Solution Coming Re: Fedora Community: Under threat?

[David Curry]

Eric Vought wrote:

>
> On Feb 7, 2005, at 11:00 AM, fedora-list-request at redhat.com wrote:
>
>> From: Paul Howarth <paul at city-fan.org>
>> Date: February 7, 2005 10:53:28 AM CST
>> To: For users of Fedora Core releases <fedora-list at redhat.com>
>> Subject: Re: Solution Coming Re: Fedora Community: Under threat?
>> Reply-To: For users of Fedora Core releases <fedora-list at redhat.com>
>>
>>
>> <... snip ...>
>
>
>> I think it's a good idea actually, though it would be nice if the 
>> mailing list sign-up site mentioned the FAQ/Wiki as a place to look 
>> before posting.
>>
>> Paul.
>
>
> How about a first-post response? I have seen this work well with other 
> lists. The first time a new user posts, they get automailed mailed a 
> brief netiquette flyer and a FAQ list. Their post still goes to the 
> list, but, by and large, they will read the FAQ and explore the links 
> while waiting for an answer. One could even get real fancy and do a 
> search against the archives/FAQ for topics related to their post, but 
> that may be overboard.
>
> Eric Vought
>
> Technical Director
> Diversity Ink
> Morgan Family Enterprises

I think both ideas are excellent ones - Paul's suggestion to refer 
prospective new enrollees to the list to FAQs/Wiki in addition to 
archives before posting AND to have a first-post response which outlines 
list etiquette (including guidance that Google is a friend) and provides 
links to FAQs and or Wiki.  Human learning frequently entails 
repetition, repetition, repetition, ....  And, people can easily 
overlook a single sentence or link tucked in the corner of a page.

And I am willing to help prepare some basic FAQ responses.

I also want to disabuse some of the frequent contributors on the list of 
their entrenched notion that the list archives contain all the answers 
to questions fequently asked by "newbies" or that newbies do not bother 
to look at the archives before posting. 

I most certainly searched the list archives before posting to the list.  
Not only did I search the archives before posting to the list, I did 
multiple searches of the archives BEFORE I EVEN SUBSCRIBED TO THE LIST!  
Put bluntly, the advice of researching the archives before posting 
because "that" issue has been discussed extensively in the past is not 
only over used but also wrong in some cases.