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Re: ESR: STFW



On Sun, 9 Sep 2001, Adi Stav wrote:

> Looks like choo's acronym has morphed into STFW now, and now takes
> an important role in ESR's (the officical keeper of Jargon file,
> cool) new essay "How To Ask Questions The Smart Way".
> Enjoy: http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

actually, in the latest haifux meeting (tangent - another one tomorrow!
see you all there) we discussed this howto and the question of the
origns of STFW also came up.

int the interest of science (and because i'm writing a short shell
script that's driving me crazy right now and need a little break), i did
a little digging:

the jargon file (http://tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/entry/STFW.html)
marks the term's origins from USENET.

using groups.google.com for a little archeological excavation, we come
upon this gem: (url will probably be wrapped)
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=STFW&hl=en&safe=off&scoring=d&as_drrb=b&as_mind=29&as_minm=3&as_miny=1995&as_maxd=9&as_maxm=9&as_maxy=1996%24&rnum=10&selm=4or6me%24oab%40sidhe.memra.com
in this message, dated 1996/06/01 and crossposted to far too many news
groups, we see:

"Ever hear of RTFM? Well maybe you should STFW  (Search The "Fine"
Web)."

(note, there's also a message dated 1996/02/25 which makes mention of
stfw, but ... i like this one better).

oh, wow, and now we come upon a real finding, on Date: 1996/06/09, just
8 days later, in alt.culture.internet, with the subject "First there was RTFM,
now there is STFW. ", it was written:

"So next time somebody asks, "What is a Linux?", remember to tell them,

STFW!"

therefore, we have established that the term was in use as early as
1996. What's the point you ask? no point whatsoever.

ObCircularReference:
Q: What is STFW?
A: STFW!

-- 
mulix

http://www.advogato.com/person/mulix
http://www.sf.net/projects/syscalltrack



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