Re:Friction Between Programming Professionals and Beginners
by SilasX on Wednesday February 10, 2016 @02:37PM
(#11075377)
Per padseeker's sibling comment, asking random strangers for help at a gym is not an analogy because there's no social expectation that you'll be asked for help or that you'll provide such help just by going to the gym, whereas forums are places where you're expected to ask for help.
The relevant comparison would be to the gym's front desk. So, extending the metaphor:
1) Yes, it would be offputting if you asked them about lifts there and they just scoffed.
2) Yes, I have asked for help like this before ("where's the first aid kit, I'm bleeding?") and had that treatment, and it sucked.
3) But being pointed to the appropriate resource is a very reasonable response, and it's analogous to (a precise variant of) RTFM. It would be like:
"How do I lift?" -> "Oh, ask one of the people in red shirts."
"What are the rules?" -> "Oh, it's on that sign over there."
Not much different from:
"How do I make a website?" -> "start from this link"
"How do I make my DB queries faster?" -> "search for database index"
The relevant comparison would be to the gym's front desk. So, extending the metaphor:
1) Yes, it would be offputting if you asked them about lifts there and they just scoffed.
2) Yes, I have asked for help like this before ("where's the first aid kit, I'm bleeding?") and had that treatment, and it sucked.
3) But being pointed to the appropriate resource is a very reasonable response, and it's analogous to (a precise variant of) RTFM. It would be like:
"How do I lift?" -> "Oh, ask one of the people in red shirts."
"What are the rules?" -> "Oh, it's on that sign over there."
Not much different from:
"How do I make a website?" -> "start from this link"
"How do I make my DB queries faster?" -> "search for database index"