RE: DATAFILE??

No bashing from here.
Completely agree.  

Igor

From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] On Behalf Of Richard Ji Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2005 1:56 PM To: bob_murching_at_budco.com
Cc: cmarquez_at_collegeboard.org; rjsearle_at_gmail.com; Oracle Mailing List Subject: Re: DATAFILE??

Alright, I will get bashed by saying this, but so what. This list used to
have a lot of experts and I mean very experts in the Oracle field. I am seeing a trend where the experts on this list is writing less and less.
And maybe it's because they are all just too busy, but I think part of it is because
this list has turn into a more newbie list and not everyone has Tom Kyte patience answering newbie questions. I remember there was a discussion a while ago about creating a separate list for entry level questions and the mid-level
to advanced discussions, but it got nowhere.

I am not sure how we can collectively balance out as you suggested. Should we take turns ask one mid to advanced question for every newbie question posted to keep this list interesting?

Richard

On 10/19/05, Murching, Bob <bob_murching_at_budco.com> wrote:

        I don't mind occasional questions whose answers can be searched. The vast majority of questions asked here could be answered by searching the net, if not tahiti then one of the many sites that Google indexes. Besides, when someone asks a question whose answer is reasonably well known, usually two things very good things happen:          

1. Many subscribers learn something that we might not otherwise have learned if the question had never been asked---irrespective of whether or not the answer is in the Oracle manual!
2. People with midrange skill sets get to exercise their ability to communicate, answer questions, help others out. If "RTFM and only come here if the answer is not in the manual nor online" is the policy of this list, then this list becomes the exclusive domain of questions that only experts can answer. I don't see that as anything to be particularly proud of. Dialogue and traffic on the mundane generally is of greater benefit than being a witness to the esoteric.

        If it's really egregious then it needs to be put to a stop, and that balance is something we collectively have to work out amongst ourselves. I don't think we should err to either extreme, however, and in fact I think the current makeup of questions on this list is pretty good.

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