[Zope] Confusing posts (was Re: [Zope] password)

jan@haul.de jan@haul.de
Sun, 30 Jul 2000 08:34:30 +0200


Jonathan Desp wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> the program zpasswd prompt.
...
>     Filename is not option, and should be the name of the file to store the
>     information in.

...

> What I should write in this source code from zpasswd ? -->

What is your question, now?
Generally, you should not write anything in the source code to
zpasswd.py, unless you want to change how it works. But you know
that, don't you.

Jonathan, it happens often on the list that someone posts
confusing questions, where people scratch their head for some
time trying to figure out what the person's problem might be.
This is rather inefficient, as the person does not get the answer
they want, or get an answer that does not fit their problem (as
the answering person did not understand it).
Unfortunately, your posts fall rather often in this category.

I would recommend that, when asking a question to the list, to
- take time describing your problem clearly, assuming the reader
knows Zope but not your application;
- make clear what you want to achieve;
- make clear if you either have a question how to do something,
or if anything does not work as you expected;
- wait at least one hour and re-read your post to verify that it
is fully understandable before actually posting it;
- if at all possible, have some other person read your post and
ask them to rephrase your question back to you, i.e., make sure
that they get your real question from your post.

More work? For you, initially yes. For all together? No, a lot
less. For you untilk you get an answer? Probably not, as you are
much more likely to get an answer to your problem, without
several exchanges back and forth.
In any case, it is making better use of the time of people
wanting to help you, and prevents them from just adding you to
their kill file (as I was very nearly to do at some time).
And it is likely to give you a better standing in the Zope
community. 

This is not to say that I am perfect in that respect - even after
some fourteen years on mailing lists I still manage to send out
posts that I find less than perfect upon reading them when they
come back from the listserver. But one must always strive for the
best :-)

Cheera,
Jan