Date:         Wed, 31 Jan 2007 22:25:59 -0500
Reply-To:     Joy Hecht <hecht.joy@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Joy Hecht <hecht.joy@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Abuse by list member. Now: Archive search tips
In-Reply-To:  <c4e7c5f90701311051l7bb8322bp91064e53ea3e5075@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

The search tips are all good ideas, and perhaps we will all benefit from
them.

That being said, people will ALWAYS post with questions to which they might
have found the answers in the archives.

That's OKAY.  No one should be abusing them for that.  We all know how to
hit the delete key and ignore questions that don't interest us.

If we want to be helpful, some of us might also know how to politely say
"I'm sure someone else will help with you questions, but did you know that
there are some pretty cool archives, too, and here's how to find them?"

But abuse is NOT okay.

That being said, I know Sam.  In fact, once back in the early stages of my
vanagon life we actually went out on something that might remotely have been
considered a date.  He's a perfectly nice person.  Just maybe a bit too
smart and lawyer-like (gee, I wonder why?) to respond as graciously and
generously as he could to beginner questions on the list.

Maybe smart enough to realize, from all of this email, that a more
accommodating tone might be appreciated by a lot of folks on the list, too.



Joy




:::-----Original Message-----
:::From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
:::Of neil
:::Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 1:51 PM
:::To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
:::Subject: Was: Abuse by list member. Now: Archive search tips
:::
:::Hi all.
:::
:::Searching any data base takes patience and a little bit of "art". As a
:::newbie, I was *kindly* directed to archives for answers. And though
:::this has been posted before, (Sam?) here's what helped me search
:::archives:
:::
:::- bookmark the correct page. It is:
:::
:::http://gerry.vanagon.com/cgi-bin/wa.exe?S1=vanagon
:::
:::- search by email or name of experienced/informative sender. i.e.
:::Dennis Haynes, Karl Mullendore, etc. etc.
:::
:::- limit search to a year, or search summer months. Likely that time of
:::year there's more activity and answers to common questions.
:::
:::- Enter only one "keyword" in "subject contains" field. Try different
:::words. i.e. I am interested in swapping an inline 4 engine, so I
:::searched "I4", "inline 4", "jetta", "golf". Try different spellings of
:::keyword. Or different acronyms. i.e. Liquid propane could be LP or
:::LPG.
:::
:::If I'm thinking of the same "Sam" as has been mentioned, he provides
:::excellent advice that is clearly written. (in fact ironically, I
:::thought he was the sam "Sam" that frequented a "Umax S900" list I used
:::to lurk on. That Sam wrote in the same style/accuracy)
:::
:::Likely I have too much time on my hands, but searching the archives
:::has provided quite a lot of info over the last while. It takes time
:::yes, and some "art", but is well worth it.
:::
:::Cheers,
:::
:::
:::--
:::Neil Nicholson. 1981 Air Cooled Westfalia.
:::
:::http://web.mac.com/tubaneil