jcmorris@mwunix.mitre.org (Joe Morris) (07/08/90)
In article <168@evtprp0b.UUCP> tea6219@evtprp0b.UUCP (Terry E. Acker) writes: >In article <200@sc2a.unige.ch> fisher@sc2a.unige.ch (Markus Fischer) writes: > >> [flame about incorrect suggestions deleted] > > [...] If I post a problem on the net, I would much rather get a great >number of comments, some of which may be incorrect (because the person >didn't have the time to verify it) to sort through, then get none at all! Amen. Even if a suggested fix isn't correct, it may start someone thinking about a different approach and thus help lead to a solution. I seriously doubt that there's any professional programmer who has been in the business for more than a few years who hasn't espoused a response to a problem because the response is complete, sophisticated, elegant...and turns out to be utterly wrong. As long as someone learns from the mistake (hopefully including whoever made it) then it's useful. There *is* a lot of net.noise here, including a few postings which probably deserve an RTFM type of response. Despite this, I would prefer to encourage people to post their comments; I find it useful among other reasons because it lets me see what type of problems some of the non-guru users are encountering. Remember that all of us once knew nothing about computers. A technical rejoinder to a suggested fix is perfectly legitimate if you disagree with it. An _ad_hominem_ attack isn't. Joe Morris