I guess what I'm asking is: Are there questions that are too basic? Should a newbie be required to pour over the docs for answers that we can provide in 5 seconds?

I would say absolutely! Getting answers in five seconds isn't a good way of learning. And, if you repeatedly do it, you won't learn anything but how someone else says to do it. It is amazing what you can learn when trying to find a 'simple' answer in the docs. You may be looking up something simple about how to make a coderef, and suddenly get sidetracked into sockets or OO. The path to find an answer contains other answers of unasked questions.

I just remember being really green, and not even knowing how to get at the docs to review them.

That may be the real problem. I don't think every person asking a simple question is simply lazy. I think one problem is that they do not know about perldoc, or the wealth of information they can find on the web (tutorials, books, articles, etc...) by default. I think it is our job to point (or prod) people into looking at the docs, even tell them the exact place the answer is, just don't tell them the answer. (this goes for novice-like questions)

Or is it more like a Monk saying, “here’s a fish, and there is a stash of fishing rods over behind those rocks for next time…

Well, being a vegetarian I like this better: Give a person a carrot they eat for a day, show them how to grow a garden, they eat for a lifetime.

Cheers,
KM

In reply to RE: Are there questions to basic? by KM
in thread Are there questions to basic? by OzzyOsbourne

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