[mythtv-users] OT: Please shut up!

Rich West Rich.West at wesmo.com
Mon Jan 29 17:24:04 UTC 2007


Greg Woods wrote:
> On Mon, 2007-01-29 at 00:56 -0600, John Pierce wrote:
>
>   
>> The problem as I see it, is a lack of basic search engine
>> understanding.  
>>     
>
> I agree. I have been criticized in the past for asking questions that
> could have been answered with a Google search, but you have to know what
> to search for. I always try searching first, but that doesn't guarantee
> that I will find what I want even if it is out there.
>   

I also agree.

The other underlying problem is that, in many ways, a lot of the
problems that a new installer experiences is somewhat unique to their
installation.  Because of that, searches via google usually result in a
lot of answers that *nearly* answer your individual question, but not
quite.  Hunting through the variety of resources (Google, gossamer
(which I never use), the Wiki (completeness and applicability is usually
in question (versioning)) can take a very long time, especially if you
are not even sure as to the source of your problem.  (I've kept the
messages (5429 and counting) from mid December to make it easier to
search for similar questions/solutions)

This leads to my general feeling that in order for you to Google for
your solution, you need to have a little bit of an idea as to the source
of the problem you are experiencing.  Look back, and you will find a lot
of postings where people are just trying to start debugging the problem
by analyzing the symptoms.  Many times, the symptoms are just that and
do not point directly at the source of the problem.

-users lists are generally high volume.  Add to that the fact that a
MythTV installation is no walk in the park and the overall general
appeal of MythTV (you have a much larger audience), and you've got a
wonderful recipe for a lot of emails.

Personally, I try to do my research, but, as I am sure it is with others
on the list, there are a lot of times that you get completely lost or
confused.  Sure, I've posted a few off topic requests and responded to a
number of off-topic threads, but you are going to get that on a -users
list.   In many ways, I see it as bettering the community of subscribers
rather than bringing them down.

-Rich

PS: The hidden beauty of using "OT" on the subject line is that it is
easily filtered out (via your local mail tool, procmail, or whatever).


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