[mrtg] Re: One more question..

[George D. Nincehelser]

My two cents:

The FAQs for MRTG seem awfully disorganized to me.

First you go to the MRTG home page....there is a very sketchy partial FAQ
there.  This FAQ refers you to a MRTG FAQ site....a little more meat, but a
confusing and hard to read interface, and what is this about Shockwave and
Flash?

You dig down a little deeper, and several of the answers are simple "Look at
the config file".  Perhaps someone put those there as place holders and
never came back to elaborate, but as they stand, they aren't very helpful,
and it's annoying to be re-directed once again.

In my opinion a FAQ should expand on the existing documentation with some
discussion and examples, and it should be fairly easy to navigate.  The
existing FAQ falls way short in these respects.  It would be nice if someone
could devote some time to improving the FAQ, but I'm sure it is a difficult
and thankless task, so we may just have to live with what we've got.

Given the awkwardness of the FAQ and documentation, I think we should cut
the new guys some slack if they ask "silly" questions.

George



----- Original Message -----
From: Mitch Vincent <mitch at venux.net>
To: mrtglist <mrtg at list.ee.ethz.ch>
Sent: Thursday, September 30, 1999 11:03 AM
Subject: [mrtg] Re: One more question..


> > Yes, there are quite a few "bozos" here who don't realize that your time
> > management problems require an exemption from the list regarding the
issue
> > of reading the FAQ, web site, or even the docs that came with the
program.
>
> Sarcasm, I love it.
>
> I did read the FAQ. It and the place it suggested I look held no other
> information on my question).
>
> > Personally, I think if you want to ask a FAQ here, that's fine.
>
> The question is in the FAQ, the "Can I graph only one value".. Go and look
> at the answer.. "Look in the contrib dir for example configuration
files"..
> Then go look in the contrib directory..
>
>  There is absolutely no reference to what I'm doing in the docs, I was
only
> guessing that it was possible. MRTG really should have a different name,
it
> does much more than graph traffic measured with SNMP. It graphs --
anything,
> with or without SNMP! :-)
>
> >The list
> > being what it is, you'll nearly always get an answer.
>
> And all I have gotten so far today has been sarcasm (like this email) and
> other even more rude responses in public. Things like "You're a f**king
> idiot".
>
> Everyone seems to think it's an easy question to answer and wants to flame
> me for not knowing , yet no one has posted one response that actually had
to
> do with the question.
>
> >You'll also get
> > chewed a little for not reading the FAQ.
>
> I did. Show me the answer in the FAQ _please_. If it's there I must be
> completely blind.
>
> The *only* reference to this is a single half-sentance. "Look in the
contrib
> directory for sample cfg files". That's not even a yes or a no.
>
> >You shouldn't be surprised about
> > that, and I don't think you've grounds to complain.  Just realize that
you
> > brought it on yourself, scroll through the list looking for the solution
> > (instead of scrolling through the FAQ looking for the solution), and
move
> > on.
>
> See above comments on the FAQ.
>
> > Because, seriously, your failures at time management don't result in any
> > enforceable contract for help from this list.  ;)
>
> Time management has nothing to do with this.. I simply have a lot to do
and
> little time to do it in.. Maybe you haven't been in this position before :
> (at 11am) "We need this done by 3pm. We don't care how you do it, just do
> it.".. Regardless, if you don't want to give me a hand, don't.  I have no
> desire in flaming, arguing or being rude anymore to anyone else. I thought
> this was a list for help with the operation and configuration of MRTG. I
> guess it's just a place where people hang out and read email for the hell
of
> it..
>
> Oh yeah, you do realize that you wrote this in response to an email
thanking
> the list for their understanding and help, right? Now that's irony..
>
>
> Thanks to those who gave me a hand yesterday and thanks to those who
wasted
> their and my time today with flaming me too :-)
>
> - Mitch
>
>
> --
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>
>

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