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On 12/19/06, Jeremy Wells <jwells / servalsystems.co.uk> wrote:
>
> Eric Hodel wrote:
> > On Dec 18, 2006, at 18:50, Trans wrote:
> >
> >> seems like there's been a steady drop off in experienced ruby users on
> >> the list. is it me or has there really been some sort of migration
> >> away?
> >
> > In the back-channels I've heard the following reasons for why
> > long-time readers of ruby-talk cut back:
> >
> > a) signal:noise ratio too low.
> > b) belligerent newbies.
> >
> I think that it's not just newbies, but newbies asking insensible
> questions, normally involving excel. There's also a lot of postings
> along the lines of "I've written this code, can you write it better for
> me" which is fair enough for an interesting bit of code, but normally
> the response should be, without sounding rude, "read the documentation
> or buy a ruby book". Newbies want answers often before working out what
> the question should be. And I'd consider myself a newbie on the way to
> intermedion, but I'd never post a question like "ruby.exe doesn't work
> on my windows xp! tell me what to do!?", or from a couple of pages down
> the list "I need to save an Excel Spreadsheet with Ruby. I used the Save
> AND SaveAs methods..." (What is it with excel? I've got no particular
> problem with it, but it seems to be a magnet for the ignorant).
>
> Jeremy
>
>
Yup while whining I forgot to talk about the real reasons.
You do have a good point, and maybe I am completely off but I still think a
FAQ would get rid of some of the noise, there would be the classic themes
* IDE
* Slow or not slow
* splash and some other very Rubyesque things
* Meaning of # #equal? (yessss I am whining again)
* What is true and what is not?
* Receivers of messages as in  x > 5
  NoMethodError: undefined method `>' for nil:NilClass,
  Q? But 5 is not nil, surely
* Upcoming changes or at least links
* Pitfalls like proc vs lambda
* goto Rails, without being impolite, it should be a pointer not a "get out
of here" ;)

I do not have too much time and I do not think that I am  qualified but
maybe be just starting a FAQ somebody will hit it until it is a good one ( I
know *some* stuff about Ruby after all), another idea is to include some
really useful links, like where to look first in case of certain specific
error categories and AGF, the Golden Rule for posting of course  - like the
old RTFM but politically correct ;)
Ask Google First

Just the same thoughts again.

Robert
-- 
"The real romance is out ahead and yet to come. The computer revolution
hasn't started yet. Don't be misled by the enormous flow of money into bad
defacto standards for unsophisticated buyers using poor adaptations of
incomplete ideas."

- Alan Kay

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