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> Then, you'd end up in some IRC channel asking for help and someone simply says 'RTFM!'

I had such a delightful retro experience the other day! I had spent days fighting a segfault in a widely used, mature library. Naturally, me being new to the library, and knowing that it's mature and widely used, I assumed I was doing something wrong. No mention of the problem online. Crickets in my StackOverflow question for days. In the end, my last ditch effort was to find some of the devlopers on IRC (I hadn't used it for a decade). I was ready for the "RTFM!!!" telling off of my childhood.

But no. People were super helpful. Helped me debug and explain what the library was doing. Turns out it was a bug in a little-used corner of the library afterall! It had lingered there unreported for 3 years. 10/10, would IRC again!




Your good experience was probably due to "10/10 would help someone who did their own homework first again!"




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