On how to ask questions

["Björn Persson" <spam-away@nowhere.nil>]

M E Leypold wrote:
> I've quite often found a type of person that seems to
> behave as if the rest of usenet is just their service personnel, not
> volunteers or peers. They often seem not to realize how much they put
> of the very people they are asking for help. I haven't found out yet,
> why that is so. So sometimes I try to make them understand by
> answering their misguided diatribes / flames.

Markus, just in case you don't know about it, here's Eric Raymond's 
attempt to give those people a clue:
http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

The section "Before You Ask" says essentially the same as you said: 
"Show that you have tried to solve the problem yourself." The sections 
"How To Interpret Answers" and "On Not Reacting Like A Loser" are also 
quite relevant to the current case.

(The problem with that document is of course that those people who 
really need it are unlikely to find it and read it.)

-- 
Bj�rn Persson                              PGP key A88682FD
                    omb jor ers @sv ge.
                    r o.b n.p son eri nu