On Sat, 06 Mar 2004 13:37:58 GMT, Frogleg 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.
As I said google is very useful as a source of information, but for
every search I've done that returned quick and useful replies, there
have been more that take a lot of work wading through the dreck, or
re-entering valid search criteria. Depending on what you're trying to
find you may have just received a long list of people that want to
sell you corn for your garden, garden raised corn for your table, and
tell corny jokes about garden hoses.

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.
My parents, and yours probably, showed me how to do it before handing
me a sharp and dangerous implement or telling me to go look in the
knife drawer, but then maybe you're from the Spartan school of child
raising.

Swyck