Another "Search the archives" vent

[George Roffe]

Bruce_Hearn@cd-tech.com wrote:

>If he expresses subsequent difficulty finding the answer for whatever
>reason (except sloth), people bend over backwards to help.

That is quite true.  The only time I've not seen people to go far out of
their way to help someone who has said they've searched the archives and
couldn't find the answer are those who were either obviously lying or too
lazy to look past the first hit.  I've actually seen this happen as I've
used *exactly* the same search criteria someone said they used and found
lots of correct and complete answers in the first page of hits.  Honest.

That said, the simple answer of "check the archives" w/o further
explanation is probably not the kind of response we want to give
people.  I've been guilty of it in the past, but now try to give an
explanation why and if possible some search criteria.

There are several good reasons I send someone to the archives.

1)  The question has been asked a lot and there are lots of good answers
there that can quickly answer the person's question.

2)  The question was too broad to really give a good answer to.  Sometimes
it's better to get a little more information to ask a more specific
question.  I've seen many times where someone has asked a very broad
question and gotten lots of different answers that were all correct, but
based upon a variety of assumptions.  Then, after a day of answers floating
in, the original poster comes back and says none of the answers were what
they were looking for and then fills in the blanks.

3)  There are lots of differing opinions in the answer to a question and
the person can get a good ideas of the issues and opinions involved.  In
cases like this, the person with the question can be mis-served if they
only get a couple of answers.

4)  I know the answer is in the archives, but I cannot remember the
answer.  Rather than ignore the question, I'll let them know where to find
an answer.

IMHO the archives are a good and important resource than can and should be
used.  I think folks ought to at least explain why they are sending someone
to the archives.

I've been a newbie at a couple of other mailing lists, including the
Subwoofer Mailing List (really a DIY loudspeaker list).  I had newbie
questions for them that were mostly ignored.  I would have loved to have
someone point me to a resource, either a website or archives with some
keywords.  I have zero problem with someone pointing me to something that
has already been written on the subject.  It would allow me to ask better
questions and learn more quickly.  Unfortunately their archives weren't
working when I was on that list.

Please don't think I'm saying that telling people to search the archives
all the time is OK.  But occasionally, with a good reason, *is* a good
thing.  Oh, and if the answer is in the archives, it can often be found
more quickly with a search than waiting for folks to read the question and
respond.  Bottom line IMHO is there is a happy medium someone on this.

George Roffe
Houston, TX
91 SE-R (well modded)
91 G20 turbo (well modded)
84 944 SCCA ITS race car under construction
<http://home.earthlink.net/~geo3/>