I liked those last two emails a lot: I pulled them into this.<br>Would you mind if I repost these somewhere?<br>If yes, how would you like it credited?<br><br><br>So, helpful hints for newbies asking questions:<br>1. Ask. Ask nicely. We aren't looking for you to beg for help, but we are looking for
<br>appreciation for our help.<br><br>2. Try first. Tell us what you did to find the answer yourself when asking the<br>question tells us that you want to learn and makes us more willing to<br>help. <br><br>3. Accept that you may not get the "step 1, step 2, step 3..." answer
<br>that you are looking for. You may just get a little bit of information<br>- and if you asked a good question, that little bit of information may<br>just be the missing piece that lets you figure it out for yourself - and
<br>learn something in the process.<br><br>4. Accept the answer "you've bitten off more than you can chew".<br>Remember that you are asking questions of people who are more<br>knowledgeable and experienced than you (if they weren't, why are you
<br>asking them questions?). Remember that we became knowledgeable and<br>experienced by doing simple tasks, learning and then doing more<br>complicated tasks. Some of us went to college, some to the School of<br>Hard Knocks. We didn't get our knowledge from the magic lamp. We
<br>earned it through many trials and failures.<br><br>5. Remember that techies can be bribed. An offer of a dinner to help do<br>something when we have free time stands a good chance of being taken<br>up. Money works too. I've bought computers from the Junk Store and
<br>built them up with Linux for people to have something to play with - but<br>I've been paid for that.<br><br>6. Respect. Remember that we aren't your employees, we aren't your help<br>desk, we aren't under any obligation to you. Treating us with respect
<br>keeps our attitudes nice, and makes us much more willing to answer<br>newbie questions.<br><br>Ron's Guide to Answering Newbie Technical Questions<br><br>Making the assumption that they are at least attempting to follow "Ron's
<br>Guide to Asking Technical Questions for Newbies"...<br><br>1. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.<br>2. If you can't answer the question, don't respond.<br>3. Don't respond RTFM unless you KNOW that the answer is REALLY is in
<br>the manual (and it would be helpful to quote the manual name and page).<br>4. Don't respond with "Google is your friend" unless you actually used<br>Google and found the answer - again, the keywords you used would be
<br>helpful to the newbie if only to educate him in how to use Google.<br>5. If you do respond, be helpful.<br><br><br>