>I don't get all the debates that go on on LBO-Talk. Some I don't have the
>background for; some are simply above me. Some I might think I know, but
>don't, and I probably make some eyes roll occasionally. That said, I don't
>expect to be taught a course in leftist politics or economics, gratis,
>merely because I'm ignorant of them, and I certainly wouldn't if I popped
>out of nowhere and demanded it.
>
>Marco
look, the administrative assistant, the clerical worker, etc. is supposed to do a host of things, none of which should include learning on his own how to figure out why something works. i.e., if her typewriter broke or the ditto machine broke thirty years ago, someone fixed it for her.
the habit of sysadmins calling people lusers is not about people wanting to have their hands helds. it's something a lot bigger than that and emerged at a time when people probably needed a lot more handholding than they do now.
finally, people sure do ask questions all the time that could be answered by a google. i have! michael perelman's question was, itself, a question that could be answered by google. the only reason we don't bitch and why we bother to answer is because we get to trot out our knowledge in a venue that doesn't often give us the opp to shine in that way.