Why newbies don't RTFM... 4734

Sometimes people find solutions to problems they have with a given computer system through experimentation and improvisation. The solutions they come up with are often wrong from more general points of view, but the users don't realize that they still have a problem because, as far as they know, they have solved their problem and actually feel pretty good about having figured it out themselves. Imagine after a long period of that kind of experimental self-education one runs across a problem that ultimately reveals that their entire understanding of how the system works is wrong and they don't know where to start in dealing with it. Lots of people are too busy fighting alligators to drain the swamp and it can look like a mighty big swamp sometimes.

The best advice I ever got about computers was that it is worth the effort to go systematically through the manual and try everything out just for the experience, because the time invested in that effort is nothing compared to the effort involved in trying to get the manual to work for you when you need it in a crisis, to say nothing of the stress. Maybe advising people to read the manual should more explicitly emphasize that point, since a lot of people being told to RTFM are in crisis mode. -- Ignorantly, * Disclaimer: I am a guest and *not* a member of the MIT CSAIL. My actions and * comments do not reflect in any way on MIT. Also, I am nowhere near Boston.