What if the TFM sucks? Do I still have to R it?

When I first started using Linux, I visited several Linux forums. No one targeted the RTFM (read the fucking manual) response specifically at me, but I did see it used on other new users, and I didn’t appreciate that. After I joined the Ubuntu Forums, I realized that life without RTFM is a good life for all involved—both the helper and the “helpee.” My wife getting the RTFM treatment (and not appreciating it, by the way) on the Drupal forums only reinforced for me the validity of this assessment.

RTFM serves no purpose other than to make the giver feel better about herself and the receiver feel worse. Please try to imagine this exchange. You’ll probably have to imagine it, because I’ve never seen anything like it:

Original Post-er: I’m having a problem with blah blah blah and blah blah blah
Responder: Ah, geez. This has been posted a million times already. Go do a search or just RTFM, stupid noob!!!!
OP: Oh, thanks. I’d hadn’t thought of doing either of those. I’ll RTFM right now.
R: Damn straight, idiot. Go do it now.
OP Okay. I’m back after reading the manual and doing some Google searches, and those fixed my problems. I’m so glad that you told me RTFM instead of just spoonfeeding me the answer. Now I feel I’ve actually learned something on my own. It’s a good thing people like you are around on these forums to type RTFM to us newcomers so that we’ll learn how to do things without burdening you supreme beings with stupid questions.
R: No problem. That’s what I’m here for.

Yes, I have encountered situations in which new Ubuntu users have posted questions that have been asked “a million times already.” Yes, I do believe that people exaggerate when they say “Linux documentation sucks.” Nevertheless, I have never told a new user to RTFM or “just use Google.” Here are some reasons why:

• RTFM is a cryptic abbreviation that will mean nothing to a new user who doesn’t realize the question has been asked a million times already
• New users may know how to use the search function on Google or on forums, but they do not often know what to search for in order to get the best results.
• While the manual referred to by RTFM may, in fact, be general documentation, I think its origin stems from the built-in manuals for *nix commands that you can invoke by using the command man command—for example, man apt-get to learn more about how to use the apt-get command. man pages are cryptic and usually mean little or nothing to new users. They appear as just a flurry of hyphens and brackets with no immediately obvious practical application.
• When you’re a new user with a problem, sometimes you aren’t in a calm state of mind and aren’t necessarily thinking about the best way to learn something, and all you want to do is solve your problem. Once you’ve solved your problem, you may be more inclined to learn how it was solved, but someone telling you to RTFM isn’t going to make you learn—it’s just going to make you get angry.
• If your time is so precious that you can’t be bothered to help a new user, then don’t help. Get off the forums already and do something else. The whole point of support forums is… well, support. If you want to volunteer your time on the forums to help new users, don’t do so grudgingly and give rude responses instead of helpful answers; just get off the forums and go for a run or a camping trip.

If there’s anything I’ve learned from five years as a high school teacher, it’s that people learn at their own paces and in their own ways. I’ve read on the Ubuntu Forums people saying that the Ubuntu Guide isn’t good since it encourages users to copy and paste commands instead of learning what those commands mean. Speaking as someone for whom that guide was the reason for sticking with Ubuntu and its forum community and then ultimately learning what those commands mean, I’d have to disagree with that conclusion. For some, copying and pasting commands may not lead to learning. For others, it may lead to learning for oneself and further teaching to others.

One person may learn best by being “spoonfed.” Another may learn best from studying manuals and books. Still another may learn best by observing screenshot or video tutorials. Personally, I started off copying and pasting commands from the Ubuntu Guide, reading a few books, asking “stupid newbie questions” that had been asked a million times already, and doing Google searches for online tutorials. If people on the Ubuntu Forums had told me to RTFM, I probably would still be a Windows user. Since they were patient and they bothered to explain things to me, I ended up being a forum moderator, regular forum participant and helper, and general Ubuntu tutorial writer. I made it a regular habit, when I was active on the forums, to link people to what I thought were the most helpful tutorials and then follow-up with some “spoonfeeding” if the new users had trouble following the tutorials’ instructions. My linking to a tutorial helped new users avoid a painful weeding-out-of-Google-search-results process to get straight to quality tutorials to solve their problems. As their understanding grew, many of those new users in turn helped out other new users.

It behooves veteran users to help new users, because new users today will be veteran users tomorrow, and helping new users also serves to solidify your own knowledge as a veteran user. There’s an adage about teaching being the best way to learn, and, in the Linux world, that holds true. Let people blossom in their own ways. If you ever find yourself losing patience for “lazy” new users, consider this little tirade a manual for “oldbies” and R this FM before you’re tempted to advise a new user to R another FM.