[Zope] questions["dumb"] = None (was: Finding out how many rows is selected in database)

[Joel Burton]

On Thu, 5 Apr 2001, Eric Walstad wrote:

> Gitte said...
> > I have sensed that some people on this list is a bit "anoyed" (perhaps a
> > wrong word) about my postings - I am sorry to say this but the Zope
> > documentation isn't the best :-)
> >
> > Regards,
> > Gitte
> 
> Gitte,
> As they say, there's no such thing as a dumb question (although there are
> some that come close :).  I've been watching your questions and the replies
> you've received and have learned a few things from the discussions.  Please
> keep asking!
> As for the documentation, it's getting better all the time (Zope book,
> Dieter's book, NIP's archives, etc...)!
> Thanks,
> Eric.

Yep, the documentation is scattered, and sometimes hard to follow.
Unfortunately, though, sometimes people respond to questions with answers
that suggest that everyone reads every message to the list, and has for
several months. Some questions are hard to search for answers to, because
the question is conceptual, and evades easy keyword searches.

Of course, sometimes people post questions that they could have answered
easily, from straightforward references, or by doing a six-second google
search. (sigh. Once in a while, I've posted a question, and then realized
I hadn't done my due diligence in looking for the answer first.)

As always, good advice is:

. make your posting titles obvious and clear
  (change the titles to something better, if need be, when responding)

. add keywords to your post, if it will help future searchers find things.

. consider contributing your knowledge to the ZDP faq
(zdp.zope.org). [BTW, are there *no* links to ZDP on the Zope web
site? Why not?]

. consider writing a HOWTO from what you learn.

. be mindful that we're from different cultures. I've rec'd some email
from people that I assumed where quite curt or rude, and then realized
that I misread their language cues or that they were just in a hurry to
answer my question so that they could help other.

So, Gitte, please don't take offense. Have a thick skin. Keep asking.

And, of course, as everyone says, RTFM. :-)


-- 
Joel Burton   <jburton@scw.org>
Director of Information Systems, Support Center of Washington