Anders Sandberg wrote:
> Michael Lorrey <retroman@turbont.net> writes:
>
> > Listen, when you subscribe to the list, you should become familiar
> > with the ideas and terms used here from the many FAQ lists, other
> > web pages, and list archives at the extropy website. Asking such
> > basic questions that have been asked time and time again does
> > nothing but waste bandwidth and other people's time. If you wish
> > people to respect you, you should respect the value of their time
> > and try to use the resources that are available to answer your
> > questions.
>
> Checked your serotonin levels recently, Michael? :-)
Actually, I was a bit short on sleep at the time....
>
>
> Seriously, I think this is a bit rude.
I've noted a number of people have been frustrated at the number of 'duh'
questions being asked on the list. I have no trouble at all answering someone's
question if they can't find the answer in the material freely available, I
do it
all the time, but IMHO the rudeness is on the person asking a standard
question.
Refusing to take advantage of the hard work that others have done already to
help them is rude and inconsiderate, it makes people who have contributed feel
like they have wasted their time. It also wastes the time of people who answer
the same question time and time again. I like being helpful, but being asked
three or more times about the same thing can get annoying.
I work in tech support and documentation at a software company, and I can say that 3/4 of the questions people ask are ones that are either answered from a key command help screen directly accessed from the part of the software they dont' understand (and they are trained to know that this exists and how to use it), or the answers are in the manuals provided in hard copy and from the website. This is why tech support at software companies is not longer free for most popular applications, cause people abuse it with stupid questions (or your could say "There are no stupid questions, just stupid people.", but that definitely would be rude). ;)
> You have a point - when joining
> a new forum it is a good idea to read up on what has gone before - but
> it is clearly impractical to read everything (especially with a forum
> with this list's long history) and also likely that you will miss one
> thing or another. The best way of learning things is often to ask. And
> we oldtimers should remember that many of the discussions we have seen
> again and again and again are new to many participants - they form an
> important part of learning about our meme-complex, and we should
> really try to participate (even if it might feel tiresome to deal with
> the identity question, the singularity argument, the libertarian
> general quarrel and all the others again).
>
> Towards a nicer transhumanism!
Toward smarter, politer, and more considerate transhumanists!
--
TANSTAAFL!!!
Michael Lorrey, President
Lorrey Systems
------------------------------------------------------------
mailto:mike@lorrey.com
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