BackupPC-users

Re: [BackupPC-users] BackupPC Basics

2011-03-18 05:03:02
Subject: Re: [BackupPC-users] BackupPC Basics
From: hansbkk AT gmail DOT com
To: "General list for user discussion, questions and support" <backuppc-users AT lists.sourceforge DOT net>
Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2011 16:00:53 +0700
On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 10:12 PM, Joe Konecny <jkonecny AT rmtohio DOT com> 
wrote:
> I'm not claiming I can explain the solution to his problem but this is a good 
> example of why
> microsoft is so successful.  MS has MVP's (most valuable professional's) (and 
> they aren't
> necessarily on ms's payroll) that hang out in forums and relentless answer 
> questions that
> have been asked thousands of times.  With the open source world... you are 
> usually responded
> to with "rtfm" or "don't let the door hit your ass on the way out."


A very helpful classic "howto":
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

also explains why open-source geeks can give the impression you've formed.

People answering question that have been already been answered
thousands of times are doing nothing but wasting time and bandwidth -
not just their's but everyone else's who participates in that
list/forum.

When my five-year-old pulls a tantrum about changing the DVD "right
now", sure it's faster to just do it, but is it the right thing to do?

Of course, reasonable questions "should" get answered reasonably
promptly, just as every project once past a certain size of user base
"should" have decent documentation. The question is who should provide
these services? IMO the answer is those users of the free software who
don't have the skills to actually help develop it. Free as in freedom
but not as in beer - if every BackupPC user that didn't contribute
otherwise put in one or two hour per month on a docs wiki, the quality
of the project (and therefore its popularity) would be enormous. And
the developers wouldn't be pestered with as many questions.
<end rant>

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