Another "Search the archives" vent

[Bruce_Hearn@cd-tech.com]

>Life is to short not to help others.

Life is also too short to answer the same basic questions ad infinitum.

>It is a lot easier to just get the person an answer.

I say po-tay-to, you say po-tah-to.  I disagree.

>If you are worried about wasting bandwidth with a simple
>question, why do you reply without an answer, telling
>a person to do a search?

I don't think it's ever been a question of bandwidth.  It's a question of
self-sufficiency.  Give a man a fish, he's fed for a day.  Give that man a
fishing pole, he's fed for life.

Answering the question with "Search the archives" does two things:
1) it assures the questioner that his question was actually read, and
2) the answer is there for him to find.
If he expresses subsequent difficulty finding the answer for whatever reason
(except sloth), people bend over backwards to help.  I'm not a religious man,
but since I've used one Biblical reference, I'll use another: "God helps those
that help themselves."

This is not a definitive answer, but it's mine, and I'll wager many other
old-timers on this list feel the same.

Bruce in Houston