[FM Discuss] if you want them to RTFM...

[Andy Oram]

That quip oversimplifies the problem. I love documents, I love words, I spend my life trying to convey concepts through words--but sometimes you just can't reach everybody. For many reasons, a good document might not be read or understood. I cover that in a few articles, like here:

http://praxagora.com/andyo/professional/community_author_collaboration.html

...The person asking the question has probably invested considerable time in a earnest search for the information, and others must interrupt their work to give the answer. Therefore, better tools, protocols, and community practices could do a lot to reduce the findability problem....

Another task that the community could perform is to interpret the information. Some users need to be trained to read the material. They may need to be told how to frame their questions productively and what to look for in the documentation. On forums, one occasionally sees a respondent successfully reframe the question this way. If members of communities invested time into guiding new users through a document, the communities might impart skills that would lift users to new levels of competence and self-reliance. 

--
Andy