[rhn-users] RHN List Membership

[Tom Rivers]

Nick Thompson wrote:
> I agree as well.
>
> Nick
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: rhn-users-bounces at redhat.com
> [mailto:rhn-users-bounces at redhat.com]On Behalf Of d.qureshi at mdx.ac.uk
> Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2007 6:33 AM
> To: rhn-users at redhat.com
> Subject: Re: [rhn-users] RHN List Membership
>
>
> I totally share and support your view on this matter.
>
>   
>> I thought the whole purpose of lists like this was to help out colleagues
>> as well as get help for ourselves if needed. If someone is way out of
>> line for this discussion list, why not just point them in the right
>> direction? It is not like we are all forced to respond to questions if we
>> don't want to. This is a support group.
>> BRAVO!!!
>> Hurra!!!
>> I could not say it better!
>> Thank you.
>>
>> Thorsten
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>>     
I think the point of this particular discussion has been lost.  Nobody 
is saying that people who have questions should not be helped.  If 
someone has said that, then I want to be on record as saying that is not 
what I believe or is it what I think the vast majority of people on this 
list believe either.  The problem is people who evidently don't bother 
to read the description at the top of the web page used to sign up for 
this list.  The page in question, 
https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/rhn-users, explicitly says what 
this list is about:

"This list is not intended for discussion about topics specific to Red 
Hat Enterprise Linux that do not involve Red Hat Network. For discussion 
of such topics, you may want to try..."

It even gives links to the lists for general questions for both RHEL V3 
and V4.  So for anyone who is paying attention, the message is clear.  
As for the argument that some people don't know what Red Hat Network 
really is, the sentence above unambiguously says this list is NOT about 
topics specific to Red Hat Enterprise Linux.  Is that really so hard to 
understand?  To me it seems obvious that anyone who has a specific 
question regarding Red Hat Enterprise Linux should NOT expect to get 
answers by joining this list.

Polite people don't just jump into a new community with the expectation 
of getting answers to off-topic questions.  A polite person, faced with 
the uncertainty of whether or not this list is the proper place for a 
particular question, would ask for help finding the proper place to get 
help.  Instead it seems commonplace that users who should have paid 
attention to the overtly posted purpose of this list just jump right in 
and start asking whatever question comes to mind.  That's fine, but to 
expect NOT to be corrected for such obviously poor social and reading 
comprehension skills is ridiculous.

As to the point "the whole purpose of lists like this was to help out 
colleagues as well as get help for ourselves if needed", I don't 
disagree.  "Lists like this" certainly do perform that function.  
However you don't ask RHEL questions on an RHN list any more than you 
would bring your Ford to the local Toyota mechanic.  There is a proper 
place for all of these questions and it doesn't take a rocket scientist 
to understand that.

The bottom line is that there are rules covering how this list operates 
just like there are rules that govern almost every aspect of life.  If 
you post off-topic, then you're breaking the rules.  If someone tells 
you you're breaking the rules and you get upset that you were corrected, 
grow up.  Following rules is the right thing to do and it is also the 
polite thing to do.  That's really how simple this whole issue really is.


Tom