How to ask questions - the smart way

[Drakkenmensch]

On the whole this has not been a problem on the forum, but playing some linked games with eLhabib and a few others via xlink kai, we ran into a lot of people who just barge in and start asking:

"how do I connect my psp?"
"what do I do?"
"do I need a router?"
"do I need anything?"

So before any of us should go repeating those mistakes, here is a link a friend sent me that I think everyone should read. I am no exception, and I'm not ashamed to say I learned a few things myself.

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

[syckls]

I wish the constant barrage of noobs on the GameFAQs board would at least have some question-asking ability. Hellfire, does this mark the eighth person in the last week who needs to know basic information about skins/liveries/differentiating between skins and liveries?

[Hellfire_WZ]

I'm thinking of applying for a sticky. While I do answer them rather than just send out a barrage of abuse as I'm sure several others would do if left to their own devices, it's definitely geting irritating.

[syckls]

I wouldn't if I were you. It's too much trouble and you're more than likely to get it rejected. I mean, I got my topic rejected and it was discussing how to download packs. A better idea would be to communicate with with Outc4st off the board and discuss how to merge his topic and a whole FAQ, with download instructions included of course.

[Drakkenmensch]

Okay, things are getting ridiculous on xlink. Trying to start a race is extremely difficult on account on the sheer amount of people who keep asking "how do I join?"

The noise to signal ratio is getting out of proportion here, so I suggested a rule to eLhabib who seemed to agree with it:

Xlink Kai rule: "When someone calls for players to join his hosted race which is about to start, now is *not the time* to ask him to explain to you how to configure your connection!"


Also - <german accent> the following people are being fired, in alphabetical order:
Simpson, Homer.
That is all.

[syckls]

:? Where is the traffic coming from? You may be able to circumvent some of it by making it a private room and disclosing the password on the forums here.

[Drakkenmensch]

That's what eLhabib did in the end, after the newbies started whining and bitching that he wasn't helping them. Truth be told, he was trying to get them to help themselves, but they wouldn't even WANT to TRY. They just wanted to be told how to make it work - in a way where they wouldn't have to do anything. Not gonna happen.

Wireless hardware is COMPLICATED, people! I know your computer salesman told you it was gonna be easy to set up, but here's a little secret:

He was lying through his teeth to get his sales commission. He'd promise you TIME TRAVEL if he thought it could get you to buy one more Wireless-G adapter.

Setting up wireless hardware is a learning experience, one that requires a lot of trying, fiddling, jiggling cables and searching the web for possible fixes. eLhabib got pushed so far that he was actually telling them "RTFM" and I was close to adding "STFW" myself.

If you go to xlink kai to play with other forum users, follow that private room advice.
Just so you all know.

[Lion]

probably because of being on the other side of the world I have not encountered this... had mostly good experiences, intersprersed with some weird problems.

what does STFW stand for by the way? was that W meant to be a U?

[Drakkenmensch]

it means "Search The F***** Web!", basically a not so gentle reminder that before going into a room and begging everybody for spoonfed answers, one should TRY to find them on one's own. STFW is the little sister of the classic forum rebuttal RTFM, "Read The F****** Manual!"

[Lion]

aah, the near neighbour of STFW that I have encountered is RTFG (read the f***ing google) which seems to be popular in some IRC linux channels

[Lance]

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''read the ****ing google'' is grammatically nonsense. not a sentence, not a coherent phrase. it indicates that 'google' is being used to mean something it doesn't mean. typical ignorance [he said in a waspish but gleeful way.]

i prefer to say: ''unfortunately none of the racers have time to explain the techniques of connection right now; and the explanation would use bandwidth required to optimise the actual racing.'' i must admit that if i actually said this, it would sound remarkably like ''you're a lazy bonehead. go away!''
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[Task]

8 ) You could say that all you want Lance, nobody who needs to read it is going to get past the 3rd multi-syllabic word.

What you would get is a reply of "say that again but with smaller words".

If they can't parse the sentence, they certainly can't be offended by it. 8 D

[Drakkenmensch]

Very true. People who need the most to be told "STFW" usually won't bother to actually use google to find out what it means.

[Lance]

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'bonehead' is ''multi-syllabic''? ;)
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