Re: [exim] Referring people to the docs vs. an example

Marc Perkel wrote:

> There is a really bad attitude that is developing on this list regarding
> being rude to people with questions. Although Exim is by far the best
> MTA out there it's not easy to use. I've been using it for 6 years and I
> still find it hard to do things that should be simple. There are a lot
> of severe inconsistencies in the Exim syntax that are not documented or
> poorly documented and although Exim can do very powerful things, it is
> often very hard to tell it what you want to do.

Maybe, if you would have read the documentation at least ONCE in this
six years, many things would have been a lot easier to you and many
volunteer here.

Phil and many others did a great job on the documentation. If you would
have spend some time on it, you'll find it very easy to search for the
information you want. You don't need to know everything, you just need
to know where to look for it. I've the feeling that's something you
really need to learn.

For years now, every two days or so you come up with some new question
that's mostly easily answered by the docs. A lot of peoples time goes
into answering your questions. They look up the documentation for you,
they point to directly to your answers, and all you do is complaining
about their work. Please, the next time you think about asking on this
list, CHECK THE DOCUMENTATION FIRST. Every half decent text-pager/editor
has a way to search for keywords. Most of the time this will be enough
to find your answers. If you can't find them, THEN come to the list and
ask your question. Thats the way it should work. The regulars on this
list are not here to do your job, they are here to help with real
problems (and they do it for free and in their spare time). If you want
somebody to hold your hand the whole time, get some paid support.

Three or four years ago I was pretty active on this list, answering a
lot of questions, until I realized that I was spending too much time
helping people who were just to lazy to read the docs and learn
something about exim (People like you Marc, but you really are their
king). This (and some personal issues) made me quit back then. Lets hope
others are more resilient than me. ;)
(Btw: I'm not saying that everybody wanting help here is to lazy to read
the docs. And MOST people also value when you just point them into the
right direction by telling them where to look it up.)

Nico - still around lurking - Erfurth

P.S: Sorry for digging this one up again, I'm just a bit fed up of Marcs
attitude.