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Search Google === RTM

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 12:53 pm
by Benjamin
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.

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 4:25 pm
by feyd
Is this a suggestion to the moderators? .. or to all users?

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 4:57 pm
by The Phoenix
feyd wrote:Is this a suggestion to the moderators? .. or to all users?
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.

But nothing but a google search string isn't always super helpful. There are exceptions to that rule, to be sure.

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 5:02 pm
by Benjamin
To everyone.

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 5:08 pm
by webgroundz
astions is right, i thinks that is for everyone... :) :) :)

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 9:05 pm
by superdezign
RTM...? Am I the only one unfamiliar with this acronym...?

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 9:10 pm
by Benjamin
Read The Manual. More commonly known as RTFM, but that isn't politically correct.

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 9:23 pm
by superdezign
Oh, then I agree. However, it's very uncommon that I see anyone just blindly direct someone to the manual without a specific link to a function or extension documentation.

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 9:37 pm
by John Cartwright
superdezign wrote:Oh, then I agree. However, it's very uncommon that I see anyone just blindly direct someone to the manual without a specific link to a function or extension documentation.
It's more often the case someone would ask stuff like "what does echo() do".. in that case RTM.

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 4:16 am
by Chris Corbyn
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.

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 4:33 am
by patrikG
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.

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 6:42 am
by superdezign
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.
Yes, similar to asking, "Have you written any code yet?" or, "What have you tried so far?"

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.

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 8:13 am
by s.dot
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.
If they don't know of this search function, then they have not RTM, in which case they should RTM. :lol:

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 8:15 am
by superdezign
scottayy wrote:
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.
If they don't know of this search function, then they have not RTM, in which case they should RTM. :lol:
Not necessarily. The PHP Manual is available for download from PHP.net, and the downloadable version has no search features.

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 8:22 am
by patrikG
superdezign wrote:Not necessarily. The PHP Manual is available for download from PHP.net, and the downloadable version has no search features.
The windows helpfile (CHM) version does.