What is a newbie?

[Mark Eggers]

> Subject: What is a newbie? (Was Re: Assistance for newbies?)

> My question to the list is this: When is a newbie no longer a newbie?   
> That's not irrelevant, for if we were to construct a monthly posting  
> for newbies, we'd need a model of the target audience.

Nice general question . . . .

I think there are at least 3 types of new users.

1) New to Linux in general (Linux-newbies)
2) New to Fedora Core nnn (Fedora-newbies)
3) New to mailing lists / Usenet news groups (Net-newbies)

The following is my gross simplification of the new user community. 
Please hack, slash, and correct.

1. Linux-newbies

These people come from other operating systems.  They are probably
user-task oriented.  In other words, they are most likely to ask the
following types of questions.

a) How do I read mail
b) How do I browse the Internet
c) How do I play music
d) How do I play games
e) How do I manage office productivity
f) How do I print

Their challenges will probably fall into one of three categories.

a) What programs do I use?
b) What hardware works?
c) What formats are supported (mp3, DVD, etc.)

We can help them get up to speed by providing them with some of the
following.

a) A program list for these tasks that come with the core install
b) A set of add-on programs that accomplish these tasks
c) Hardware that is likely to work out of the box
d) Hardware that currently has known challenges

The software matrix will be difficult in that we all have our
favorites.  In addition, facing the massive amount of choice that Linux
provides is somewhat daunting to a new user.

Finally from a software perspective, many new users do not clearly
distinguish between the operating system, the windowing system, the
desktop environment, and the applications.  This is in large part due to
a certain vendor's drive to build the "black box" environment as
compared to a tool set approach evidenced in Linux.  This philosophical
approach to computing should probably be clearly articulated.

2. Fedora-newbies

The people who are new to Fedora (all of us?) may actually be coming
from other Linux distributions, as well as from other operating
systems.  The major additional challenge that Fedora-newbies seem to
have concerns the rate of change to Fedora.

Questions and challenges from Fedora-newbies could include the
following.

a) Why was software package X replaced with package Y
b) How do I get software package Z installed
c) How do I get the same functionality with package Y that I had with
   package X?

I think we can help the Fedora-newbies in several ways.  First of all, a
person running Fedora must be more change-aware than running other
distributions.  Viewing Fedora as a collection of subsystems that can be
managed more or less independently (documenting those subsystems,
versions, etc.) is a good start.

Mapping software functionality on a task basis for common tasks is
another area that we could contribute to.  This is probably a more
difficult task, since people contributing to this section would have to
be reasonably adept at more than one package.

Finally, explaining to people that Fedora is a rapidly changing
environment with a short span (about 1 year per version it appears) will
help them to manage both their expectations and environment.  Helping
them to identify change impacts would help.  For example, when I upgrade
my kernel, I have to also recompile my NVidia driver, and either wait
for the Linux-NTFS project to provide an RPM or build my own RPM for
linux-ntfs.  Making people aware of these interactions would save them a
lot of frustration.

In short, if you are risk-adverse or change-adverse, Fedora core is
probably NOT where you want to be.

3. Net-newbies

I think Net-newbies are probably the most challenging for many people to
deal with.  In addition to the technical issues that these people
encounter, there are also communication issues.  Some of these issues
include the following.

a) Anger and frustration that Fedora doesn't work like X
b) Discounting a technology because you failed to get X working
c) The "do it for me" attitude
d) The "nothing changed, and now it doesn't work" lament

There are several excellent articles on how to ask questions on mailing
lists and Usenet newsgroups.  I think that pointing these out is a good
first start.

Gently remind the person that there is a certain amount of information
needed before someone else can approach a problem.  Documenting examples
of that information would be a good idea.  Documenting how to obtain
that information is also a good idea.

Problem solving is an art as well as a science.  I'm not sure there are
very many good texts out there on problem solving.  Maybe  a
problem-solving approach aimed at Fedora would be a good contribution.

Finally, and this is probably not going to sit well with many people, do
NOT help those who are abusive in either their questions or their
responses.  In other words, do not feed the troll.  Many of us are in
the IT (service) profession, and NOT helping people is really tough to
do.  However positive reenforcement for negative behavior only
encourages negative behavior and gives the other person ulcers.

Point the trolls to the proper resources, and then offer support when
non-abusive behavior is shown may make all the difference in the world.

OK . . . . I've been typing way too much . . . . I'll climb off of my
soapbox and watch for the appropriate barrage of vegetables.

/mde/
just my two cents . . . .