[dundee] Next Meeting

[Andrew Clayton]

On Wed, 2003-06-25 at 23:29, Mark Harrigan wrote:
> On Wed, Jun 25, 2003 at 11:00:21PM +0100, Andrew Clayton wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > > that trivial rtfm) and 2) will you remember that obscure syntax
> > 
> > RTFM is all very well... but theres no rule that says we can't also be a
> > bit more helpful.
> > 
> True, true. 
> > 
> > > by the time you get home, 3) some people may get bored out of their trees.
> > > 
> > > That sort of general Q&A session might be
> > > better suited to a meeting where we brought our own machines and setup
> > > a LAN that way the experienced person gets to have a poke and the
> > > newbie catches onto things they may have missed/experienced user
> > 
> > I think the word your looking for is BOF.
> > 
> Definately not, it's just remarkable standing behind someone
> knowledgeable and seeing little tricks they would take for granted and
> forget to mention.
> > 

It's still monkey see, monkey do....


> > Whatever... allot time for it then during the meeting. Though I thought
> > we had agreed that 1.5 hours for "official" but could go on "an extra
> > half hour" with whatever and if people were willing.
> Yes true, but I don't want to make this mandatory. When everyone else
> buggers off I don't feel it's fair to leave someone hanging for 2
> people. If there's a large group of people who want to continue and
> the representative (ie Simon) agrees then sure no problem but there
> needs to be a lot of interest as I don't feel it's fair, just because
> Simon agreed to be the dept representative doesn't mean he should
> guilted into staying for 2 or 3 people who could easily use IRC or the
> mailing list to discuss their problem.


Yep, which is why I put in the "if people are willing".


> > I'm not envisioning (not sure exactly what Keir had in mind) huge
> > sweeping technical questions. Nor it being a formal thing, just if
> > someone has some simple questions they'd like answering. 10-15 minutes
> > tops....
> > 
> > 
> > > 
> > > > Probably best though to keep the questions relatively simple and which
> > > > only require brief answers, otherwise a written medium is probably
> > > > better.
> > > As above regarding RTFM. Possibly harsh but it's a lesson that does
> > > need learnt by every newbie. 
> > > 
> > 
> > Yeah.. RTFM is an easy cop out to answering the question. At the very
> > least you can give a brief answer and then point to the FM/D for more
> > details.
> I'm not pushing it out as an easy cop out, I just feel that people
> have to forced into the appropriate thought pattern of reading before
> asking silly questions, this is not elitism, tis a life skill and is
> especially valuable in the world of *nix.

Couldn't agree more... When I was first starting out with Linux, it was
nothing but, reading man pages, howtos, README's, guides, docs, books.
And lots of trial and error.


>  
> I'd be more than happy to push someone in the right direction but I
> don't think a LUG is here to babysit newbies either.  
> 

Hmm... I think that HAS to be ONE of its roles, though "babysit" is too
strong a word.


> Mark



--
Andrew