Netiquette for the BSD-DK mailinglists

Before you seek help in this (or any other) list, there are some things you can do to get better help.

• Don't ask the same questions. Try to search and browse the mailing archive to see if someone else have had the same problem you do. That way people on the list won't have to answer the same questions over and over again. Look in the mail archive.
• Try to be polite. People on the list does not get payed to solve your problems, they do it on their own free will. Exercising common courtesy will always get you far! This is just as true for the "old timers" on the list! Having a lot of experience does not entitle you to scare our newcomers away! Remember when you first started? Guide the newbies to become good mailinglist members in a nice tone.
• Be precise. To avoid spending several mails clarifying tedious details, aim to include those in your first mail. Examples could be version numbers of the program in question or of the operating systems, pathnames and environment variables if applicable. Explain the procedure you did to encounter the problem and/or how to reproduce it. Include the exact wording of the error message (use cut & paste if possible). This information can help others when searching for a similar problem.
• Try to solve your problem first. Helpfulness from the list drastically improves if it shows that you actually tried to solve the problem before posting it. Describe what you tried to do to solve the problem. If you get stuck, try reading relevant man pages or seeking information in places like Google - it might just reveal the clue that enables you to solve the problem by your self. Besides the joy and pride, it is the process of solving problems that really speeds up learning new things.
• Pay it back ;). If you have the time and solution to a problem that you encounter on the list, please consider to take a few moments to post a mail. The information you have can be invaluable to the person asking for advice and helps making the mailinglist a valuable place to seek help .