I have noticed a lot of off-thread replies in the group, these don't really help those of us who are researching a subject.
For example:
From: Liam ( snipped-for-privacy@a.com) Subject: Hotpoint washing machine motor Newsgroups: uk.d-i-y Date: 2003-07-16 11:15:41 PST has one reply which is relevant, then the thread goes off about imps (cars...)
Please please please try to keep irrelevant replies to a minimum. I know it's nice to share experiences like these, but as I noticed most of the regulars are on first name terms and could discuss these points via e-mail.
I found many "long" threads, only to find that about 5% of the replies are really useful...
I have to say, I agree with Brian. What you're suggesting doesn't sound like it would be much fun. And as well as being one of the greatest resouces on the planet, this group is also enormous fun.
I did in fact install a surge protector (RS 198-0452), but I've been too chicken to "test it", so I still unplug the incoming phone line in bad storms. No equipment lost so far.
Gentlemen, please keep on topic with this D-I-Y site. Oh I forgot, if you fit the surge protector yourself then it is d-i-y - so it must be on topic - silly old me :-))))))) and lol
I'm with Brain and Grump :-)) on this point too. It is one thing getting the information you need to complete a project, but not to the have the fun of discussing what and how you finally did completed it, is really part of what this group creates.
If a question is asked correctly, then the information that you find in the first five percent of the replies is usually enough to point you in the right direction to do the job, and to continue with any more replies from others would only be covering what has probably been said at the beginning of the replies. Unless your me that is. I can make a thread last for days until everyone has said their piece about how wrong I've been in the advice I've given. :-))
See what I mean. Now this thread has gone off at all sorts of tangents. :-))
Ah, but discussions in *this* thread about surge protectors are off topic! The only on-topic subject in this thread is a discussion about off-thread replies!
So, start a new thread about surge protectors...but don't discuss off-thread replies in *that* thread...! Because that would be off-topic for that thread...
Well, you have a point, and I'm probably as guilty as the next man, but then again, that's one of the joys of this ng; it is (generally) a very friendly place, and it is surprising just how much useful information you can pick up from a seemingly unimportant anecdote. Banning them would take three quarters of the fun out of it. This isn't a meeting of the Parliamentary Subcommittee on Doing It Yourself, it's more like a gang of people sat around a few tables in the snug of a friendly pub somewhere, occasionally swapping tables.
Two things. Firstly, many regulars here will insert [OT] or OT: at the beginning of the subject line when it is obvious that something is going way off track. On top of that, some will even *change* the subject, though not the "references". I dunno, perhaps we can encourage this.
Second, I am certainly no expert in Googling, but I suspect that it should be reasonably possible to weed out such replies, even if just visually.
I am fortunate enough to read the ng offline (though at the end of a
33k6 modem), and choose what to read by headers (subject) only. Most days there are at least 250 posts, but I only download half of those. I dread to think what is going to happen when (if!) I next go away on holiday for any length of time, but I won't be complaining about OT posts :-)
Relax a bit. If you can't afford hours searching because you have an urgent problem, take the plunge and ask. One or two may say "but we discussed that 18 months ago, can't you look it up?" but others will probably jump right in with an answer... or more probably three completely different, mutually exclusive, answers, four more answers that are variations on one of those first three, and twenty-five anecdotes about "what happened when I accidentally connected the water main to the gas main" which are vaguely on topic, but don't even attempt to answer the question.
snipped-for-privacy@spamcop.net (Bob Eager) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@rikki.tavi.co.uk:
Speaking of that....
From the langa list
Brooks Hatch sends along this spoof of Linux:
If Linux was a car...Sense of Humor required!
M: Hey Pete, Can you help me put a radio in my Debian? P: You're an Idiot, RTFM!
M: I need more help than that. P: You're an idiot! I did a Google search. It's in the page referenced by the footnote in the 37th hit. If I could find it, so can you.
GS: (good Samaritan) You need to rebuild the engine to add a radio. M: Rebuild the engine? P: You're an idiot!
GS: There's a how-to. It's written for a "Hat", but it's mostly correct except that engine is in the rear. It's translated from German, but they did a pretty good job. It'll tell you to hook the radio to the red and black wires, but since you've got a Debian, there won't be any red and black wires. And you still need to write the radio driver. Don't forget to regrind the camshaft. If you don't, you'll get an error message that you don't have permission to change the tire pressure, but it's the camshaft. You'll need a lot of tools, but you can get them for free. Most of them come with instructions... about 900 pages in all. Read 'em all carefully and understand 'em before you start. Should be able to figure it all out in a couple of months.
[MUCH LATER...]
M: Hey Pete, I didn't get all the stuff I needed to rebuild my engine. Can I borrow your Drake again? P: The wife has the Drake, but you can borrow the Hat.
M: This is different. Where's the steering wheel? P: That dashboard was really using a lot of gas. This has what is called a CLI. Just type CTRL-L to go left and CTRL-R to go right.
M: What about the gas and brakes? P: That's all combined into a single speed number. Just type ps | grep speed. The headings are in Klingon, but the third number is the one you want. Just divide by the speed of light to get meters/second. You'll have to parse it out, calculate the new speed and use the nice function to change the priority of the process. That changes the speed. If you had just read the manpage, I wouldn't have had to tell you all that.
M: Which manpage?....never mind... What if I need to stop in a hurry? P: Gotcha covered. There's a script for panic stops. Just type PanicStop-3.8.63278665-HAT when=now. It will ask you for a password. Enter the password and hang on cause you're gonna stop real quick. I'm really proud of the deceleration optimization routine. Be careful typing, it's case sensitive. If it gives you a cryptic error message and doesn't stop, it's probably because you forgot to add yourself to the brakes group. It's all in the manpage.
M: Which manpage?....never mind...
[MUCH, MUCH LATER....]
M: I wish I hadn't sold my Gates. At least I could drive it to town and pick up Granny.... P: You're an idiot!.....
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