How To Ask Questions The Smart Way:
... [H]ackers have a reputation for meeting simple questions with what looks like hostility or arrogance. It sometimes looks like we're reflexively rude to newbies and the ignorant. But this isn't really true.
What we are, unapologetically, is hostile to people who seem to be unwilling to think or do their own homework before asking questions. ...
The ultimate objection to this way of thinking is that despite (possibly) good intentions of everyone involved, it still generates an intimidating atmosphere for those seeking knowledge. To be honest, however, I owe much of what I know today (about technology, anyway) to that intimidating atmosphere; in order to ask J. Random Hacker a question without pissing them off, I've had to figure out as much as I could about the question before I could ask it. Oftentimes I would find the answer without having to ask, and learn much more in the process. This is surprisingly more efficient than it sounds: the extra stuff I would learn along the way was often necessary to understand the answer I would have received in the first place-- again, especially applicable in the field of technology.
But teaching people to fish by starving them can have casualties, which is why it's important to take the F out of RTFM. Sometimes.
