DD Rules

[Matthew Saltzman]

On Mon, 2007-09-03 at 09:38 -0600, Karl Larsen wrote:
> Vivek J. Patankar wrote:
> > Karl Larsen wrote:
> >>    Well let me help Andy. First it is not a document! It is an email 
> >> on the Fedora List. Yes there are no errors in that email because it 
> >> was written on the new hard drive which was a copy of this f7. The 
> >> copy was a complete success.
> >
> > If you've searched for answers before you should have realised by now 
> > that most of the top links in most technical searches are from mailing 
> > list archives. But I suppose you've never done that before.
> >
> >
> >> 9. The default number of bytes per Block is defaulted to 150. The info 
> >
> > Where exactly did you learn that the default is 150? It's wrong. 
> > You've been told this before and instructed to Google for the correct 
> > information, but you have just ignored it and chosen to believe 
> > whatever pathetic excuse for a how-to that you read in some 
> > godforsaken part of the web, thereby proving your thinkheadedness.
> >
> > The default is 512 bytes. [1]
> >
> > [1] http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/utilities/dd.html
> >
> >
>     My reading of the man page was wrong but it changes nothing. The 
> default number error is not going to stop the person using it from 
> succeeding. So the email is good to go.

Karl, if it doesn't matter and it's wrong, fix it or leave it out
altogether.  You'll gain the respect of your interlocutors here and the
awe of newbies reading your instructions if you don't include gratuitous
false information.  

If it *does* matter, make sure it's correct and have an authoritative
source to back you up.  That's the best way to shut your critics up.

If it does matter and you can't find an authoritative source, ask your
question here first.  Then you'll have the answer, people who can answer
you will do so without being harsh, and the jackasses on the list won't
have you as an excuse to bray.

-- 
                Matthew Saltzman

Clemson University Math Sciences
mjs AT clemson DOT edu
http://www.math.clemson.edu/~mjs