On Sat, 16 Jan 1993 18:02:00 EST "Peter M. Weiss +1 814 863 1843" said:
 
>[log in to unmask]  Notebook archives are available at a number of
>bitnet host sites, so check them out before posting a question that's
>already been answered.
>
>/Pete
 
Of course, Pete is not the only one to say this; it's part of
Internet tradition that one should check all the appropriate documents,
wherever they may be, before asking a frequently asked question.
 
I have to question this tradition.  I am a law librarian, and I work
daily with busy professionals, and when I am not doing Internet things
I try to teach lawyers and law students how to do effective research.
One of the most important things that I try to teach them is not to
continually "reinvent the wheel."  Another thing I teach them is that
it is frequently much more efficient to ask somebody who knows rather
than to spend hours or days floundering around in books and online
databases.
 
The ability to "ask someone who knows" is the single greatest strength
of discussion lists.  The discussion list I use daily, law-lib, is
regularly used in this way, and nobody worries about whether a question
has been asked before; the answer may have changed.
 
Discussion lists give an individual access to a diverse community of
experts.  Why should an individual spend days searching through
ftp sites, FAQs, LISTSERV archives, and who knows how many other
miscellaneous sources, when they could ask a single question on
a discussion list and receive answers that afternoon from people
who know?
 
I realize this question goes beyond the scope of this list, but
since the rule "ask only as a last resort" has been insisted on
so strongly here, this seems an appropriate place to question
the rule.
 
Jim Milles
Saint Louis University Law Library
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