just plain silly. Confine your
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questions to Linux-specific or Linux-related content.
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<br>
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<li>
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<b>Carefully choose the contents of your Subject header</b></li>
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<br>You have 40 precious characters of Subject in which to make your first
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impression. Spend them indicating what problem we can expect to find in
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your query. Don't waste them indicating "experience level" (guru, newbie...)
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Don't waste them pleading (please read, urgent, help!...) Don't waste them
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on non-subjects ("Linux question", "Could I ask a question?"...) Part of
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the beauty of Net forum dynamics is that you can contribute to the community
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with your very first post! If your choice of subject leads a fellow searcher
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to find the thread you are starting, then even asking a question helps
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us all.
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<br>
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<li>
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<b>Beware of saying "doesn't work"</b></li>
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<br>This is a "red flag" phrase, one that gives no useful information and
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tends to annoy the people who are trying to help you. If you find yourself
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writing that, pause and see if you can't describe what is not working without
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saying "doesn't work". That is, describe how it is not what you want. Try
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to explain the problem to another person using only words (i.e., don't
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<i>show</i>
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it to them - just describe it.) If they can understand what you mean, write
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down the explanation you used and send it to us!
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<br>
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<li>
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<b>Use an effective follow-up style</b></li>
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<br>When composing a follow-up, quote only enough text to establish the
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context for the comments that you're going to add. Don't quote the entire
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article; instead, intersperse your comments <i>following</i> the sections
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of quoted text that your comments apply to. Failure to do this is called
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"Jeopardy" posting because the answer comes before the question. Reversing
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the chronology of the dialog (putting your response before the quoted text)
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makes it much harder to read and understand; some people won't even bother
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reading a post written that way (the same goes for "h4x0r"-style postings
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from "k3wL d00dZ".) For more information on quoting and follow-up style,
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see <a href="http://www.geocities.com/nnqweb/nquote.html"><http://www.geocities.com/nnqweb/nquote.html></a>
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<br>
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<li>
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<b>Provide enough, but not too much information</b></li>
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<br>(<i>Heather Stern "The AnswerGal"'s addendum, with modifications</i>)
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<br><b><i>Too Much Info</i></b>: Where you bought the computer and whether
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you still have a receipt. What color the case is. Your passwords or anything
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else you wouldn't discuss in the bookstore or at a picnic.
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<br><b><i>Not Enough Info</i></b>: "So I plugged everything in but it doesn't
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work."
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<p>Questions whose answers (from you) would give us enough to run with:
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<br> Plugged what in?
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<br> What did you expect to happen?
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<br> What did it do instead?
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<br> What were the exact error messages?
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<br> What have you changed since then?
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<br> Where does Linux come into the puzzle? (feel
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free to guess)
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<br> Which Linux flavor?
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<br> Which version of the problem software package
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(<i>you <b>did</b> upgrade to the latest one, right?)</i> are you using?
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<br>
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<li>
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<b>Do not post binaries, HTML, or MIME</b></li>
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<br>Email is a <i>text-only</i> medium, and plain text is something that
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any mail program can read. Don't post Word documents, vcards, HTML, or
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MIME (MS Outlook does this by default; here are the
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<a href="../../issue65/tag/8.html">instructions</a>
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for turning that off). Many people will not be able to easily read your
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post, and thus will not bother. Binary attachments sent to The Answer Gang
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are thrown into the trash basket without even a glance. HTML-formatted
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e-mail is completely ignored by some of our members and is tolerated by
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others, but is definitely a negative influence. Unnecessary MIME encoding
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(it can be useful in preserving your language's character set, but mail
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to TAG in a language other than English is very rare) carries the same
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penalties as using HTML.
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<br>
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<li>
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<b>Remove any "confidential" notices, whether in your .signature or added
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by your company's mailer (asking for your name not to be posted is OK)</b></li>
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<br>Published answers benefit the entire community; this is what we do
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here in TAG. If you have a "This is to be kept confidential" blurb in your
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post, forget about having it answered: it just isn't going to happen. Don't
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expect people to do one-on-one problem resolution unless you're willing
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to pay for it. If your company automatically glues a "confidential" tag
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to all your e-mail, either e-mail us from home or preface your question
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with an explicit permission for us to publish. In fact, here's one you
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can simply copy and paste:
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<pre>-------------------------------------------------------------------------
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I hereby give my explicit permission for the Linux Gazette to publish the
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material in this e-mail, as well as all future responses or discussion that
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result from it. This notice supersedes any and all previous restrictions.
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------</pre>
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</ul>
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If you have read and followed all of the above guidelines, go ahead and
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send your question to <a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com">
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linux-questions-only@ssc.com</a>.
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You've already done one of The Right Things by reading these guidelines;
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presumably, you've already done more than one Right Thing by following
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the above recommendations. If you still haven't found an answer, it should
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be an interesting question indeed - and we'll be glad to hear from you!
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<br>
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<br>
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</body>
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</html>
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