Fred Read wrote:
>
> Not wishing to offend anyone, but as a regular participant
> on this and a number of other mailing lists, the manner in
> which a question is asked often dictates the type of reply.
>
> Section 2 of the manual [see URL below] "2. MySQL mailing
> lists and how to ask questions or report errors (bugs)" is
> an excellent guide to the most effective way to ask for
> help.
>
> The best ways *not* to get an useful reply to your query
> include;
>
> * Posting the same query two or more times in a
> short space of a time [several minutes or even
> hours].
> * Not giving enough information to fully describe
> your problem.
> * Posting in a foreign [no english] language.
> * Being abusive.
>
> Ways to encourage people to reply;
>
> * Choose a meaningful subject eg: "Problems compiling
> 3.23.0 under Solaris 2.7" and not "HELP!!!!!!!!!!!"
> or "IF I DON'T SOLVE THIS TODAY I WILL GET SACKED!"
> * Be polite.
> * Follow the procedures outlined in the manual...
>
> Things to remember;
>
> * This is an international mailing list and your plea
> for help goes out to thousands of people WORLDWIDE.
> * Be polite, everyone here is a volunteer. None of us
> gets paid to answer your questions, we do it out of
> the goodness of our hearts...
> * Although the mailing list language is English to
> many people English is a foreign language.
> Try not to "nit pick" over English usage, grammar
> and spelling even if it is a "pet peeve" of yours
> [as it is of mine].
> I for one know most other people's English is better
> than my Swahili!
> * It may be midday where you are but the person who
> can help you might still be asleep!
> * Do not repost your message and start getting annoyed
> just because no one has answered within 10 minutes.
> The majority of people won't even have *seen* your
> message by then.
> * Only repost if you haven't seen your message on the
> list after a reasonable period of time [six to eight
> hours] or if it appears and no one has replied after
> two or three days.
> Anything less makes you look impatient and possibly
> arrogant - Help me! my problem is more important
> than your time!
>
> I hope the above points and the relevant manual section
> "http://www.mysql.com/Manual/manual.html#Mailing-list"
> will prove useful to everyone.
>
> Apologies if the above has offended anyone, it wasn't
> intended to...
>
> Let's all work together to make this list a helpful
> place for MySQL users everywhere!
> --
Amen to that! Very helpful suggestions. Let us all
follow them.
--
Sasha Pachev
http://www.sashanet.com/ (home)
http://www.direct1.com/ (work)
