Technical/support questions on -newbies

[mike bueide]

On Thu, Nov 20, 2003 at 07:18:10AM +1100, Sue Blake wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 19, 2003 at 07:08:43PM +0000, clayton rollins wrote:
> > Hi list,
> > 
> > As I'm sure we've all noticed, a lot of questions get asked here
> > that should be re-written, sent to -questions, and/or sent to
> > -hackers.
> 
> 
> When a help question appears in -newbies I like to simply send my
> reply to -questions with a cc to the asker. They will then
> get a cc on any followup. Sending an extra copy to -newbies
> would be bad, it would encourage even more confusing
> discussion on -newbies, so don't do that. Remember to change
> the To:/Cc: header. Then if you see an unsanswered help request,
> maybe someone answered it elsewhere. You can check -questions.
> As we do for trolls, everyone needs to learn to silently ignore
> inappropriately posted questions. The whole group must do this
> to make it work.

Suppose two or three "monitors" followed this
advise at the same time.  Would two or three
copies of the original message appearing on
-questions be appreciated?  

Perhaps just responding privately to the original
poster to redirect their query to -questions is
the best route.
 
> Please, everyone pitch in to make -newbies work as it should.
> If it doesn't work out, we could lose this list one day.
> Remember who you're talking to, the really new people are very
> vulnerable and don't yet understand how we do things. Mistakes are
> easier to tolerate in -newbies than elsewhere. It's up to you all
> to tell them gently so they don't get a firmer reminder elsewhere,
> to show that we understand and to make them realize how much we
> like having them around.

Well said.  
 
-- 
	Michael Bueide * Gering, Nebraska
	mbueide (at) charter (dot) net .