On Sun, 17 Jan 1993 01:20:03 +0100 Eric Thomas
<[log in to unmask]> said:
 
>Nobody asked them  to spend *days* looking for the  answer before asking,
>the point  is to overcome  human laziness and  do the volunteers  who are
>going to help you the courtesy of  trying to save them time if it doesn't
>cost you more  than a 3-minutes database search. One  thing I can't stand
>is people who start their message with "I know the answer is in the book,
>but I haven't got time to check books, so I'm asking you". Given that I'm
 
I certainly share that frustration.  I moderate a list, NETTRAIN, for
BITNET and Internet trainers.  NETTRAINers don't have to be "experts,"
but one would expect a certain level of experience.  Nonetheless, I
frequently get subscribers who see "NETTRAIN" and think "Oh boy, I
can get trained here!"  That's one reason NETTRAIN is now a moderated
list.  However, today I posted a message from a brand-new subscriber
who asked something like "Where do I go to learn all about BITNET
and Internet?"  I hesitated a long time before posting it, but I
finally approved it because I know there are people who will be
willing to give this individual a few pointers to the usual
resources.
 
Although I did let this message get through, my argument here is not
that everyone should feel free to ask any question, no matter how
naive or inappropriate, on any list they choose.  Rather, I was
struck by the cultural differences between different lists in terms
of what people object to.  Most lists that I read that are frequented
by librarians show a high tolerance for FAQs and naive questions,
perhaps because librarians _are_ paid to deal with these sorts of
questions every day.  For a reference librarian, dealing with
"stupid questions" is not a distraction from his or her job; it is
a large part _of_ that job.  For other Internet users this may be
quite different.
 
Jim Milles
Saint Louis University Law Library
[log in to unmask]