[Tfug] Mind taking a poll?

[Adrian]

On Monday 27 February 2006 12:04, Bexley Hall wrote:
> 
> --- Jim Secan <jim at nwra.com> wrote:
> 
> > At 09:35 PM 2/25/2006 -0700, you wrote:
> > >More to the point though - I think intermediate
> > would be someone who can
> > >install and use Linux, install new packages, etc.
> > >
> > >Advanced would be someone who can do all the above
> > >but when they run in to
> > >a problem be able to solve it without intervention.
> 
> Advanced would be someone who can solve it WITHOUT
> GOOGLE!  :>

I would have to disagree... We have already had the Google use fight here 
before (its in the archives somewhere) and the conclusion was that 
intermediate/advanced admins actively use Google to "solve" problems. The 
difference is that advanced admins use Google to confirm their suspicions as 
to the cause of a problem, to forego the slow detailed analysis of tangential 
interactions in lieu of the details already researched/posted by another, and 
to review the success of potential fixes. Advanced admins do not 
semi-randomly search Google to "tell them what is wrong".

[snip]
> > If this poll were split into a matrix rather than a
> > vector it would make
> > more sense - even a simple split into "user" and
> > "administrator" with the
> > four capabilities levels would perhaps be more
> > useful.  I'd probably put
> > myself in advanced as a user and
> > beginner/intermediate as administrator.  I
> > tend to focus on learning what I need in order to
> > use the system to do my
> > "real" job, and learn as little as I can get away
> > with to administer it.  A
> > *nix hobbiest might be the other way 'round.
> 
> Exactly.  I'd add "Developer" since most admins
> just apply other people's patches (and rarely
> have submitted code patches of their own -- whether
> it is to the kernel or to userland tools)
> 
> Though for a population as small as TFUG, getting
> this fine grained with a survey probably yields
> very little "signal" in a sh*tload of "noise"...
> 

I, for one, am always suprised by the depth of knowledge of the many TFUG 
lurkers that appear from time to time. Despite it's relatively small size, 
quotes from TFUG show up as a semi-authoritative source in a remarkably large 
number of topics (scary aint it?). It is true, a more representative survey 
would have to take into account not only a more subtle (and defined) 
experience level, but apply those experience levels over a wide range of 
subjects from hardware, software, programming, and networking perspectives. 
In addition, a substantial amount of the TFUG population would have to 
participate (~45 did so in this survey, the list contains several hundred 
subscribers though).

Quite often I find, searching Google for some details on an esoteric piece of 
hardware or software, references to the TFUG archives and specific 
conversations that reveal conversations already hashed. On a number of 
occasions I have been personally emailed with follow-up questions on many 
month/year old TFUG topics, by people who found the content they were looking 
for. Some examples of this include: upgrading Qwest 67x DSL modem firmware 
from Linux, large USB flash drive storage/driver problems, distribution 
installation problems, Apache configuration, and the recent ActionTec IPv6 
DNS borking, amoung many others.

Adrain