Re: Newbies welcome, or not?

  • From: Daniel Fink <Daniel.Fink@xxxxxxx>
  • To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Mon, 28 Jun 2004 12:58:07 -0600

I, for one, welcome newbies (I find that I learn a great deal from them). To be 
honest, certain members are blocked because their 
questions are easily answered in the doc or other sites and I think a little 
RTFM is appropriate before asking a question. Then 
again (as I am finding out with dbms_metadata), the documentation is not always 
as clear to one person as another. The way the 
Oracle doc is written makes it difficult for me to solve problems by just 
reading it (I learn by example, not an exhaustive rail 
diagram).

At one time, we all (even the Goddess herself) were newbies, puzzled by the 
'simplest' of problems. I am sure that the esteemed 
gurus on the list have their fair share of self-deprecating stories. (Now, 
there's a book!). Within 4 weeks of my first Oracle DBA 
job (as a lowly junior), I was the only DBA in a 24x7 shop and the Unix admin 
to boot. I had never worked on Unix and my only backup 
was the Windows Network Help Desk technician. We both survived until the real 
Admin returned from a 6 week overseas vacation (but 
just barely!). If someone had said, 'You solve this with cd /;rm -r', we might 
have done so...but we were both 'scared' enough that 
we did not do anything that we *absolutely* did not have to do..then we usually 
placed a service call to HP! During the tech boom 
(at least here in the states), companies needed warm bodies to fill seats. 
Consequently, your sys admin may have been a philosophy 
major at Local U. and has never taken a computer class.

Let's also consider the language issue. As Rachel can tell, comments/humor does 
not always translate between languages (or even 
cultures speaking the same language). Since most of the posts are in English, I 
would venture to say that a sizable number (probably 
a majority) of list members are reading these posts in their non-native 
language. Does Oracle publish documentation sets in 
languages other than English? If not, I can imagine how difficult RTFM can be 
for some.

The list is a public forum and each of us has a responsibility to contribute in 
an appropriate manner. I have seen some of the posts 
to CDOS and I am personally disgusted by them. If oracle-l begins to resemble 
CDOS, I will say goodbye (please keep the cheering to 
a dull roar). I joined this list to learn and to make a positive contribution 
to the oracle community. I'll admit to making negative 
posts in the past, but recent events have made it very clear that this and 
other public forums require careful thought in posting. 
If you want to add in a little humor, I see no problem with that. When in 
doubt, make it *very* clear that you are not being serious.

Regards,
Daniel Fink


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