Originally posted by GeneV I've watched this happen in a number of other threads. Maybe it is or isn't helpful to suggest that someone read the instructions. However, not every suggestion that someone consult the manual is intended to be hurtful, nor is it the equivalent of saying "RTFM" --a vulgar and insulting statement if written out.
We should perhaps be judicious in suggesting the manual for an answer to a question; nevertheless, it will, IMHO, help keep the tone of the forum more helpful if we did not jump on any poster who suggests that one consult the instructions with even harsher statements. Perhaps this is a time and place for a PM.
Sometimes, "let me Google this for you" or an equivalent is the best answer. To my mind, teaching a person how to fish is more helpful in the long run than giving them the fish in the first place.
Here's a question for you: "Could someone tell me how to do colour management?"
Really, what's the best answer? A couple of links or a 3000 word treatise?
When someone comes on (I'm not talking about the OP here, this is a generalization) and asks a question that proves they have in no way tried to help themselves, what is wrong with giving them the tools they need to answer it?
Is it less helpful to give a link rather than an extensive cut & paste? Is it less helpful to tell them what page of their manual has the answer?
Gene, I have, in the past, copied asked questions and pasted them verbatim into Google and gotten the answer.
What is the reticence surrounding teaching people how to use a search engine, or at least reminding them that they exist?
Why is it preferential to ask a question on a forum and perhaps get an answer that may be right or wrong at some unknown time in the future or to put that same question to a search engine and have the correct answer instantly?