Overly brief answers (was Re: Terminal Server)

[Bill Moran]

Jerry McAllister <jerrymc at clunix.cl.msu.edu> wrote:
> > 
> > Nico Meijer <nico.meijer at zonnet.nl> wrote:
> > 
> > > Hi Mike,
> > > 
> > > > Can FreeBSD act like Windows Terminal Server, i.e. remote access, multiple
> > > > sessions?
> > > 
> > > Yes.
> > 
> > I wanted to start a brief discussion about these kinds of answers to 
> > questions.
> > 
> > I've been seeing this quite a bit lately.  I don't know if it's just one 
> > person,
> > of if multiple folks have picked up on it.
> > 
> > <opinion>
> > This is not an answer to the question.  It does not answer the question 
> > and does
> > not contribute to the OPs knowledge of FreeBSD, nor does it contribute to the
> > list archives.  It's also a violation of the rule against "me too" answers as
> > laid out in "How to Get the Best Results from FreeBSD-Questions".  It doesn't
> > even serve to educate the OP on how to ask better questins.
> 
> on the issue of the _short_ answer;   In the case of this question, it is
> probably obvious that the poster needed more useful information - at least
> a pointer to some info.   Then, it looks bad to just give a smart alec yes
> or whatever other less than useful reply.

I'm wondering if these short "yes" answers aren't all smart-alec, but some of
them are possibly an attempt to answer before anyone else.

I know, I've seen a question I could answer, made sure it hasn't already been
answered (to avoid unnecessary list traffic) then crafted a carefully worded,
helpful answer, only to find 5 others appear at the same time as mine.  Kind
of makes one feel like he's wasting his time.  But it's not an excuse to send
terse, essentally useless answers.

> But, some of these questions - is FreeBSD really free, etc get frustrating 
> because it is obvious that the poster didn't even read the first page of 
> the web site let alone try and look for an answer.  So, a few of the 
> posted questions deserve a mere yes or no answer.

I disagree, as Grog's document clearly states: "if you can't think of anything
nice to say, don't say anything at all" and I consider that list policy.

I understand your frustration.  As someone who's donated a bit to the doc
project, and can only _imagine_ how much effort others have put in to the
high-quality docs that FreeBSD has, I get annoyed when people won't read it
as well.  But I just suck it up and either post a pointer to the docs, or
delete it without answering.

>  - this from someone who could more often be accused of giving excessively
> long answers to even simple questions...
> 
> ////jerry
> 
> > 
> > First off, there are actually two questions hidden in the post: "Can FreeBSD
> > act as a WTS?", and "can FreeBSD provide the same services as WTS?"  Is "yes"
> > your answer to both of them?  Because, if it is, I'd like to know which
> > software allows it to function as a WTS, since my searches have not found any
> > such software.
> > 
> > This leads to the implied question of "what software provides the capability"
> > which (despite not being voice, directly) is pretty obvious.  You've totally
> > ignored that question.  You could say that "technically, he didn't ask" but it
> > boils down to just being rude.
> > </opinion>
> > 
> > I'm curious as to whether this is only my opinion, or if others feel the same
> > way.  I don't think answers like this reflect well on FreeBSD or the FreeBSD
> > community.  Short answers like "see 'man foo'" are appropriate, as they impart
> > some knowledge and tell the OP that his question is answered in the indicated
> > documentation, but this doesn't follow that template.
> > 
> > I do feel that, althought Grog's document doesn't specifically chastise these
> > types of answers, that they are _not_ in the "spirit" of that document, and do
> > not serve the purpose of this mailing list.
> > 
> > -- 
> > Bill Moran
> > Potential Technologies
> > http://www.potentialtech.com
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> > 
> 
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-- 
Bill Moran
Potential Technologies
http://www.potentialtech.com