Folks,
I threatened to do this a few months ago.... Here's a first draft. I
was thinking of it as something that might get posted the beginning of
the month, or sent to someone who drops in with "it doesn't
work!!!".
PLEASE feel free, no, *please* rip, shred, tear, rend this, and help
me make it usable.
mark
#####################################################################
1. This mailing list is here for folks around the world to share knowledge
about CentOS
and Linux. This is not a paid tech support organization - if you want
that, buy
a RedHat subscription.
2. We are not here to do your job for you. If you think we should, perhaps
you
should pay us. Before asking us, have you:
a) read the documentation (RTFM)?
b) checked the CentOS wiki for howtos and FAQs?
i) <http://centos.org>, and click on "information"
ii) <http://wiki.centos.org/>
c) googled for documents on the Web?
3. Many of your problems have been discussed and solved. Feel free to ask
for a link
to the solution, or the discussion.
4. When you post a question,
a) mention the version of CentOS, and of any other software;
b) give a full explanation of the problem, not merely "networking is
broke,
how do I fix it", or something like that, and
c) Include error messages if possible. Do *not* put pages of them - edit
so that you give only a few lines of example, or only the relevant
message lines, not, say, the entire dump of dmesg.
On 7/30/2010 9:35 AM, m.roth at 5-cent.us wrote:> Folks, > > I threatened to do this a few months ago.... Here's a first draft. I > was thinking of it as something that might get posted the beginning of > the month, or sent to someone who drops in with "it doesn't work!!!". > > PLEASE feel free, no, *please* rip, shred, tear, rend this, and help > me make it usable.I don't quite see the point of posting stuff to try to control what people who don't read before posting will do... But, if you want to make the futile effort, the only thing that matters to me is that the subject line is written carefully to reflect the topic. It is easy enough to ignore off-topic postings as long as the subject identifies them as such. A FAQ on how to answer might be more useful, pointing out that the list is archived in various places and the replies will come up in future searches, thus the replies that tell people to search for themselves instead of including the definitive link to an answer not only are useless to the requester but interfere with everyone's ability to search later. -- Les Mikesell lesmikesell at gmail.com
On Fri, Jul 30, 2010 at 10:35 AM, <m.roth at 5-cent.us> wrote:> > I threatened to do this a few months ago.... Here's a first draft. I > was thinking of it as something that might get posted the beginning of > the month, or sent to someone who drops in with "it doesn't work!!!". > > ? ?PLEASE feel free, no, *please* rip, shred, tear, rend this, and help > me make it usable. > > ##################################################################### > > 1. This mailing list is here for folks around the world to share knowledge > about CentOS > ? ? and Linux. This is not a paid tech support organization - if you want > that, buy > ? ? a RedHat subscription. > > 2. We are not here to do your job for you. If you think we should, perhaps > you > ? ? ?should pay us. Before asking us, have you: > ? a) read the documentation (RTFM)? > ? b) checked the CentOS wiki for howtos and FAQs? > ? ? ? ? i) <http://centos.org>, and click on "information" > ? ? ? ? ii) <http://wiki.centos.org/> > ? c) googled for documents on the Web? > > 3. Many of your problems have been discussed and solved. Feel free to ask > for a link > ? ? ?to the solution, or the discussion. > > 4. When you post a question, > ? a) mention the version of CentOS, and of any other software; > ? b) give a full explanation of the problem, not merely "networking is > broke, > ? ? ? ?how do I fix it", or something like that, and > ? c) Include error messages if possible. Do *not* put pages of them - edit > ? ? ? ?so that you give only a few lines of example, or only the relevant > ? ? ? ?message lines, not, say, the entire dump of dmesg.First the negative comments. In (1), "if you want that, buy a RedHat subscription" is unnecessary. In (2), "If you think we should, perhaps you should pay us" is really unnecessary. Second the positive comments. Overall, a very good undertaking. In (4) - use a meaningful subject - separate opinion from fact - use a pastebin to post a full log
m.roth at 5-cent.us wrote:> 2. We are not here to do your job for you. If you think we should, perhaps > you > should pay us. Before asking us, have you: > a) read the documentation (RTFM)? > b) checked the CentOS wiki for howtos and FAQs? > i) <http://centos.org>, and click on "information" > ii) <http://wiki.centos.org/> > c) googled for documents on the Web?Line c should include a link - thus: http://google.com/linux
> > ##################################################################### > > 1. This mailing list is here for folks around the world to share knowledge > about CentOS > and Linux. This is not a paid tech support organization - if you want > that, buy > a RedHat subscription. > > 2. We are not here to do your job for you. If you think we should, perhaps > you > should pay us. Before asking us, have you: > a) read the documentation (RTFM)? > b) checked the CentOS wiki for howtos and FAQs? > i) <http://centos.org>, and click on "information" > ii) <http://wiki.centos.org/> > c) googled for documents on the Web? > > 3. Many of your problems have been discussed and solved. Feel free to ask > for a link > to the solution, or the discussion. >I prospose rephrasing the above FAQ entries in a more neutral tone: 1) What are my Centos support options? Generally speaking, you have three options: 1) The centos-users mailing list. Developers, systems administrators and end-users all contribute on the mailing list on a best effort basis. Questions are answered as people's time and experience allow. This is a volunteer effort and there are no gaurutees anything will be answered or answered in a give time frame, though we do our best and historically are quite good. It is strongly recommended you search the archives first, as you can get an answer much faster and we can focus our time on new issues and projects. 2) The Centos IRC channel. The channel can be found on irc.freenode.net, channel #centos Same ground rules as the mailing list. 3) Commercial support. There are number of commercial support providers. They are best found by a search on your favorite search engine. Alternatively switching over to Redhat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and purchasing a support contract is a good option. If you require answers or support at a moment's notice, this is your best option. Insert links to mailing lists and other resources approprate.... Just my two cents.