Am 21.11.2015 um 23:25 schrieb Stephen:

> So do I and I must say that, IIRC, you have never said "RTFM" which was
> a favourite rejoinder to newbies when I started using PovRay.

Must have been a nasty time then.

I do indeed try to either be helpful or STFU. Nobody can convince me
that they know it's in the manual but can't give /any/ other helpful
information off the top of their head, even if it's just a keyword to
look up in the index.

Also, I've heard people argue that, simply put, to ask others means to
waste their time. I disagree there: If you know zilch about some topic,
then you will also be poor and inefficient at finding, and assessing the
quality of, pointers to more information about the topic; this is true
even if you spend a lot of time searching: While this may hone your
general skill of looking up information, the searching in and of itself
adds little to nothing to your skill of looking up information about
that particular topic; it is only when your search is successful, and
you take in quality information about the topic, that you get a
significant boost in your search skill regarding the topic.

Thus, if I know a lot about the topic, it would actually be a waste of
our combined time if I did /not/ assist you in digging up relevant
information. Of course my assistance means that I lose some time; but
you win a lot more, and I hope that you -- or someone else -- will
return the favor sooner or later.

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On 11/22/2015 12:25 AM, clipka wrote:
> Am 21.11.2015 um 23:25 schrieb Stephen:
>
>> So do I and I must say that, IIRC, you have never said "RTFM" which was
>> a favourite rejoinder to newbies when I started using PovRay.
>
> Must have been a nasty time then.
>

Nasty is, maybe too strong a word. I would say.
The attitude back then was more "We will give you help to find the 
solution but don't expect us to give the solution."
Not everyone of course, thank goodness. :-)

I agree with what you wrote below.

> I do indeed try to either be helpful or STFU. Nobody can convince me
> that they know it's in the manual but can't give /any/ other helpful
> information off the top of their head, even if it's just a keyword to
> look up in the index.
>
> Also, I've heard people argue that, simply put, to ask others means to
> waste their time. I disagree there: If you know zilch about some topic,
> then you will also be poor and inefficient at finding, and assessing the
> quality of, pointers to more information about the topic; this is true
> even if you spend a lot of time searching: While this may hone your
> general skill of looking up information, the searching in and of itself
> adds little to nothing to your skill of looking up information about
> that particular topic; it is only when your search is successful, and
> you take in quality information about the topic, that you get a
> significant boost in your search skill regarding the topic.
>
> Thus, if I know a lot about the topic, it would actually be a waste of
> our combined time if I did /not/ assist you in digging up relevant
> information. Of course my assistance means that I lose some time; but
> you win a lot more, and I hope that you -- or someone else -- will
> return the favor sooner or later.
>


-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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I join my agreement to Stephen's.

I believe POV-Ray has come a long way from those days.

-- 
Thomas

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