Pissed off with the same questions all the time

[JShadzi at aol.com]

Nick, your'e right, it is definitely easier shooting off an email to the list and getting an immediate, customized response, but that doesn't mean those giving the answers will continue to give them...I know I skim over most of the "how do you fix it" questions, I have answered them too many times, and its boring, I'd rather talk about pushing the 400hp barrier...

I'm not saying that simple questions shouldn't be asked on the list, someone always steps up to answer, but when such a large discussion about exh. manifolds happens and within a week, someone asks "what is the difference between all the manifolds" it makes me cringe.

I agree, the archives are very unfriendly, maybe there isn't a good solution, but as others have pointed out, other marque lists have come up with some very good solutions, maybe some of the computer techies can learn from them?  =)

Javad

In a message dated Thu, 8 Nov 2001  6:35:31 PM Eastern Standard Time, nicksimc <nicksimc at plu.edu> writes:

> As a newer list member, I have to say that the continual discussion of
> problems on the list itself is more of a help than the archives.  To use the
> archives, you have to scour every link for whatever info you need.  The
> search engine isn't 'intelligent' in answering questions, it just lists what
> it
> 'finds.'  I think a positive step towards making the archive function better
> would be to remove the digests of the list from the search.  The only thing
> that 'pisses me off' more than sifting through MIME format garbage in the
> normal digest is having to sift through it when I'm trying to find some
> information.
>   Most of the listers who have enough knowledge base to spend 20 min
> typing a post or a BTDT on a given subject have their own sites as well.  It
> takes just as much bandwidth, if not less to say "Here's a URL to my site
> with that info," as it does to say "Look in the archives you moron."
>   Also, I have been able to diagnose certain problems without even
> searching the archive or consulting the list because I saw the information
> fly by when someone else had that problem.  Granted, this requires
> _paying attention_,  but personally I find the list to be more useful as an
> active teaching tool than the archive, which is _not_ a reference library, but
> an actual _archive_ of every smart/stupid/wrong/right/on-topic/off-topic
> email that anyone has posted for the last ten years.
>   This obviously includes me as well, but then again I have read plenty of
> archived posts from those who are 'pissed off' about answering 'old'
> questions, when plenty of you have asked the same 'old' questions _that
> could have been answered had you searched the archive at the time._
> We are all newbies at one time or another, at one thing or another.
> <rant off>
>
> M Nicksic
>
> '84 4ksq
> '82 4ks