ceb@ethz.UUCP (Charles Buckley) (11/24/86)
Summary: RTFM as an answer is unacceptable The number of postings I have seen on the `touch' drama compels me to add a word. I am over in Europe, so this should make it back to the main net stream well after the adrenalin has subsided. The `audit trail' of this posting series is: > In article <850@ihlpf.UUCP> straka@ihlpf.UUCP (Straka) writes: > >> In article <808@mtund.UUCP> adam@mtund.UUCP (Adam V. Reed) writes: > >> >> How can one change the date/time stamp of a file? > >> >See touch(1) in the User Reference Manual (RTFM!). > >> The original poster > >> the file...he wants to put *any* time on the file. There are three > >No, no, 'touch' provides the current time stamp as a *default*. > >The syntax (at least on SVR2) for touch is: > O.K., enough is enough! . . . > Please use a little common sense when posting. . . . As I see it, the large number of postings this simple question engendered were not due to the question itself; many such simple questions are posted to this newsgroup and answered by mail all the time. Different about this case was the initial response posted, containing the letters RTFM, meaning "read the f**king manual". Once this had been done, m a n y chimed in, either with concrete support (answering the original question in earnest) or moral support. As things evolved, consensus seemed to develop that those who post such questions should be specific about versions, etc. What I did not see (and I feel many would have wanted to see this) was for someone to take issue with the guy who blurted back RTFM. Since the Unix `manual' is a set comprising some nine books, the idea of `reading' it is absolutely ludicrous. How many people do you think who snap RTFM at others when they know of some tidbit in the manual that others overlooked have actually done what they `preach'? I see this as a practice of a kind of `knowledge rascism' - using incidental circumstances (here ignorance) to put another at an emotional disadvantage. It reflects badly on s/he who practices it. Depending on the version of Unix used, manual indexing ranges from fair to really sad. As I understand it, net.unix is not for experts, its for novices - battle-scarred gurus have net.unix-wizards. Novitiate status can also have to do with swimming through the manual sea. As such, net.unix is a valid place to seek help - such questions should not be dumped upon, and certainly not in public. Just imagine, perhaps this person's boss is in the habit of snarling RTFM too! Charles Buckley mcvax!ethz!jungfrau!ceb -- Dr. Charles E. Buckley uucp: mcvax!ethz!jungfrau!ceb earn: BUCKLEY@CZHETH5A Institut fuer Integrierte Systeme ETH-Zentrum CH-8092 Zuerich (Suisse) Tel: 01/256 5245 (national) +411 256 5245 (international)