Originally Posted by
tcook052
Very well said! I completely agree and see the trend occur on a daily basis.
I think of the quotation "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime" applies as I know FTers are a generous lot who are willing to help educate fellow members but are reticent and may react with attitude to those new arrivals who aren't willing to put forth an effort to learn even the basics and simply ask for the shortcuts or answers.
Both this and the quoted post are well-put.
Long ago I noted that some folks expect FT to function like a concierge and some (most) folks realize that it functions much more appropriately as a library. As with any library, it takes some time to understand the way things are organized and to read what has gone before. I still remember the sheer joy and hours when I should have been sleeping when I first discovered FT and read and read and read.
I believe that the vast majority of FTers are proud of this "community library" that we have, want to show newbies around, and enjoy pointing out how to get the most out of "the stacks." But there is understandably lower appreciation for folks who want FT to be their concierge, who don't do their research first (yes, someone else has probably asked about what to do on a layover at SFO and a search and 15 minutes of reading will make for lots of fun and will enable a poster to then refine his or her particular question with the benefit of all that archived experience).