Linked by Eugenia Loli on Wed 12th Apr 2006 00:27 UTC
BSD and Darwin derivatives Gentoo/FreeBSD is a Unix-like operating system developed by Gentoo Linux developers in order to bring Gentoo Linux design principles such as Portage to the FreeBSD operating system. Gentoo/FreeBSD is part of the larger Gentoo/BSD project. Read the interview here.
Permalink for comment 114135
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
RE[4]: Wait...
by kamper on Wed 12th Apr 2006 14:12 UTC in reply to "RE[3]: Wait..."
kamper
Member since:
2005-08-20

So you want people to feel unwelcome unless they're willing to read a swathe of documentation first?

You're clouding the issue in a huge way here. If the alternative to reading a 'swathe' of documentation is asking a 'swathe' of questions that were answered yesterday and every day for the past however long, then yes, there is a problem.

Poor documentation is one of the most annoying things about an operating system so when maintainers actually go to the trouble of writing good docs, they damn well want people to use them. Of course, people can't be expected to understand that instantly, but explaining it is often much more productive in the long run than continuing to treat everyone with kid-gloves. Seeing people get flamed (and occasionally getting flamed myself) is what made me realize how much more efficient reading documentation can be, both for me and for the people that already know the answers.

I think that most of the people that you find 'mean' actually turn out to be quite pleasant and welcoming if you take the effort to do a few things to make their day a bit easier.

Reply Parent Score: 3