Klarinet Archive - Posting 000025.txt from 1995/01

From: BO/EBC/FL/DL Tomas Andreason 08-682 4904 <ebctmas@-----.SE>
Subj: We need a FAQ list!
Date: Tue, 3 Jan 1995 06:03:11 -0500

Dan Leeson wrote:

> Instead, what we seem to be getting over the past month or so,
> are constant repetitions of boring, boring, boring, re-requests
> for "What is the best kind of reed?" or "Which clarinet barrel
> should I buy that will make me sound like Frank Cohen?" or
> a lot of other technical stuff that, personally, causes me to
> fall asleep when I read them.
>
> It is not that such items are unimportant, but rather that this
> should not be the sole purpose of this listing, and, furthermore,
> some of them have been discussed 10 times over the past two
> years. Newcomers to the list should spend a week going over
> past listings to see what it is we have talked about before
> bringing up the same old subject again and again.

This is a common problem for all kinds of discussion forums where there
are many newcomers. The way that it is usually dealt with is that someone
(not me, sorry...) volunteers to write "FAQ list", a list of answers to
the so-called Frequently Asked Questions. The list is often compiled from
clippings from previous discussions on the forum.

Subscribers to the various online services are usually instructed that
before asking a question, one should read the FAQ list, if there is one.

I don't know about the LISTSERV software that runs KLARINET, but at least
on the "Listproc" SW that handles a mailing list that I manage, every
newcomer to the list is sent a welcome message that I have composed.
Hopefully something similar is possible with KLARINET, so that all new
members can be sent a cheerful welcome along with instructions on how
to find the FAQ list (or even automatically receive it right away).

What do others think of this? Is it a good idea? Any volunteers to get
it done?

--Tomas