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Re: Exhibition: Interim Summary



Yaron <yaron@Starlight.trendline.co.il> writes:

> > how come he never joined the Linux-Il mailing list ?
> 
> Because of the constant flood of newbie questions.

Incidentally, all those visitors at the Linux-Il booth at Computax got
fliers with the Linux-Il home page URL and info, and a lot of people
asked for a Linux CD. I understand there is an intention to make a
bulk order from Cheapbytes or elsewhere once RH5.1 is out and
distribute it to the people who left their email addresses, and there
are dozens of them.

This means that at least some of them will join the list *and* ask 
newbie questions. The problem is that if those question are routinely
met with "piss off, go RTFM" without even telling the poor sod which
FM to R then the whole idea of participating in Computax in order to
promote Linux as a general purpose OS that is not just for geeks and 
is not as unfriendly as its envious rivals say will be subverted.

Yes, the newbie has to RTFM before posting a question, and yes, many
(most?) of them don't, and I don't like it any more than the next guy.
But IMHO it would be a pity if the effort that some members of this
list, Eli, Tuvik, and others, invested in the show is rendered useless
because people who paid attention and are willing to try are met with
rudeness. And it won't do any good to our image as a group, I believe.
No list member is obliged to pay attention to newbie questions, but I
believe it is better to refrain from replying at all than be rude.
And it is not that much of an effort to point the newbie to the right
FM.

My point is, while this is not a newbie list and not a newbie group,
participation in Computax had a purpose other than helping Eli recover
a fraction of his unrelated financial investment. The purpose was
gaining visibility for Linux and for Linux-Il. If this visibility is
transformed into negative reputation among those who express keen
interest, then Linux-Il should have stayed away from Computax in the
first place. 

Another point: I suppose some of the visitors of the booth will go
to the Web site (hopefully). It would be nice if there was a report on
Computax that would let each of them know that he/she is not alone and
is welcome to the community. Eli?

-- 
Oleg Goldshmidt                 
BLOOMBERG L.P. (BFM)        |  phone: 972-3-6944214
goldshmt@netvision.net.il   |  fax:   972-3-6944225