How to Ask a Smart Question
After reading a 2 pg rant from a new Linux user complaining that his questions were not being answered, I did a little googling and found a post on how to ask a smart question. I added a link here mainly so I could review it later, when I needed to ask a smart question.
Personally, I like to help new users learn new things, but only if they’ve attempted to find the answer themselves first. Some topics are complex and new users have difficulty with those topics. Linux is a very complex subject. There are at least 100 different ways to accomplish any single task in Linux, so the 1-way to do something like Apple provides simply does not exist. Those different options all have pros/cons. Sometimes many steps will need to be used, in a specific order. Sometimes 10 different people will know a small portion of the solution, but not the entire solution, so it is up the the asker to piece the parts together as necessary.
Experienced Linux users aren’t trying to be mean to new users, but a new user should not expect to gain 20 years of unix knowledge after 6 months or even 5 yrs of effort. The world simply does not work that way for non-trivial problems regardless of what a new user may believe from using other operating systems. It would be helpful for me if their question was even partially correct. With 20+ yrs in using computers, it is difficult for me to understand poorly worded or completely incorrect questions from new users. On the listsrv with the rant a login prompt was mentioned. The problem with this is there are many different login prompts with each behaving a little differently. There’s the ssh login, local text tty login and many different X/Windows logins. How the user gets to view the prompt matters too for almost any answer. UNIX is complex. That’s just they way it is.
The particular part of the rant that really bothered me was this:
The OS is too complicated and granular for even advanced Windows users to step into quickly.
UNIX came first, by many years. MS-Windows isn’t easy for someone with a UNIX background to step into quickly either. I don’t have any belief that I should be able to learn MS-Windows to an expert level in just a few years of use.
Not getting answers is part of life. OTOH, perhaps I wasn’t asking a smart question?
Also the rant did not include a single thank you or please. Manners are always a good idea when you are asking for help.
Thank you for reading.
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