Fedora Core Support List Unofficial User's Guide (draft 4 - Duncan Lithgow)

[Duncan Lithgow]

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Part One: 
FEDORA CORE SUPPORT LIST - UNOFFICIAL USER'S GUIDE
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* BEFORE POSTING TO THE LIST *
================================
There are a number of ways you can find help within your system. If you
don't find the answer there, try to look into the list archives before
posting a question. This is a high volume list and somebody has probably
had the same problem you are now trying to fix. 

See *section 2* below for a list of useful resources. 

* IF YOU STILL CAN'T FIND AN ANSWER *
=====================================
If you don't find a suitable answer for your question in the resources
described in section 2, then writing to the list is a good idea. To
make sure your post is read and answered, we wrote these guidelines.

You may also find useful to look at Charles Curley's netiquette guide at
http://www.charlescurley.com/netiquette.html.

1. === NO HTML MAIL, PLEASE ===
Set your mailer to send only plain text messages to the list
(http://www.expita.com/nomime.html). Why? HTML is designed for web
pages not emails, and uses a lot more bandwidth. Many list members
actually block HTML because it is used for malicious code.
(http://www.georgedillon.com/web/html_email_is_evil.shtml)

2. === STARTING A NEW SUBJECT ===
When you send in a new topic, *do not* start by replying to an
existing message, but rather, start a new message to
"fedora-list at redhat.com". This keeps messages organized by thread, for
people who like to use threads (on high-volume mailing lists like this
one, threads can be a great convenience).

3. === WRITE A GOOD SUBJECT LINE ===
Make a subject line that tells us what you need. Try "Can't get
past partitioning on FC3" instead of "Argg - help me!!!". Why? So that
people with certain skills, looking for someone to help, will notice
your message. That helps you get help from the right people quickly.

3. === IF YOU ARE REPLYING TO A MESSAGE === 
Trim away irrelevant text so we can concentrate on the topic. Make sure
we can tell what you are replying to. Place each part of your reply
after the text it addresses. Most mail readers put a '>' character in
front of each replied to line. It gives a conversational flow to the
text, and people know what you're replying to.

4. === LET US KNOW WHEN YOUR QUESTION IS ANSWERED === 
When you get a solution to your question (or find it yourself after
posting to the list), *reply* to your original e-mail describing what
solved your problem.

-- CONTROVERSIAL ISSUE --
Add a [SOLVED] to the end of the subject line. This will let people
know that you don;t need help anymore with this and can look for other
posts to help. Also, it makes a search in the archives easier when
someone has a related problem in the future.

5. === UNSUBSCRIBING === 
To unsubscibe from the list you can visit the Fedora Mail List web
page at http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list

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Part Two:
USEFUL RESOURCES FOR LINUX AND FEDORA
=====================================================

1. GETTING HELP FROM YOUR SYSTEM
There are many ways to get information from your system. Get a
terminal window by right clicking on the desktop. In the window type
one of the following (without the '$', and substitute
<application-name> with the name of the application you are having
trouble with.)
$ man <application-name>
$ info <application-name>  name
$ locate <stuff you want to know about>
$ rpm -qd <packagename>

2. DOCUMENTATION
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 is based on the Fedora project. So, the
RHEL documentation should be helpful for the Fedora user:
http://redhat.com/docs
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/
http://fedora.redhat.com/docs

Also, good help can be found here:
The Unofficial Fedora FAQ: http://www.fedorafaq.org/
The Linux Documentation Project:  http://www.tldp.org/
Fedora Core Release Notes: http://fedora.redhat.com/docs/release-notes/
Fedora Tracker: http://fedoratracker.org
Fedora Extras: http://fedoraproject.org/extras


3. LIST ARCHIVES
http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list
http://dir.gmane.org/gmane.linux.redhat.fedora.general
http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=fedora-list&r=1&w=2

4. GOOGLE IT!
http://google.com
http://google.com/linux

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Acknowledgements
================
We are all regular member of the list and discussion about netiquette
is ongoing. Previously established conventions are always being
re-questions. So, please read this in the spirit of creating an
evolving consensus.

This document grew from the work of James McKenzie, Duncan Lithgow,
Gustavo Seabra and various peoples useful comments.

This guide is in the spirit of the "RedHat Install List (RHIL)
Unofficial User's Guide": http://www.rhil.net/docs/rhil-guide.html and
"How To Ask Questions The Smart Way":
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html