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]