From: James Edward Gray II Date: 2006-12-20T04:40:17+09:00 Subject: Re: [OT] where have all the experienced users gone? On Dec 19, 2006, at 7:52 AM, Jeremy McAnally wrote: > This is why many times there will be "xxx-talk" (or "xxx-users") and > "xxx-newbie" lists. I think perhaps Ruby has reached that "critical > mass" point where this split is in order (even though i'm sure this > has been discussed a number of times and decided against). I was on perl-beginners for years. When I came to the Ruby community I asked for the equivalent, but many members felt it wasn't needed or even desired. While I think I came around to their point of view over time, I'm not sure it still holds. > Though, many would probably argue that "no experienced programmer > would visit the newbie list." I've seen this argument multiple times, but it certainly doesn't hold true in the Perl community. See perl-beginners and Perl Monks. Plenty of knowledgeable help on both. I enjoy helping others and stayed on the list to do so when I was past the beginner stage, as just one example. > To make this whole thing effective, though, the residents of this list > would have to be stringent about telling people to "take it to the > newbies" if their question is something that belongs there. Now this I don't feel is needed or desired. I don't think we want to start turning anyone away, period. There's no reason questions can't still be answered here. There would just be a new resource, with a comfortable beginner's environment. (I do feel it should be moderated, though I realize many view that as a sin.) > P.S. - It would also be mildly entertaining to have an auto-answer FAQ > bot that parsed the language of a message and if it could decently > figure out what they're saying, post an answer pointing to a > (currently non-existent) Ruby FAQ... As has been pointed out, we do have an FAQ. I feel a bot like this hurts the community interaction. Answers are best let to the users, in my opinion. James Edward Gray II