RE: Newbie Questions

While I don't exactly consider myself a "newbie," having been involved with the 
S/38-AS/400 for 12 years or so, I'm a long way from anything resembling an 
"expert." Almost every day I'm reminded of just how much there is to know about 
the AS400 and how little I know. There's a lot about this baby I'll NEVER know. 
Based on some of the questions I've asked on this list, I'm sure I sound like a 
"newbie." And in a sense, I am.

How many of you "old-timers" were running Web servers on your machines ten 
years ago? How many of you had even HEARD of the Internet ten years ago? The 
point is, something new to learn about is always coming along, making all of us 
"newbies" from time to time. Trying to keep up with all the things going on in 
the computer world is as bad as being a Doctor keeping up with the changes in 
medicine.

RTFM is good advice but let's face it: even with the ability to search the 
manuals on CD or on the Internet, IBM's manuals leave a lot to be desired. 
Finding the information you want doesn't necessarily lead to understanding. If 
it did, this list wouldn't be needed.

Then there's the time factor. We're all pretty busy people. Newbie or not, if 
you can get a quick answer to a question by posting it here, versus searching 
through manuals and web sites for a couple of hours, which would you choose? 
You may not get an answer here. (I certainly haven't had many of mine 
answered.) But you may get a response telling you where to find the answer and 
that's just as good.

Many discussion lists have FAQs of their most often-asked questions that new 
subscribers are requested to read before actively participating in the list. To 
my knowledge no such FAQ exists for this list. If you don't want to answer 
newbie questions, maybe you'd better create one. Or create some stock answers 
(like boilerplate) that you can paste into your email.

I gather that the MAJORDOMO software used on this list isn't as sophisticated 
as some others. I understand that LISTSERV, e.g., allows you to send commands 
to query the discussion archives, so a person may be able to find the answer to 
a question that has already been asked. Care to make a donation for an upgrade?

Everybody should be welcome here, as long as they abide by the simple rules. 
Personally, if this place became too "exclusive," I'd have to find another 
place to hang out. If you don't want to deal with "newbies," as someone else on 
the list has already suggested, then don't respond. There's already enough 
chatter and "me-too" responses to wade through. 

Thanks for letting me ante up my two cents.

David Murphy
Information Services
Oregon State Scholarship Commission
1500 Valley River Drive
Eugene, OR 97401
(541) 687-7433



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