Search Google === RTM
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Search Google === RTM
I remember a long time ago seeing something that basically said that telling someone to RTM was not an acceptable answer.
I don't see how telling someone to "search google" is an acceptable answer either. If your going to tell someone to search google, at least tell them what to search for.
I don't see how telling someone to "search google" is an acceptable answer either. If your going to tell someone to search google, at least tell them what to search for.
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From my point of view, I see it far more from (well-intentioned!) users than from the moderators. The mods generally give a useful google search string at least.feyd wrote:Is this a suggestion to the moderators? .. or to all users?
But nothing but a google search string isn't always super helpful. There are exceptions to that rule, to be sure.
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I sort of agree that at time people give the response "search google" (quite literally), or even more patronising "http://www.google.com". 90% pf the time people are asking "have you tried searching google?" which is perfectly acceptable since there's a pretty good chance they haven't. A small fraction of the time I do agree that a "search google" response is not acceptable and should be moderated in some fashion.
Just my $0.02.
Just my $0.02.
I suppose I'm going against the grain: if users ask a question relating to PHP functions like "How do use PHP's mail function", RTM is perfectly acceptable to my mind if accompanied by a link to the function in the manual.
Questions such as "How do Sessions work" have been answered ad nauseam, pointing to a Google-search is perfectly acceptable to me in these cases.
It simply boils down to: put some effort into finding the answer before asking the question on the forum. The first ports of call are always the manual, then Google, then the forum. These are basic steps and if the user has not done them, it's useful to show them how to go about answering their own question.
Questions such as "How do Sessions work" have been answered ad nauseam, pointing to a Google-search is perfectly acceptable to me in these cases.
It simply boils down to: put some effort into finding the answer before asking the question on the forum. The first ports of call are always the manual, then Google, then the forum. These are basic steps and if the user has not done them, it's useful to show them how to go about answering their own question.
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Yes, similar to asking, "Have you written any code yet?" or, "What have you tried so far?"patrikG wrote:It simply boils down to: put some effort into finding the answer before asking the question on the forum. The first ports of call are always the manual, then Google, then the forum. These are basic steps and if the user has not done them, it's useful to show them how to go about answering their own question.
If it wasn't for responses like those, I'd likely ask a lot more questions than I do, but now it's very rare that I run into a problem that I can't solve on my own by writing test cases, checking the PHP manual, or searching Google. Maybe we should start letting users know that the PHP manual does have a built-in search engine (that defaults to searching the function list, but may be altered to search the actual manual by selecting "all php.net") that is meant to simplify the process of finding exactly what they are after inside of the manual.
If they don't know of this search function, then they have not RTM, in which case they should RTM.superdezign wrote:Maybe we should start letting users know that the PHP manual does have a built-in search engine (that defaults to searching the function list, but may be altered to search the actual manual by selecting "all php.net") that is meant to simplify the process of finding exactly what they are after inside of the manual.
Set Search Time - A google chrome extension. When you search only results from the past year (or set time period) are displayed. Helps tremendously when using new technologies to avoid outdated results.
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Not necessarily. The PHP Manual is available for download from PHP.net, and the downloadable version has no search features.scottayy wrote:If they don't know of this search function, then they have not RTM, in which case they should RTM.superdezign wrote:Maybe we should start letting users know that the PHP manual does have a built-in search engine (that defaults to searching the function list, but may be altered to search the actual manual by selecting "all php.net") that is meant to simplify the process of finding exactly what they are after inside of the manual.