On Mon, Apr 23, 2001 at 08:32:02PM -0700, Mads Martin Jørgensen wrote:
* rob
[Apr 23. 2001 20:26]: The problem is that several *pertinant* (not easily solved by the regular's on the list) question get overlooked -swept under the rug so to speak. THis is IMO a support tragedy on SuSES end. Any one can answer an easy question.... its the more difficult ones that actually need attending to. We all try to provide what answers we can (since most of the regulars love SuSE and OSS principals) I'd just like to see the staff at SuSE get into the pit and love some one back!
Good point. Taken!
I would argue that the very presence of SuSE developers on this list is evidence that they do. Okay, I like SuSE. But when asking for support on any mailing list, there are a few suggestions which will help: 1) When composing your email, choose a subject as relevant to the question as you can manage. This is tough sometimes, but really, really try. 2) Don't just reply to an email in an existing thread to ask your question. This has been a monstrous thread with much ranting and raving. Any real support question will be overlooked by those who are just plain sick of it. And, yes, I found a few support questions which could easily have been overlooked in the midst of the thread because they were composed as replies to emails in the thread, with not even a change in the subject. 3) Tell us what happened. Show us any relevant log output. 4) Tell us what you expected to happen and explain how this is different from what actually happened. 5) Calm down and take your time writing the email. You want us to be able to help you. We can do this so much better if we can understand what you're saying. Please use paragraphs correctly and try to catch spelling mistakes -- I know this is difficult for non-native English speakers. Try anyway. 6) Particularly for DNS questions, don't disquise your IP addresses or domain names. This is the Internet. Often, even when you don't describe your problem well, we can look and see for ourselves. 7) Do a Google search using relevant keywords before sending your email. Many email lists are archived. If the answer is already there, you won't need to wait for our response. Also, we won't get tired of answering the same questions over and over again. 8) In the same vein as #7, please read the documentation. Very often, you'll get a RTFM (Read the F-word-of-your-choice Manual) response if you miss this. But none of us are perfect. I get this response myself at regular intervals. 9) Never rant. You just anger people whom you need to help you. The Brooklyn Linux CEO who started this thread did himself little good with his attitude. This is just off the top of my head. My apologies for the bits of advice I forgot to include in this list. -- David Benfell benfell@parts-unknown.org --- Resume available at http://www.parts-unknown.org/resume.html