Aren't newbies so cute? 'what's a man page?' 'what does rm -rf /* do?' 'what's startx?'

I was thinking, why don't we have a little section that absolute newbies can come to and find an average linux user to answer his/her initial questions. It's above and beyond kind of help - you contact them on email/AIM/MSN/Gaim as a one on one thing.

Now, don't flame. I just see a lot of people give up on Linux. If there was someone there to hold their arm, so speak, and cross the road with them, it'd be a more pleasant experience. No feeling of isolation, etc. There is a strong point that the mentor is to not to do everything for them. Just point them out to certain things, explain some concepts, and give them a kick in the right direction. Teach them how to search for information, how to ask questions, how to read man pages, where to look for questions, and how to learn - also, help them deal with the initial migration shock.

Or another analogy, push them along with trainer wheels (or even just hold them upright) until they get the hang of it. Then they never forget

Maybe a formal list of mentor->newbie thing. It goes on their record how many newbies they have helped, etc. I'm thinking a 6 week period.

I think Slackware is a good distro to get them started. We don't want to be breeding Suse users - but people who really want to learn Linux and introduce them to the command line, etc.

I'm willing to adopt a newbie. Are you?

(Isn't it the best feeling when your newbie compiles his first kernel? *cry*)

Woot woot, as a newbie I just had this idea yesterday but was a bit to weary to post. As for slackware...I"m on slackware 9.1 if you want to "adopt me" I'd be more then happy, but I do know what man does and rm -fr / so if you dont' want me I understand
PM's don't seem to work for me on the forums if your interested I'll post my gaim accout

And I promise I'll try my best to not be the annoying cligger on newbie type that i've deatl with for other things

Consider yourself adopted.

my email is: latestringtones2003@yahoo.com

I can give you my Gaim details (I have msn, aim, yahoo, jabber)

If you know all the basics and are able to fend for yourself, however, it seems a bit silly.

What text editor do you use?

I recommend VIM. try 'vimtutor' and go through it. very useful.

I think it's best because vi is considered to be available on most UNIX like systems, and if you ever get stuck out of your own domain, you'll be able to rescue yourself with vi if you know vim.

if you like emacs, then :P

I sent you a mail with my Gaim info, if you didn't get it, my Gaim SN is BaixTF

Edit: Oh btw I use pico...vi wasn't acting how vi acted when I tried red hat for a day.

irt2003; hey good idea! I.m a newbie too but am willing to try be a lightening post to them after all ntn sink or swim. making effort to learn as
much as possible by reading everything including hardcopying any article that would help me and others. so far thats what i have been doing since
getting on these posts. every chance i get my 2 cents input ,in it goes.

Yeah I'm just getting started with Linux, and trying to get ito programming with Linux, I guess I'll ad myself on this little list, lol.
oxelite@yahoo.com
AIM(gAIM): oselite

People shouldn't really look at beginners as "newbies" or anything like that, because there was a point where the experienced ones knew absolutely nothing. Anyways,

oxe; it is not a put down being called a beginner or newbie, just a term from some with expierence and or expierence. but with confidence comes
that privilege. ie: any start any where placement is at beginning(newbie/newperson). what makes me newbie just starting with linux but so
far have gained knowledge & confidence so that now my turn to help others where i started. That is what makes Linux better than W anyW.

Yeah definately

While I think this idea is a good one, it's not something LinuxQuestions.org currently has the time or resources to monitor unfortunately.

--jeremy

I'm going to do a bit of asking around for someone to host a project such as this. I think it could work out really well if executed properly.

Suggestions welcome.

oxe, if you need help with basic stuff just send me emails, no worries. If you're interested in learning C++, check out the link in my sig. Hey, I'm a C++ newbie myself It's coming along nicely.

Well, although the idea sounds good, why would a newbie want to limit himself/herself to just having a single mentor, when he could instead just post on LQ and get the full advisory capabilities of the entire LQ community? Don't get me wrong, the idea sounds excellent on paper, but I'd rather rely on the LQ community at large for an answer than on a single person, no matter how knowledgable/experienced he or she may be. Additionally, given the the LQ community spans the globe, an "adopter" may be several time zones away from his/her adopted newbie, and if I'm that newbie, it would probably be a whole lot more efficient to simply search for an answer here at LQ, or, failing that, to just post a question rather than to wait for my mentor to respond. After all, the slogan and the entire purpose of LQ is to help Linux users get answers to their questions.

Lastly, by posting a question here on LQ, other future users would be able to benefit from any useful answers, not just the original "newbie and mentor" pair. To say things a different way, suppose a newbie's question is solved by his mentor, but that question and answer is unavailable to anyone else because it is contained within private Emails between just 2 people. Certainly that would diminish the usefulness of LQ and would not be helpful to any future newbies, and therefore, I would advocate for publishing as much info as possible on LQ, to make it an even more valuable resource. Just my 2 cents -- J.W.

J.W. - I agree. The whole point of having a community is that we can share ideas and all help each other. Taking discussions off-line means that we'll either have a situation where someone posts a question, becomes mentored, the question is then let slide....someone else searches for the problem and is left with a list of largely empty threads with no resolution. Or the mentor poses a solution, the solution doesn't work (no peer review, you see) and the new user decides that linux isn't for them.

While the idea does have a number of good points, I would have to say that my preference is to keep the knowledge on lQ and available to the whole community.

And that's my £0.0110035 (2 cents)

lrt2003, I read your words carefully and I really thank for your kind!
I'm totally a newbie for linux, I use it for my graduation thesis.
Can't I join you? I won't disturb you so much, I just want more help if I cound't find answer at this
thx for reading, and if you would adopt me, I'll be more happy

I truly feel that the discussion should be kept at LQ. That would help not just one newbie/member but many to come. It would always be here, for all to find.

And as far as the questions of personal attention goes, I understand the reason behind the Adopt a newbie scheme. But I think that htis happens at LQ too. I am often involved in threads which have just me and a newbie. Our session might continue for 6 hours or 6 days. It eventually comes to an end. And it's all on record so that more people can benefit out of it.

Why break up the happy/knowledgeable/proud/distinct/global LQ joint family into small nuclear families. A joint family is always more beneficial.

I am going to close this as it now doesn't have much to do with "Website Questions & Suggestions".

--jeremy