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tip on using FAQs
Quite a few times recently, we have seen the following type of exchange
on this news group:
1. What is the answer to XXX?
2. It's YYY. This information is in the FAQ.
3. Thanks. I just haven't had time to read the FAQ yet. One
of these days I'll have to read it.
Line (3) is the wrong way to treat the FAQ. Instead of reading the
whole FAQ and trying to remember it, treat it as a reference instead.
When you have a question.
1. Load the FAQ into an editor
2. Look in the table of contents for your question, or better
yet, search for a keyword relevent to your question.
3. If you don't get your answer, _then_ post the question to
csa2 (or whichever newsgroup is more appropriate).
This not only saves time for those who are willing to answer questions,
but it's also faster than posting a question and waiting for a reply.
It also goes faster if you save a copy of the FAQ whenever it gets
posted.
[Aside: It used to be that one could depend on the Expiry field to
keep FAQs around until the next is posted, but with so much guano
in the newsgroups now, the spools tend to get purged too often for
that to happen.]
Devin
--
Lottery: A tax on people who are bad at math.