Poll: The "Read the Fucking Manual" Attitude

[Kerboom]

So, something just occurred to me. Many people have an attitude that equates to "Read the Fucking Manual".

This "RTFM" attitude has, obviously, been around for a long time. So, this is the question I have for you today:

Should people just RTFM?

Here's my take on it: Telling people to RTFM is obnoxious. It's pretentious and I hate people who do it. I'm doing a university course that has a large drop-out rate, and people rely on each other regularly with small bits of information. There's always that one dickhead that will just tell them to go and trawl through google or wiki when it's just as easy to give a sentence or two to explain it.

I don't hate manuals. As a regular Linux user, I regularly look at man pages for various commands, to find the extension I need. However, some people just like having things explained to them. Sometimes I find it easier to ask someone how things work rather than trawling through a few pages of information to find it myself.

So, there you all go. I'd like to know all of your opinions on the topic.

 

[Raven's Nest]

In my experience there are people who enjoy reading manuals and there are people who don't. The ones who do, usually end up being paid a lot more for what they do...

And human cooperation is a wonderful thing.

 

[Rose and Thorn]

I see your point, and I agree with you for the most part. Some people need to learn to read a fucking manual, but likewise it can be nice to here it from an actual person that may explain it in a better way, I suppose.

Most people I have seen like that is on he internets, and they would say "They have this wonderful site called Google for a question like that". Which can in itself can sound pretty prickish, but most of the time it can be true. Then there are the people that actually LINK google, which is just them going out of there way to say "Look at me guys I'm cleverly prickish, does anyone want to be my friend? Douchebags need love too".

 

[Final First]

I don't appreciate when people just tell me "Look at the fucking manual" as well, but I usually do that before I need to ask anyway. I, myself, am glad to answer questions and explain things but if one keeps forgetting and needing an explanation again I'll tell them to go look it up, but otherwise I'm glad to help and think others should be too.

TLR, It depends on if one has had to answer the same question to the same people several times or not.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

It really depends on the question. Sometimes, people are just lazy, and demand answers to questions they could easily answer themselves by extending a modicum of effort. Instead, they transfer the chore of providing that information to someone else.

I do it too. We all do it from time to time. If, in those situations, someone tells me to read the fucking manual, I take my lumps.

 

[Raven's Nest]

I don't appreciate when people just tell me "Look at the fucking manual" as well, but I usually do that before I need to ask anyway. I, myself, am glad to answer questions and explain things but if one keeps forgetting and needing an explanation again I'll tell them to go look it up, but otherwise I'm glad to help and think others should be too.

TLR, It depends on if one has had to answer the same question to the same people several times or not.

If that paragraph deserves a TLR there must be no hope for humanity left...

Ironically, I still haven't read your post...

 

[Final First]

I don't appreciate when people just tell me "Look at the fucking manual" as well, but I usually do that before I need to ask anyway. I, myself, am glad to answer questions and explain things but if one keeps forgetting and needing an explanation again I'll tell them to go look it up, but otherwise I'm glad to help and think others should be too.

TLR, It depends on if one has had to answer the same question to the same people several times or not.

If that paragraph deserves a TLR there must be no hope for humanity left...

Ironically, I still haven't read your post...

I agree, but you cannot deny the truth.

 

[Raven's Nest]

I agree, but you cannot deny the truth.

Aye.

Somewhat related: Do you know what pisses me off more than this though?

People always rag on me for being a bit of a know it all and often being the first one to suggest an answer in class or correcting somebody.

But when they don't know something either retardly simple or can't be bothered to think of the answer, I'm always the first one they ask.

 

[Final First]

Aye.

Somewhat related: Do you know what pisses me off more than this though?

People always rag on me for being a bit of a know it all and often being the first one to suggest an answer in class or correcting somebody.

But when they don't know something either retardly simple or can't be bothered to think of the answer, I'm always the first one they ask.

I know how that feels, it's very annoying. I like to think it's just because people always need something to complain about but immediately stop when they need that thing (or person) they're complaining about.

 

[Kae]

Depends on the situation, but yes you're first resort to answering you're doubts should be reading the manual, why? Because it's annoying when people ask you how to do stuff and you suck at explaining, ant they could have gotten a better less complex explanation out of the manual.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

Reading the manual is akin to the teach a man to fish proverb for me. Show someone how to do something they'll need your help again eventually. Show them how to teach themselves and they'll never need your help again. The amount of times I get asked by friends and family to help fix there problems and they haven't bothered to try and read the manual to see if they can fix it themselves is frustrating. I don't mind helping but I like think they could try themselves before coming to me. Although a lot of them have adopted the supply me with beer and bacon sandwiches strategy while I fix their problems; which certainly helps clam my frustrations

However I have noticed that some people who are "don't read the manual" types can also be "refuse to bloody learn something" people or lazy gits as I prefer to call them. You know the type, the ones that say "NO! Don't show me, just fix it!". Those ones I cannot stand. Ah the joys of being the resident tech and diy guy in the family is a two edged sword indeed.

 

[Total LOLige]

I like helping people but when it gets to the point that I'm not able to do my own work because I'm having to keep helping one person with everything that's when I'd say RTFM. However I'm far too nice to say that, I don't want to sound like a dick so I continue helping. A friend of mine at college had been having trouble creating an animation, so he asked me for help. I helped him with it, it soon became apparent that he hadn't read the tutorial because he didn't know the basics of the programs interface. I did the animation for him showing him step by step how to do it. Anyway his file for the animation got corrupted somehow, so he had to start from scratch. He couldn't do it despite that I'd shown him how to do it the previous week. I did it for him again. I should have said RTFM but I didn't, I'm not behind on my work but I'd probably be finished quicker if I didn't have to help him.

It always puts me in an awkward situation when people ask me for help, I'm awful at explaining things. My mind just freezes up and I'm left saying "erm click erm." It's like when I'm asked what music like *brain freezes* I can never remember.

I like helping people that are in need of assistance, makes me feel awesome that I've helped someone overcome an obstacle. If I can actually explain the solution to them that is.

 

[BathorysGraveland]

I'd say yes. It is there for a reason, after all. It gets quite annoying on an on-line game when loads of people say "How to 'xx'" and such things. It isn't hard to have a short 5 minute flip through a manual before you play a game, especially since they are a whole of 5 pages long these days.

 

[fireaura08]

Yes, so I don't have to hear stupid questions of something that was already answered in the manual.

 

[Esotera]

It depends how much work you've done previously in searching for something, and how clearly you phrase the question. If you haven't bothered to do a quick google search, then being told to read the manual is entirely justified. If it's something like "how do I program games in Python", then pointing someone to the correct documentation with a short explanation is going to be more helpful than anything else.

Also it sort of depends on the complexity of a question. If you're asking something insanely complex then I'd expect that you've done a fair bit of research on it. Discovering things for yourself is likely to make you better at maintaining a computer, so the only thing IT support should be teaching people is how to fish, rather than giving them fish.

In theory, I know it doesn't work out like this a lot of the time

 

[Sean Hollyman]

Which is weird, because some games don't have much of manuals now anyway

 

[Sean Hollyman]

This thread sucks. Read the fucking thread manual.

Honestly though, its rather annoying to have people ask you questions over and over when all they need to do is read the fucking manual or head to that oh so new and unknown discovery called bloody Google.

People in my friends list on Facebook still message me for help with their English home work. Some 14 year old ***** from my old school I had never talked to once added me to ask me for help translating a sentence. I mean, seriously! Google has a tool for that shit! Just fucking use it!

I seem to use the F word a lot >_<