On Thu, 04 Mar 2004 19:18:33 -0500, wrote:

On Thu, 04 Mar 2004 22:57:15 GMT, Frogleg wrote:

On Thu, 04 Mar 2004 11:35:06 -0800, wrote:

I see little point in writing a treatise on, say, growing tomatoes,
when I can suggest a good web site on the subject. Some posters don't
appear to know how to use search engines. It isn't mean-spirited to
suggest how this is done.

Suggesting a good web site on a subject is a good thing to do, and
should be just as good as answering directly. That a great starting
point for a user finding information on their own. Posting a link to
Google is not.

It is amazing, however, how many times searching with the subject
lines in quotes turns up precisely the information the poster was
apparently after. If it's spelled correctly. I admit to being baffled
sometimes with basic queries being too basic. Ex: I often recommend
searching on

plant_name cultivation

and just tried that with 'corn', which turned up a page with few of
the garden tips I had in mind. So I added 'garden' to the end of the
string, and lo, the first page contains a number of appropriate and
useful pointers.

When someone posts "how/when do I apply X?", RTFL is an appropriate
response, 'though some people reply kindly nonetheless. I just don't
reply at all. Some are more contentious. :-)

It wounded me terribly when my parents stopped cutting up my food for
me and made me learn to do it myself, but I got over it (I think). If
I tried and failed, they'd help. But I *had* to try.