Linux experts do not want to be bothered with newbie questions! (was:Re: No noobs?)

[Moshe Brace using Yahoo]

Good evening Shlomi,
I am in the club a newbe that often racks his brains for answers. I still find it difficult to deal with a compressed .tar file and install it. I am sure that for the experienced they do this with their eyes closed. Sometimes I get the /home/moshe/desktop/..... does not exist. Trying to get around in the console is sometimes for the newbe a real nightmare. When some experts say do this add this or that it may take quite a while before the console accepts the command request. I find that to make a file in a folder is a headache. I first have to cd to the actual directory, this I understand. Then I have to use mkedir to make the directory. To actually get a text file into that new directory I have to create the file and save to the desktop. Sometimes the mv file -T /Whatever works or CD to the relevant directory and type in the console "import /...../ and hope for the best.
Moshe

--- On Tue, 17/2/09, Shlomi Fish <shlomif at iglu.org.il> wrote:
From: Shlomi Fish <shlomif at iglu.org.il>
Subject: Re: Linux experts do not want to be bothered with newbie questions! (was:Re: No noobs?)
To: linux-il at cs.huji.ac.il
Date: Tuesday, 17 February, 2009, 7:09 PM

On Tuesday 17 February 2009 14:23:23 Dotan Cohen wrote:
> > Compiling a Kernel was a new thing in 1995, when I started doing it.
Now
> > it's usually not necessary for the average user to do, and IMHO
saying
> > that you had to do it to access a device would scare away the average
new
> > user.
> >
> > As for writing a driver, it's not a noob thing, it's not even
an "expert"
> > thing.
> >
> > I expect that the number of people who have even read a driver's
source
> > code on this list could be counted on the fingers of one hand.
>
> Exactly. The distinction between noob and experienced posts is too
> blurry today to justify two lists. Especially when there is
> essentially _no_traffic_ on the noobs list (I subscribed yesterday and
> there have been no messages so far).

There is indeed very little traffic on GNUbies-IL . I expect most new Linux 
users ask on web-forums instead of on mailing lists. I'm still a GNUbies-IL

admin in case someone posts, and am subscribed there to answer any questions 
that people may have. 

I personally support accepting beginners' posts here on Linux-IL, assuming 
there will be any. I don't expect the added traffic to overwhelm Linux-IL,
and 
it may lead to interesting more advanced or more philosophical discussions. 
Some beginners may be intimidated by the more advanced questions, but I doubt 
it will be an issue. In any case, maintaining GNUbies-IL is not time consuming 
at all, so I'm perfectly fine keeping it in its mostly-dormant condition.

Regards,

	Shlomi Fish

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Shlomi Fish       http://www.shlomifish.org/
Interview with Ben Collins-Sussman - http://xrl.us/bjn8s

<mauke>    I'm not interested in what you're doing; what are you
trying to 
           achieve?
<PerlJam>  mauke: I'm trying to achieve world peace and this regex is
           the last thing standing in my way! ;)


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