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From: Simon Lemieux
Subject: Opinion: Replies too general...
Date: 3 Nov 2000 06:43:43
Message: <3A02B341.D95A4CC5@yahoo.com>
Hi,
	have you ever asked a question about povray, a specific question and got the
answer "Read the manual, that should answer your question" or "Try
www.povray.org or www.irtc.org they got plenty of examples..." ??  I mean...  I
know that already!  I'm actually pretty good at povray and I read a lot of the
manual and looked a some of the examples!  This is a useless answer, why do
people answer this kind of thing?  I've seen this here in povray's newsgroup
server, but only a few times, while on MesaGL mailing list I see ONLY that kind
of answer!

I used to ask 5 specific questions about OpenGL, here they are:
For my very simple program I need a few things such as:
  -Loading JPEG (still looking for an official library...)
  -Creating transparent textures
  -Knowing the mouse's position at every frame
  -Activation of a function when the mouse button is pressed
  -Activation of another function when the mouse button is released

I would have expected something like:
>  -Loading JPEG (still looking for an official library...)
I can't help you with that...  Never done this...

>  -Creating transparent textures
This is easy, you should read section 2.3 of the manual it explains this in
detail, and if I can give you an hint try not to have textures over 256x256
since some 3d cards do not support more!

And so on...

Instead I got:
Take a look at www.opengl.org

They have lots os example code to look at.

---------

Am I stupid or what?  Did you see One example that does this?  I looked and
found nothing, can you point me more directly?? Like 
www.opengl.org/examples/source/texture.html or something like that...

I'm sick of this!  What about you?

Simon

-- 
+-------------------------+----------------------------------+
| Simon Lemieux           | Website : http://www.666Mhz.net  |
| Email : Sin### [at] 666Mhznet | POV-Ray, OpenGL, C++ and more... |
+-------------------------+----------------------------------+


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From: Warp
Subject: Re: Opinion: Replies too general...
Date: 3 Nov 2000 07:24:27
Message: <3a02ae7b@news.povray.org>
Simon Lemieux <lem### [at] yahoocom> wrote:
: have you ever asked a question about povray, a specific question and got the
: answer "Read the manual, that should answer your question" or "Try
: www.povray.org or www.irtc.org they got plenty of examples..." ??

  No.

: I'm actually pretty good at povray and I read a lot of the
: manual and looked a some of the examples!  This is a useless answer, why do
: people answer this kind of thing?

  I don't remember any concrete example of seeing this kind of answer to
a very specific question which is not trivially answered in the documentation
of some (V)FAQ.
  At least here, usually when people answer with an RTFM, it's a very trivial
thing that can be found directly in the documentation if the user just looked
a bit at it (eg. "how can I read a GIF and use it as an image map?").

  Some (V)FAQs have answers to questions which are not so easily found (if
at all) in the povray documentation but oftenly asked by people. If the
question is directly answered in the (V)FAQ, it's not a bad thing to answer
with an URL to the correct answer (actually it saves time, bandwidth and
server resources).

  Usually when someone asks something not found in the docs or faqs, or is
not trivially understood, then usually people answer properly.

  Actually the problem in this news-server is a bit the other way around:
People answer too many trivial questions instead of just saying the chapter
to the documentation or an URL to the correct answer.
  It's not a problem in itself, but when there are lots of "useless" answers
like this, it only consumes time and resources in vain.

-- 
main(i,_){for(_?--i,main(i+2,"FhhQHFIJD|FQTITFN]zRFHhhTBFHhhTBFysdB"[i]
):_;i&&_>1;printf("%s",_-70?_&1?"[]":" ":(_=0,"\n")),_/=2);} /*- Warp -*/


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From: Gilles Tran
Subject: Re: Opinion: Replies too general...
Date: 3 Nov 2000 08:12:44
Message: <3A02B9B1.EF08AA56@inapg.inra.fr>
Simon Lemieux wrote:

> have you ever asked a question about povray, a specific question and got the
> answer "Read the manual, that should answer your question" or "Try
> www.povray.org or www.irtc.org they got plenty of examples..." ??  I mean...  I
> know that already!  I'm actually pretty good at povray and I read a lot of the
> manual and looked a some of the examples!  This is a useless answer, why do
> people answer this kind of thing?

Most often, the question itself shows that the user didn't bother at all to read the
manual, or doesn't know about the examples in the demos directory. Some questions are
also very vague, or general, with no simple answer.
I do agree, however that some of the knee-jerk RTFM answers are a little rude.
It's also true that some of the answers are so well hidden in the manual that even
experienced users may have trouble finding them.

G.


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From: Greg M  Johnson
Subject: Re: Opinion: Replies too general...
Date: 3 Nov 2000 09:25:04
Message: <3A02C974.7498ACB1@my-dejanews.com>
Warp wrote:

> Simon Lemieux <lem### [at] yahoocom> wrote:
> : I'm actually pretty good at povray and I read a lot of the
> : manual and looked a some of the examples!  This is a useless answer, why do
> : people answer this kind of thing?
>
>   I don't remember any concrete example of seeing this kind of answer to
> a very specific question which is not trivially answered in the documentation
> of some (V)FAQ.
>   At least here, usually when people answer with an RTFM, it's a very trivial
> thing that can be found directly in the documentation if the user just looked
> a bit at it (eg. "how can I read a GIF and use it as an image map?").

How about if we made a team of people willing to help novices with problems, even
if the answers were (in the opinion of a few) "trivially answered in the docs" ?


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From: Tom Melly
Subject: Re: Opinion: Replies too general...
Date: 3 Nov 2000 09:33:53
Message: <3a02ccd1@news.povray.org>
"Simon Lemieux" <lem### [at] yahoocom> wrote in message
news:3A02B341.D95A4CC5@yahoo.com...

Well, I think the main point is to avoid rudeness unless the poster has been
rude or especially inconsiderate. In any particular situation, some people
may feel that a rtfm is an appropriate response, others that a more
considered answer is okay. All can respond to the post as they deem
appropriate.

I don't think I've ever winced at an rtfm, but I've often felt very
embarassed when a newbie gets given a rough ride in the way it's phrased.
POV is a complex program, and for many probably their first contact with any
kind of programming language. Having your first post met with withering
scorn must be a fairly debilitating experience.


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From: Tom Melly
Subject: Re: Opinion: Replies too general...
Date: 3 Nov 2000 09:36:12
Message: <3a02cd5c$1@news.povray.org>
"Greg M. Johnson" <gre### [at] my-dejanewscom> wrote in message
news:3A02C974.7498ACB1@my-dejanews.com...

> How about if we made a team of people willing to help novices with
problems, even
> if the answers were (in the opinion of a few) "trivially answered in the
docs" ?
>

... or just promote the new-users ng more (and add a guideline against
rudeness and rtfms in replies).


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From: Paul Daniel Jones
Subject: Re: Opinion: Replies too general...
Date: 3 Nov 2000 09:44:54
Message: <3A02CFB9.EB9D01E4@psu.edu>
I agree, I think that if people are not willing to take the time explain something,
they
should not waste valuble bytes on the server.

Some people here are very good and I really look forward to their responses because I
will probably learn an awful lot. While on the other hand, some people just waste
everyones time.

Sometimes I feel that I could find the answer, but that I would learn more about the
topic if I ask here.


paul

>

--
-------------------------------------------#
Paul Daniel Jones
120 Chandlee Laboratory
Penn State University
814-865-2090
pdj### [at] psuedu

http://research.chem.psu.edu/glassgrp/paul
--------------------------------------------#


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From: Ron Parker
Subject: Re: Opinion: Replies too general...
Date: 3 Nov 2000 10:08:11
Message: <slrn905l6t.s5.ron.parker@fwi.com>
On Fri, 03 Nov 2000 09:19:32 -0500, Greg M. Johnson wrote:
>
>How about if we made a team of people willing to help novices with problems, even
>if the answers were (in the opinion of a few) "trivially answered in the docs" ?

We have that.  All the advanced users who subscribe to .newusers.

-- 
Ron Parker   http://www2.fwi.com/~parkerr/traces.html
My opinions.  Mine.  Not anyone else's.


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From: Chris Huff
Subject: Re: Opinion: Replies too general...
Date: 3 Nov 2000 10:50:32
Message: <chrishuff-21F563.10534103112000@news.povray.org>
In article <3A02C974.7498ACB1@my-dejanews.com>, 
gre### [at] my-dejanewscom wrote:

> How about if we made a team of people willing to help novices with 
> problems, even if the answers were (in the opinion of a few) 
> "trivially answered in the docs" ?

http://tag.povray.org/

-- 
Christopher James Huff
Personal: chr### [at] maccom, http://homepage.mac.com/chrishuff/
TAG: chr### [at] tagpovrayorg, http://tag.povray.org/

<><


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From: Bill DeWitt
Subject: Re: Opinion: Replies too general...
Date: 3 Nov 2000 11:09:41
Message: <3a02e345@news.povray.org>
"Simon Lemieux" <lem### [at] yahoocom> wrote :
>
> I'm sick of this!  What about you?

    When ever I am dissatisfied with the quality of service I am getting I
always try to get my money back. You would be surprised how often you can
get money refunded, coupons for additional service and a heartfelt apology.

    Failing that, I try to make my own service more valu-plus. Maybe it will
rub off.


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