Re: A ? for Lanny


Lanny Chambers skrev:
> In article <1124528282.352821.26470@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
> "Rune Allnor" <allnor@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > Can you guearentee the people who email you would know what a FAQ is,
> > and have heard about a FAQ before they email you?
>
> Have you seen my site, Rune? The button says, "Looking for answers?" I
> would be happy to entertain suggestions on better wording.

Yep, I've seen it and I think you are doing a splendid job.

My point is just that there are people in the other end, who
have a different set of experience and a different way of
doing things than you or me. I would not be surprised
if somebody who finds your page one hour after having seen what
they believe to be a hummingbird for the first time in their
life, does not sit down quietly to evaluate the layout of the
page before dropping you an email.

If somebody sees -- notices -- something for the first time,
the adrenaline is flushing and they would just want to get in
touch with somebody who can comment on what they saw. You
mention that people notify you about moths as "baby hummingbirds".
OK, it's a nuisance to you who have to deal with lots
of questions of this sort, but so what? What if the person
who asks saw his or her first hummingbird last week? What
if this is the second or third observation after their seminal,
eye-opening observation? The questions could be "premature",
"silly", "stupid" or whatever you want to call them, but
everybody have been novices at something at one time or
another. Does "novice" or "inexperienced" necessarily
qualify as "stupid"?

I am guilty of having put very stupid questions to some of
the local birding enthusiasts. I messed up, probably giving
a more than slightly confused impression in the process.
I realized my folly, and tried to learn from it. But then,
I am a trained academic and have done a lot of teaching over
the years. Somebody without my hands-on experience with the
learning process might have needed some gentle guidance
to get past this particular hurdle.

"Silly" questions are part of the learning experience. Now I
try to look carefully at the birds I see, making an effort
to check and double-check the details I notice.

> OTOH, I got just as many of the same questions when the Q&A section was
> on the front page, in plain sight. I suspect we're dealing with
> Attention Deficit Disorder here, where the motto is "ready, fire, aim."
> In that case, by the time I replied, they would have forgotten asking
> the question in the first place!

Maybe, but not necessarily. I am very naive and tend to think
the best of people. The rush of seeing for the first time
wildlife you did not realize to be there, just in front of you,
can be pretty overwhelming. I experienced that rush myself
with birding in general only a couple of years ago. These last
few weeks and months have been an almost continuous adrenaline
rush because of all these raptors that all of a sudden appear
everywhere.

People are not stupid because they don't know what you or I
take for granted. It might be that they have not been made
aware of this or that argument before.

Rune

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: C programming
    ... label people in a simple-minded fashion after you've made your mind up ... based on the rudest type of shibboleths that obtain in the most ... There are very few questions I consider stupid the first time. ...
    (comp.lang.c)
  • Re: Im going to train homeless people to make a living playing poker
    ... I'm going to put together a team of homeless dudes ... they could learn to make even just $1,000/month playing poker it would ... This may be the first time I've ever seen some dipshit bite at an obvious ... Can you imagine having a Polock tell you how stupid you are? ...
    (rec.gambling.poker)
  • Re: Owner info
    ... It's the first time this happened, how about a general memo among the whole ... It may have been stupid behaviour, but over-reaction is just as stupid. ... > give them a stupidly small punishment for the crime they have commited, ... >> People nowadays are pointing fingers and wanting who's to blame. ...
    (microsoft.public.pocketpc)
  • Re: Now its Saturday...
    ... get it right the first time. ... delayed for this flight means fewer days until her next flight. ... concerns about ISS attitude WRT the sun placing Shuttle in a poor ... There's not a need to rush, ...
    (sci.space.shuttle)
  • Re: sort-like syntax
    ... behaving like the built-in sort function. ... But you may think it is a stupid idea. ... asked why you can't declare $a and $b and not have it affect the output. ... I was right the first time. ...
    (comp.lang.perl.misc)