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I agree that in most cases (such as your example) the "at home" parameter is irrelevant, but I seem to recall that mentioning a non-work setting was just about a guarantee that your question would be shunted off to SU (regardless of you having problems with mounting your iSCSI SAN in KVM at home)... Hey, if this is the guideline now, I'm a happy guy.
@tegbains If you never had a problem with John's tone, then that is fine. For you. But many of the posts that I'd seen in the past two years began with him being unnecessarily hostile with no gain. If he had cut out the opinions and only left the actually useful part of his answers, I could not be more pleased with his answers. Yes, I get frustrated with my users, and have to fight the urge to LMGTFY them. But here on SF (where it is not your job), there's absolutely no call to be an ass. If you don't want to answer a question (especially because there is no effort), then DON'T.
I respectfully disagree about John. John is very smart, and an expert in many fields, but his inability to keep his scorn out of his answers greatly decreases the value of his answers.
@HopelessN00b Yes, there is a lot of crap out in the world. Yes, it's frustrating to say the same things repeatedly. Yes, they should read the FAQ. But the fact that you even think of them as "lusers" illustrates contempt and hostility, where a Q/A site should fundamentally be about helping people. You yourself have done a fine job of earning a high reputation in the short amount of time that you've been a part of the site. But you demonstrate an amazing amount of scorn for the people who most need your expertise.
Yes, the question ewwhite presented was weak, but the way that it was handled could have been much better. Us repeatedly saying "hire a SysAd" when the OP made it clear that it wasn't an option is futile. What to do then? Well, instead of continuing to say "Hire a SysAd", an answer that would actually be helpful is "Managing systems is a significant undertaking, but here are some guides", and provide links to articles and documentation! Y'know, maybe attempt to help.
On my long-ago Day 1 of being a Professional SysAd, I didn't know much and had to ask a lot of basic questions. I didn't know much, but I was still a "Professional SysAd", and needed help with questions in "a professional capacity". I'm glad that I wasn't relying on the SF of today back then.
It's only natural to want to be around people just like you. But this is a place where people are supposed to be able to get assistance. Yes, we have a narrowly-defined scope where SO and SU are pretty broad, I have long been concerned at our harsh enforcement of "Professional". While I personally have a high standard of people with whom I'd like to work, I'm pretty lenient with regards to people asking questions of me.
@HopelessN00b it would be great if people read my carefully-prepared docs, & I hate (HATE!) when people reply to my email asking a Q which I'd already addressed THAT VERY THING. But I don't know anyone who hasn't done that - The best Devs, Sys/Ops folks, and non-tech people have all done it. Even me! Slack should be cut, especially for new people. It used to be harshly responded to if you should answer a (easily google-able) SF question with a LMGTFY link, but even that is a better user experience for the OPs than "READ THE FAQ, N00b!" & "This question isn't professional enough" remarks.
Thank you for illustrating my point so well, @HopelessN00b - I can't read your text in a tone other than dripping with contempt, scorn, and haughtiness. Here's the thing: a community that isn't growing is at-best stagnant. (In reality it's dying.) If you are unwelcoming to the new people (never mind being hostile), they will not stay. And they'll tell others that it's filled with BOFHs. Simon Travaglia's stories are funny (because they're not true), but nobody wants to work with or be around that guy.
@Iain - whether jaded, frustrated, or otherwise, this site (I can't even call it a "community" anymore) is not welcoming to new users. It tolerates it's 'own', but nobody else. Which would be fine for a social club (SysDrink is a thing, after all) for mutual commisseration, but encouraging new users to 'suck less or take a hike' (my words) will only ensure that SF withers on the vine.
This behavior is a large part of why I haven't been coming by anymore. Unfortunately, it's not only focused on Developers; I've seen the dogpile on what I thought were useful and valuable questions because they didn't fit explicitly within the explicitly-allowed bounds of the FAQ. SF has a toxic feel now, and the only reason that I can see is that too many high-rep users have become jaded.
