[NTLUG:Discuss] NTLUG veterans helping Linux newbies?

[Steve Baker]

MadHat wrote:
 
> "B. DEGRASSE" wrote:
> >
> > I agree with the original posting, it is difficult coming up to speed.  How
> > about a newbie email list where truely dumb questions can be asked.
> 
> And how would _you_ determine what a "dumb" question is?

Well, that's certainly true.

If we wanted a 'newbies' list (and I don't think we do) - it would work
by having newbies post ALL their questions there - and the ones that don't
get coherent answers could then be 'promoted' to some other list where
dumb questions would not appear.

I *hate* that solution though - it reeks of 'elitism' and that doesn't
feel right in the world of the Internet where *finally* we have some
measure of equality.  It also makes for S-L-O-W responses to hard questions
because you'd have to post to one list, wait for a lack of response - then
post again to the 'elite' list.  Nah - not gonna work.

People already ask 'dumb' questions on this list, nobody seems to mind
when that happens - and most questions do seem to get answers.  But
the very fact that we have this thread says that it's not working...
if it were, we'd have one question per newbie per night - the list
would get unreadably long and everyone who might be able to help would
probably unsubscribe.

I think that a better approach is related to the suggestion I made
last night of pairing a SMALL group of newbies together - perhaps
with one mentor assigned to them.  These people would get to know
each other well enough that they would KNOW that "Bob-the-mentor"
or "Harry-the-advanced-newbie" would know the answer to that
one - and could just pop off a quick email or even a phone call to
that individual to ask.  Only if that half dozen people couldn't
come up with an answer between them and their mentor would the
question have to be asked of a larger audience.

I wouldn't mind fielding a handful of real newbie questions per
night.

This is what clubs and user groups can do for you - but with HUNDREDS
of people wanting to ask questions at meetings that last an hour
or two once a month, it's just not personal enough to work well.

NTLUG's strengths are that it can get big-time experts to talk on
their pet subjects - but it's too unweildy to respond to the "is
there a way to search for a file if I know it's name" type of
question.

> The ever famous phrase, There are no dumb|stupid questions, comes to
> mind.  I don't think we can classify Linux questions to "dumb" and "not
> dumb" questions.  I think it is almost as difficult to classify newby
> questions from veteran questions.  I have been using Linux for over 5
> years and I don't even begin to call myself an expert.  I know what I
> deal with all the time, but there are simple things I never have to deal
> with that a lot of "newbies" know better than I.

Exactly.

In a sense, we are all in permenant newbie status.

There is not one person alive who has come close to 'guru' status in
the whole of "Linux"...aside from the fact that we are not strictly
talking about ONLY Linux problems - there are the dozen or so
GIGABYTES of other packages to consider.

I'm only too painfully aware that whilst I consider myself a guru
in OpenGL stuff, the list of the things I know *nothing* about is
huge and is definitely growing at an alarming rate!

So, nobody should be concerned that they can't "grok" the whole thing...
don't sweat it - you never will!  (And if you tried - it would change
faster than you could possibly keep up).

The important thing is to grasp the basics, get expert in matters
you care about - and (importantly) know where to go to get advice
when you don't.

-- 
Steve Baker                  http://web2.airmail.net/sjbaker1
sjbaker1 at airmail.net (home)  http://www.woodsoup.org/~sbaker
sjbaker at hti.com      (work)