Marc Sherman wrote:
> Jason Meers wrote:
>
>>Your right, it was the Marc Perkel posting that prompted me to post
>>however if you look back over the last 4 years, 232 threads contained
>>the phrase RTFM, the number of individual posts within these 232 threads
>>will put the RTFM figure much higher.
>>
>>This is not just a recent issue or simply a "Perkel" issue.
>
>
> I know you haven't singled me out explicitly there, but just in case
> anyone thinks you are, I feel that I should respond. I just grepped my
> entire sent folder, which goes back to when I started using IMAP in
> December 2004. I found exactly 3 other instances of the phrase RTFM
> (plus one message with RTFM in a base64 encoded attachment, but that
> doesn't count).
>
> One of them was to Bill Hacker on this list, suggesting that he read
> Philip's messages in the mailing list archives countering his statement
> that I should RTFM about exim using TLS-on-connect as a client:
>
> http://www.exim.org/mail-archives/exim-users/Week-of-Mon-20051121/msg00042.html
- And said Bill Hacker hasn't a problem in the world with that.
I still configure the port in a 'contrarian' manner, but am glad
of the advice ;-)
Being told to go away and research more diligently when I need
to has saved me a great deal of grief - why complain?
>
> The other two were meta-discussions about RTFMing, on this list and
> exim-dev:
>
> http://www.exim.org/mail-archives/exim-users/Week-of-Mon-20050822/msg00125.html
> http://www.exim.org/mail-archives/exim-dev/2005-May/msg00032.html
>
> BTW, sorry I never did get around to making those wiki changes to the
> MailingListEtiquette page.
>
> - Marc, still sleeping soundly
>
I think we can all do so.
I count a mere 18 'RTFM' in the 2277 posts since 10:59 2 Feb
2006, a max of two per-poster. On inspection, most of those
only show 'doubles' because of quoting in a related reply....
I find a mere 174 more in the 30,189 posts between 27 November
2003 06:40 and 20:57 1 Feb 2006. (just my 'Local Folders')
With the wider time-span, there is a higher 'hit' per poster,
but the same thing is found - each 'RTFM' is requoted one or
more times in later responses - as noted in your meta-discussion
reference....
So - looks to me as if a maximum of half, and more realistically
1/3 or 1/4 of the hits actually count in the category of that
initial 'slap' that is supposed to be such a problem.
Perhaps an average of one R-T-F-M per every two or three hundred
posts?
I have a comparable archive of Courier-MTA traffic. It's a good
list and there is a high level of expertise shared. But anyone
interested in going there will need a much thicker skin than on
this list.
