From: pyron@skndiv.dseg.ti.com (Dillon Pyron)
Subject: Re: Butthead
Reply-To: pyron@skndiv.dseg.ti.com
Organization: TI/DSEG VAX Support
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 19:20:32 GMT


In article <1h9hskINN1c9@gap.caltech.edu>, carl@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU (Carl J Lydick) writes:
>In article <1992Dec23.043743.5939@seq.uncwil.edu>, session@seq.uncwil.edu (Zack C. Sessions) writes:
>>carl@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU (Carl J Lydick) writes:
>Sort of.  If you take a look at my responses to various questions in this
>newsgroup, I think you'll find that I don't flame anybody who demonstrates
>an interest in learning how to deal with VMS.  I will, however, flame anybody
>who:
>	1)  Gets a detailed error message from VMS, then decides to ignore it
>	    when he posts his question to INFO-VMS/COMP.OS.VMS (questions of
>	    the form, "My program crashed, and spat out a whole screenful of
>	    stuff;  why did it crash [and, of course, the querant doesn't think
>	    that it's worth including ANY of that `Whole screenful of stuff'])
I posted to either here or INFO-MULTINET about a problem I was having with NFS
mounted disks and backup.  I said something along the lines of "backup
complains about the record size being hosed".  Carl sent me a personal,
friendly reply which asked that I be more specific and also answered my
question.  And he was right, a concise statement of the error message would
have made the solution even easier to come by.  Worse, for me, is that I demand
that of my users.

>	2)  Asks a question that can be answered via the HELP facility;
Actually, I learned how to use DCL with HELP.  But that was 1.5/1.6 time.

>	3)  Asks a question that's just been answered in this newsgroup; or
The question I hate is "I don't subscribe to this group, so E-Mail answers." 
If a newsgroup (any group) is important enough to you to answer heavy
questions, you should be scanning it daily.  IMHO.

>	4)  Asks a question, then ignores the answer's he's given (e.g.,
>	    questions of the form (and, yes, I *AM* (picking on Sabry here):
>		1:  When I increase the size of this array, my program takes 10
>		    times as long to run 
>		2:  (Answer): You're incurring lots of page faults.  You need to
>		    increase the size of the working set;
>		3:  Please comment on this SYSUAF entry for DEFAULT (in which
>		    the working set it STILL way too low)
Or the other form, "The docs say not to do this because of blah, but why
shouldn't I do it?"

>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Carl J Lydick | INTERnet: CARL@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU | NSI/HEPnet: SOL1::CARL
Please note that Carl (and Ehud and many others) are not paid to answer
questions on the Internet.  TI pays me to take care of my customers first, my
spare time is spent trying to help.  I'm just damn glad the Carl and Ehud take
the time to answer questions.  And, if somebody flies off the handle once in a
while, check the four question type above.  And did you send a (I hope)
gracious thank you?
>
--
Dillon Pyron                      | The opinions expressed are those of the
TI/DSEG Lewisville VAX Support    | sender unless otherwise stated.
(214)462-3556 (when I'm here)     |
(214)492-4656 (when I'm home)     |"Pacts with the devil are not legally
pyron@skndiv.dseg.ti.com          |binding!"
PADI DM-54909                     |-Friar Tuck   _Robin Hood:The Hooded Man_