RE: Research (WAS: Nipping Noses (Was: Not done on the blank page yet!))

[Michael Strickland <Mstrickland -at- entriq -dot- com>]

I'm with Donna... This and other forums ARE a form of research. It can often
be easier and much quicker to just fire off a quick question to a large
group of humans, one or two of whom might have the knowledge and inclination
to give you the info you need. If it can save you 20-30 minutes of digging
through archives, searching the Internet, and thumbing through several
books, why wouldn't you try asking the forum first? (for efficiency's sake,
if nothing else) If I'm sitting in a room full of auto mechanics, I'm going
to ask around to see if one of them can tell me what kind of spark plug to
use, even though the information is documented in the 500-page maintenance
manual next door.

Those who feel helpful can help, and those who feel self-righteously annoyed
that the OP didn't do [other] research first can just "ignore and delete"
(though that's probably wishful thinking, considering how eager such people
are to demonstrate their superiority). Gosh, I'm not cynical, am I? It MUST
be Friday.

-----Original Message-----
From: Jones, Donna [mailto:DJones -at- zebra -dot- com] 
Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2004 2:54 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: RE: Nipping Noses (Was: Not done on the blank page yet!)



-----Wade Courtney wrote:-----
I disagree with this statement.  People SHOULD do an exaustive search of the
Internet or other media before posting questions to ANY forum. 
This helps reduce redundancy and helps develop good researching skills.

It doesn't matter if we havn't been subscribed to TECHWR-l.  Most of us have
been around computers, and been technical writers long enought to do good
research.


> People shouldn't have to do a thorough search of the internet or the
archives before posting a question. 
-------------------------------


Maybe there are ways to find answers without posting the questions here, but
sometimes it's nicer to get personalized responses than to have to search
through archives for pieces of an old conversation. The human side of it
makes being part of a forum more fun than just reading through bits of
information.

I'm a firm believer that the only dumb question is the one that goes
unasked, and I like teaching people how to do what I know how to do. I have
received several messages in the last few months thanking me for very basic
responses to what could be considered simple questions, so I know that I'm
at least occasionally meeting people's needs for information. I'd rather
answer the same question ten times than to find out that someone struggled
because they were afraid to ask it.

That's my preferred operating method. It might not work for everyone.
Donna

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