I'm a noob (was: environment variable is your friend)

[david at thekramers.net (David Kramer)]

Note the subject change, please

On Tuesday 20 April 2004 3:58 pm, D.E. Chadbourne wrote:
>   anyway, to the people around me on daily basis i am a minor computer
> god.  they never understand what i am doing.  they're just glad i help
> them sometimes and don't do anything to harm their computers.  compare
> me to the 2 or 3 fellows who responded to my questions concerning
> environment variables and i'm nobody special.  so in relation to them,
> i'm a mere noob.  they're big dogs and i'm a late convert little dog.
> see.  but i am trying hard to catch up.  so play nice and don't be so
> hard on me. -eric the chihuahua.

Too simplistic a viewpoint.  Each of us "experts" on the list have our own 
specialties.  We are all jacks of all trades, master of quite a few, but not 
all.  Even people who have been there since the beginning of this group bow 
to others (and each other) when it comes to some topics.

So, you are simply running into more areas of computing that you have not yet 
put a notch on your belt for yet.  The best way to do that (if you don't have 
two weeks to bang your head against it) is try it, find out what you don't 
know, ask people who know that stuff, try it again.  Repeat until desired 
results are met.

Note the all-important "try it" first.  Or at least do some research first.  
If you don't take the first step of doing a little legwork on your own, you 
will be treated as just another college student asking someone to write their 
paper from them.  True geeks will respect the not-yet-informed but willing.

Case in point:  There is another mailing list that someone else (who is also a 
BLU member) moderates, and I maintain the FAQ for.  The FAQ gets sent out by 
my avatar twice a month (because once a month wasn't enough for those 
morons).  I got an email from someone on the list who was complaining their 
post got deleted, yadayada.  I was pretty sympathetic, until in her next 
email to me she said she hadn't even read the FAQ I send out.  Twice a month.  
That explains the rules of the list.  Which she was complaining about.  BACK 
OF THE CLASS!  My tone changed considerably in my next email to her.

What I'm trying to say is the best way to become an expert is to do just what 
you're doing, but without the self-denegration.  The black belt comes to 
those who try.

--
DDDD   David Kramer         david at thekramers.net       http://thekramers.net
DK KD  
DKK D  Secret hacker rule #11: hackers read manuals.
DK KD  
DDDD