"RTFM"--this phrase needs to die!

[langleymass]

RTFM"--if you don't know, it means "read the freaking manual." Sometimes other adjectives are used in the F position. This phrase needs to die.

While it is entirely true that many people do NOT read the manuals, this response is often simply a confession meaning, "I don't have time to read your question."

Here are two cases in point:

I recently learned of my employer having a stock-purchase plan. I asked one person: "Do I have to have an E-trade account?" The response was a link to a PDF. Of course, the PDF did not have the answer. I wrote back: "This doesn't answer the question at all." After that, I did get an answer.

I subscribed to a Yahoo group. I read the subscriber FAQ, the intro letter, and even browsed past archives for the group. Then I e-mailed the mod: "Is it okay if I mention these things?" His response was to read the FAQ. I haven't written back to him yet. If I was comfortable with the "answer" the FAQ gave, I wouldn't have asked. I was simply trying to follow the rules and just wanted to know exactly how the rules would apply to some specific cases.

"RTFM" says more about the person answering the question than about the person asking the question. Generally, manuals are very abstract and general. However, many questions are very specific and concrete. "RTFM" needs to die.

 

[mrdenny]

Those are both just great.

Denny
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000)

--Anything is possible. All it takes is a little research. (Me)

http://www.mrdenny.com

(Not quite so old any more.)

 

[johnpoole]

very good point and a decent opposing counterpoint, can't really get on either side, rtfm, rtfb.. i've used it a few times, but it's only for m a n a g e m e n t... with questions he didn't want to ask a programer, usually because he told his boss he wrote the code.. and it is usually a page one paragraph one question.. but your right, if the question is below the level i expect in this, or any forum, ignore it... btw i learned to fish, bought a 16k bass boat, another 4 k in tackle, a major pickup to pull said boat, did the catch and rls thing and couldn't afford a fish sandwich at mac d's.. teach a man to fish, then buy him lunch...

john poole
bellsouth business
columbia,sc

 

[benlinkknilneb]

Hi John,

Nice to meet a fellow Sandlapper out here in cyberspace. From your profile, it seems we just live in different forums. I'm from Greenwood.

After reading your post, I'm glad I don't fish...

Ben

There's no place like 127.0.0.1.

 

[dilettante]

Most of the objections to the use of RTFM are absurd. To begin with, it isn't meant to be scatalogical despite its literal expansion. It is simply part of the working vocabulary in a range of computer trades and professions. Much the same can be found elsewhere in technical jargon. I remember a kind of insulated crimp-type wire splicing device for fine gauge wiring that was referred to as a "mouse rubber" because of its appearance. These items were listed as such in supply catalogs, and the term was commonly accepted.

Even if one were to choose another shorthand term to replace RTFM, the need for it still exists and it would still be used. There are lots of scenarios where the most appropriate answer is "go do the research," preferably with a pointer to the relevant documents.

Not having access to canonical documents would be a problem. While I'm sure we could point to important exceptions, a significant fraction of these reference sources are available online for no cost.

Some subjects are complex. Maybe too complex to get a working answer from the documentation alone. This is a fair answer to why RTFM may not be a useful response to a given individual. That doesn't make it an invalid response though.

It has a very fair solution: hire a professional. Tek-Tips isn't a free sweatshop to serve your needs. Paying customers get professional results. Professional peers expect some fundamental competence of each other.

 

[Sympology]

Slight twist on this, but RTFM? Shouldn't that be rewritten RTFPDF? Not sure if I'm a dying breed, but I'm sorry give me a nice chunky paper manual any day. Yes you can search pdf's (when they let you) and yes you can store hundreds on your pc, BUT.... can you casually flick through a pdf and go Ooo whats this? Can you flick between 3 or 4 pages as easily, can you be working away and not have to alt& Tab all the darn time.
Save the manual I say!

Only the truly stupid believe they know everything.
Stu.. 2004

 

[lionelhill]

... not to say letting your eyes go fuzzy as you try to read something antialiassed, and fitted to a tall thin paper page, but displayed on a short fat monitor...
I much prefer a decent windows-style helpfile, legible and cross-referenced, to a badly-written pdf.

 

[EBGreen]

I like to have the manual, but my prefer way to work is with dual monitors. I work on the monitor in front of me. The second monitor is to my left and is a LCD rotated 90 degrees so that it is up and down rather than across. On this one I have the electronic version of the manual open.

[red]"... isn't sanity really just a one trick pony anyway?! I mean, all you get is one trick, rational thinking, but when you are good and crazy, oooh, oooh, oooh, the sky is the limit!" - The Tick[/red]

 

[Stella740pl]

TomThumbKP,

Do you work from home or own a business?
Very few people are exposed to a luxury of having two monitors at a normal, regular work place, let alone two LCD monitors.

I always prefer nice Windows help file, with index, search ability, and cross-references to either PDF or paper manual.

 

[EBGreen]

I work for a company. My computer is a laptop, so the second monitor is for the docking station. Many people just use the LCD when docked. I think that is a silly waste of the laptop screen.

[red]"... isn't sanity really just a one trick pony anyway?! I mean, all you get is one trick, rational thinking, but when you are good and crazy, oooh, oooh, oooh, the sky is the limit!" - The Tick[/red]

 

[mkov]

On the multiple monitor issue.....

About half of everyone where I work have 2 monitors. The guys in our trading room have 3 or 4.

 

[mrdenny]

I've got two at this job. At a previous job I had 3. Another guy had 5 on his workstation. He had 6, but over 5 and one of the monitors was behind his head.

Denny
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000)

--Anything is possible. All it takes is a little research. (Me)

http://www.mrdenny.com

(Not quite so old any more.)

 

[Stella740pl]

Sounds nice.
At mine, one guy has 3 computers, and two of them attached to the same monitor. Most other people on my floor and many that I know (from different places), with some exceptions, just have one.

 

[jwenting]

80% of questions being posted in forums at this time can be found by typing the subject line literally into either the product manual or in the forum search function.

Such questions deserve no better than an RTFM (maybe accompanied by the section of the manual containing the answer).

Of the other 20% about half are of the "do my homework so I can get an IT degree without working for it so I can take your job" kind.

The rest are genuine.

Why should we spend effort answering those 90% of questions leaving no time for the 10% that do deserve help?

 

[Sympology]

I question the 80% figure. Sometime things are not as obvious as it seems.
Where in the manual does it say "when the application constantly blue screens it's due to....."
or
"If you keep getting pop ups on your pc it's due to you surfing sites which have installed an activeX application without your knowledge so here's how you remove it"

Many a time I've had to tell people how to butcher and bodge an application to get it to work because of the install not working how the manual says it should.

Also your figures need adjusting for the
5% "I wrote the software and it's full of bugs, so I'll look here to find the fixes and then release a service pack"

Only the truly stupid believe they know everything.
Stu.. 2004

 

[Corran007]

ill give my .02 on this. I myself have told people to RTFM. The only time i do tell them to do that is when i know that exact question can be answered in it. Of course i have a tendancy to read every manual i get. I even read the manual for my alarm clock.

If i myself am unsure that question is in the manual, i ask them if they looked in the manual on that topic. If they say no, then i ask them to look and if they still cannot find it i will be happy to help. if they have and they are still unclear ill ask them to tell me/show me what it said and try to help them. Since they are asking after reading it something is still not clear to them.

I personally think it is fine to tell someone polightly to rtfm if you know that question is there. do not just tell them to read it when you are unsure that will solve thier question. I think it is unprofesional.

 

[pmonett]

I think that, with some experience in the field, you can easily tell the difference between someone who is genuinely stumpted by a problem - even if he cannot explain himself perfectly, and someone who couldn't be bothered to search for the solution himself and just asks around.

The first person I will try to help as much as I can, to the extent of giving him the solution first and discussion it after.

The second I will most probably ignore completely. If I do not, he will indeed get an RTFM.

Pascal.

 

[fredericofonseca]

As others I am one of those that will give a RTFM as often as I feel it is the required answer.

Most people do not bother reading the manuals or the help systems of whatever software/hardware they are using, and that shows on the type of questions they make.

So if the answer is
1- On the online help system of the application used (e.g. F1 key)
or

2- It is on the application manuals (and these are freely and easily available to everyone!!!)


And if at the same time the manual information is clear and well explained, and with examples where required, then RTFM is due.

If the manual information is not clear or misleading then I will avoid it.


But no I don't think it should go away, neither do I think it is rude. It is exactly on the same level as using ROFL or IMHO and others.



Regards

Frederico Fonseca
SysSoft Integrated Ltd

http://www.syssoft-int.com

 

[langleymass]

One thing I forgot to mention about the questions that I posed in my first example. They were simply yes-no questions.

Typing "yes" requires three keystrokes. Typing "no" requires two keystrokes. Typing "RTFM" requires four keystrokes.

In other words, the people ended up wasting more of their own time by not answering the questions than if they had answered the questions.

 

[EBGreen]

Except for the fact that the asker of the question will now be more likely to continue not learning for themselves and expecting others to do for them that which they are perfectly capable of doing themselves. Specifically Reading The F'ing Manual.

[red]"... isn't sanity really just a one trick pony anyway?! I mean, all you get is one trick, rational thinking, but when you are good and crazy, oooh, oooh, oooh, the sky is the limit!" - The Tick[/red]