ruffwoof wrote:
It was clarified that the question wasn't homework yet you continue to proclaim that to be a lie.
Well, let's be honest, if the OP is trying to get help with an issue of dubious origin and is called out on it, he will of course protest his innocence. We can't know for certain either way. One can only go on the most likely scenario given experience of a] Linux use and b] internet users. I personally remain skeptical.
ruffwoof wrote:A assumption that visitors come here purely for accurate answers and that no one should respond to threads without 100% certainty of accuracy is simply wrong. It's a Debian Users forum within which participants can commonly share and learn across all ability/skill levels.
I can't speak for other forum users, but in my own case, I come to learn from those with more experience, more knowledge, more applicable expertise than myself. I want to learn from people who definitely
do know and have experience of the issues in hand, not those who
nearly know and who provide makeshift responses to tide me over. Likewise, a student needs to learn from a master - not someone with a passable, meagerly applicable level of experience which wastes their time and risks development of bad habits.
ruffwoof wrote:Otherwise a board comprised of 'go off and do a internet search' replies could be condensed to a single front end web page.
Debian is different from other distros in that working knowledge of Debian requires understanding of its
ethic. The forums encourage people to do their own work and learning wherever possible so that they can a] learn
how to research in computing and b] be better long-term members of the community as a result. The forums are not here for "how do I get Z to work from scratch" but "I want Z to work, I read about it and tried X and Y to get it, what am I missing that didn't make Z happen?". When I first started posting here I was told a couple of times [or more] to RTFM. It was not what I wanted to hear, but it was very good advice because it made me more self-sufficient.
EDIT: and to add more pedantry to this post, I would say 'comprising'
is preferable to 'comprised of' in this context.
ruffwoof wrote:Fear of asking the wrong question or potentially giving a wrong answer suppresses development of knowledge.
Well,
there is such as thing as a stupid question, unlike what some forums would have you believe. You talk about fear like it's always a bad thing. Fear is often there as a protection mechanism. I can't believe that someone with excellent knowledge of a topic would be 'scared' of giving an answer, and I can't believe that someone who has done thorough research on a topic would be scared to ask a question. Asking lazy or idiotic questions is no substitute for doing one's own research.