[erlang-questions] unanswered beginner questions in the list

[Ivan Uemlianin]

> The reason for this is that a) I haven't time and b)  I hope somebody
> else will answer
> and then I won't need to.

I think the psychologists call this "deferred responsibility", even if the "somebody else" is your future self. Waiting three days is part of the problem.

How about: you are only allowed to reply to exciting expert-level posts after you have responded to at least one less exciting beginner's question.

Beginners' questions can often be answered by other beginners of course (so it's not just the experts who can try harder). That might mean some dodgy answers but it might also mean some common misconceptions are brought into the open and resolved. I gave a dodgy answer myself recently.

Best wishes

Ivan


Sent from my iPhone

On 1 Jun 2012, at 08:22, Joe Armstrong <erlang@REDACTED> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> We had an interesting discussion at the EUC.
> 
> One relatively new user observed that several new converts to Erlang
> had asked questions in this
> list and not gotten a reply.
> 
> I took a quick look at the list statistics and indeed this it true.
> 
> What usually happens is - I read the list every day and see a lot of
> questions that I know
> how to answer - but I don't immediately answer.
> 
> The reason for this is that a) I haven't time and b)  I hope somebody
> else will answer
> and then I won't need to.
> 
> I think it would be a good idea if those of us who might qualify as being
> "knowledgeable persons" could take the trouble to occasionally answer
> questions from apparent beginners that have not been answered.
> 
> After a threshold of say 3 days - then at least *somebody* could attempt
> an answer so that beginner to Erlang don't feel unloved when they
> reach to this list.
> 
> Of course, some extremely knowledgable and well-known people ask
> extremely difficult
> questions here - and zero replies should probably
> be taken as a sign that "nobody knows the answer"
> 
> We could even have volunteers among those who posses the knowledge to answer
> all unanswered beginners questions.
> 
> 
> Cheers
> 
> /Joe
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