Odd DNS problem
Nils Kassube
kassube at gmx.net
Wed Sep 5 19:26:33 UTC 2007
Ed Smits wrote:
> On 9/4/07, Marcelino Luna <marce34 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Ed Smits wrote:
> > > As a test, I just installed IE6 for Linux, same thing, can't get to
> > > VMWare. I tried to access it from the link on the Wikipedia entry,
> > > server not found, so it's more than just a browser issue.
> > >
> > > Any ideas?
> >
> > Mmmh... Try this on a terminal:
> >
> > sudo -s
> > echo 0 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_window_scaling
>
> Damn, my entire system is dead now!
>
> No, it didn't die, I just thought how weird, I trust some guy on the
> Ubuntu list enough to do what he tells me without understanding it<G>
Well, that highlights an interesting point. Someone who asks a question on
a mailing list trusts random persons without knowing anything about them.
But the situation is similar to the "real world". If you ask some random
person what time it is, what can you do? Usually you know roughly what
time it is, so you can find out if the answer is real nonsense. But
otherwise you have to trust that person.
I think, it is similar here with a mailing list. People want to leave
Windows for whatever reason and have heard / read about Ubuntu and want
to find out if they could use it. However, there is a specific problem
during the installation or shortly afterwards. They don't want to learn
how things work, but want this single problem solved. What options do
they have?
- Pay some expert for advice (this is like calling a time service by
telephone). They can surely trust the expert. It will probably be a good
solution, but it takes some time to find the expert, and it will cost
money. As they only want to evaluate the system, they don't really want
to spend any money and not too much time.
- They can do some research using $SEARCHENGINE and find some solution
(like looking for a clock at a train station). That doesn't cost any
money but maybe takes a lot of time. Now they have to trust themselves
and the solution they find. Being new to Linux, the solution might damage
their system because they don't know what commands might be dangerous.
But who cares? If it doesn't work, they can just get rid of the new
system and stay with Windows.
- Ask at forums or mailing lists for advice (like asking random people
what time it is). The result may be as good as the solution from the paid
expert, but it takes less time to get a solution and it doesn't cost
money. However, there might as well be only a useless solution which
damages the installed system. This time they have to trust anybody who
gives an answer. But if the result is a damaged system, they can just
stay with Windows.
Unfortunately we can't avoid all bad answers here. After all it is a
mailing list for users (who usually are no experts) to support other
users. Anyway, it seems to me, most answers are quite useful. Just like
asking random people what time it is -- sometimes you might ask someone
with a broken watch.
OTOH, if there is a problem with a production system (e.g. my main work
station), I would never blindly trust random people. I would do some
research to understand what a given solution does to the system. That
could be reading man pages or other documentation or asking the person
who gave the solution. Or, if it is even more important (e.g. a main
server at a company) the only solution is paid support by experts.
Nils
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