Let me preface this blog post by telling you straight up.....I am not a developer! However I am the bridge between a development team and organizations who chosen to use open source software.

I find myself in a difficult position. My friends & family definitely see me as a geek, often commenting that it seems as if my Twitter & Facebook are in some other language. But among the open source or Linux crowd, there is a caste system in place which can make one feel like an 'untouchable' if you are not a hacker, or a developer.

Recently, I read an interesting article "Linux Users vs Linux Culture" and the comments struck a cord with me, as the writer shared his experiences of looking for help in the Linux community.  

This seems to be a common thread and came up in our interview with the ladies from the Penguin Trail project. Those of us who are Linux evangelists, write training manuals, work with end users or maintain documentation do not seem to have the respect of the community.

There are times that I find myself in unfamiliar territory and need to find the answer.  It can be a mission critical moment such as an education minister is standing in front of your demo machine and for some reason on reboot, grub has an error and the GUI will not launch.  In situations like this, it would be ideal to be able to connect with another Linux 'professional' who would work with me instead of replying "STFW" or “RTFM”.  Yes, Google and community forums are the resources I turn to first to research a problem, when....the client is not standing over my shoulder.

There is a website that was written to inform the 'rest of us' how to ask hackers or Linux geekboys for help in a manner which will increase the likelihood of getting a response.  How to Ask Questions The Smart Way -  has these words of wisdom....??

"In the world of hackers, the kind of answers you get to your technical questions depends as much on the way you ask the questions as on the difficulty of developing the answer. This guide will teach you how to ask questions in a way more likely to get you a satisfactory answer."

"We realize that there are many people who just want to use the software we write, and who have no interest in learning technical details."

"If you decide to come to us for help, you don't want to be one of the losers. You don't want to seem like one, either. The best way to get a rapid and responsive answer is to ask it like a person with smarts, confidence, and clues who just happens to need help on one particular problem."

How do this reflect the 'community' spirit which is so often touted as a key benefit of adopting Open Source or Linux?  Does this attitude make people want to ask for help? When someone with a decade of IT experience is referred to as a 'newbie' or a 'loser' it does not make the community aspect so appealing.  

Given that most of my waking hours (and some of my wee ones) are spent ensuring that the organizations which have chosen to use Linux are having the best possible experience, so that they will in turn share the good vibes with others, I would like to know that not everyone is painted with same brush.  There are many of us 'bridge' people out there in the community.

On a final note, I do appreciate that people's time is valuable and that is the main message behind 'How to ask questions the smart way" .  To put my money where my mouth is so to speak, I will contribute to the support wiki of Italc, a key open source program which is requested in all of my educational deployments. The FAQ page needs to have more than 7 entries so that we can refer new users there with confidence and everyone's time is well spent.  Both for those who are seeking answers and those who provide them.

Cheers until next time