Over the last few weeks I have noticed a lot of replies in the archlinux forums that have nothing to with a given topic.
Take something like this post: http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=65023
The OP is having problems getting eth0 to get an ip via dhcp on startup, however the op states that manually running dhcpcd eth0 works without a problem. So I type out a reply, submit it, and I wait for the op’s response. In the meantime someone posts saying:
Are you getting ab IP, but just not connecting to the internet? If so, comment out the following 2 lines in rc.conf:
gateway=”default gw 192.168.0.1″
ROUTES=(!gateway)
The ROUTES=(!gateway) prevents the gateway from being set. Commenting out those two lines aren’t going to do anything! Nothing I tell you, well at least to fix the problem at hand!
and then you get this post:
My guess is that you have to remove the ! from the front of gateway in ROUTES=(!gateway)
That’s what I used to have to do on my old desktop.
Also, be sure that 192.168.0.1 is actually your gateway. If you don’t know you run dhcpcd then run route.
If you have even the most basic concept of networking, you would know that dhcp would pull in the default gw and all the other information such as dns servers. Regardless, this has nothing to do the op’s problem because the op stated that running dhcpcd manually works! Thus you can infer that the correct gateway is being set with dhcp.
Then you see the posts in which a user states they have a problem with Y. Another user sees this and post and says “Oh I had a problem with Y and I used this as my solution.” However, the user replying assumes that the problem they were having with Y is the same exact problem that op is having. More times than not, that isn’t the case. If they only took a little bit of time to think about what they were posting, and read the ops posts they would realize that their problem is completely unrelated.
And finally you have a topic such as “A won’t work, this the error I’m getting”. And reply of “use C instead it works so much better!”
If the op wanted to use C they would have switched to C and used it! It is apparent the op wants to get the problem they are having with A resolved, not switch to C.
Now these are just a few examples. I have seen such replies popping in topics at alarming rates. These replies are generally coming from people with > 100 posts. I realize that I probably didn’t use the best examples, but if you just browse the forums and you know a little bit about something, you’ll see what I’m talking about.
I understand that I may know quite a bit and that some other users do not have as much knowledge as I, but there are other members that have much more knowledge here! If you are clueless or have no idea about the problem/topic at hand why post?! If I’m not sure of a solution or something to help the op resolve their problem, I simply won’t post! Revolutionary! If I do post, it usually because there have been no replies and I say something along the lines of “I doubt this will work or has anything to do with your problem, but you might want to give it a try.”
I don’t want to be taken the wrong way. Suggesting things that may fix the problem is not a bad thing. What ticks me off are the people who post replies the are plain out wrong or the solutions given will not have any affect on the problem at hand.
Here is an example: I post “My car won’t start up, it sounds as if it trying, but it won’t switch over.”
Reply 1: Maybe you need more Air in your tires, that allowed my car to move.
Putting more air in the tires ain’t gonna help the car start! Now granted my car can’t move, but its because it can’t start, not because there is no air in the tires!
Am I the only one that gets frustrated by these replies. Especially when your trying to help someone?
/rant
Leave a Reply