RTFM

RTFM is an initialism for the statement "Read The Fucking Manual", or "Read The Fine Manual" in ironic avoidance of the more usual expansion (see below for more variations). This instruction is sometimes given in response to a question when the person being asked believes that the question could be easily answered by reading the relevant "manual" or instructions.

Use and overuse

An Internet forum where users read the FAQ before posting their questions is more likely to have a better signal to noise ratio than one that is filled with repetitive postings, and hence is more likely to attract continued participation. When evaluating whether it is acceptable to express sentiments like RTFM, one must consider the trade-off between maintaining the usability of an Internet forum for its existing users, and making a forum welcoming to newcomers.

Critics say that frequent users of the phrase (or similar variants) are simply expressing elitism, and that their attitude drives away newcomers without helping them. Their time could better be spent adding the question and answer to an FAQ, pointing the user to a helpful website, or simply not responding.^[1] They point out that RTFM is often used when it is not even clear which manual their correspondent should be reading.^[2] One of the most frequent criticisms of the open source community (where this initialization is often found) is lack of friendly support for newcomers, (however, this initialization is likely to have started in the *nix community, where to find the manual page for a command, you simply type man <command>). The Ubuntu Forums and LinuxQuestions.org, for instance, have instituted "no RTFM" policies to promote a welcoming atmosphere.^[3][4] (Although these systems do actually come with the aforementioned 'man' system).

RTFM [and] "Go look on google" are two inappropriate responses to a question. If you don't know the answer or don't wish to help, please say nothing instead of brushing off someone's question. Politely showing someone how you searched or obtained the answer to a question is acceptable, even encouraged.

...

If you wish to remind a user to use search tools or other resources when they have asked a question you feel is basic or common, please be very polite. Any replies for help that contain language disrespectful towards the user asking the question, i.e. "STFU" or "RTFM" are unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

– Forum Policies and Expectations — Ubuntu Forums

This phrase is also commonly used in Massive Multiplayer Online games, from people frustrated by newbies asking how to do something that is explained in the manual.

Some hackers have suggested that in some situations "RTFM" is actually the best advice that an aspiring hacker can receive.^[5] They posit that hacking is a dynamic art which requires independence and drive on the part of the hacker, and see "RTFM" as more of a long-term advisement than it is a response to any single query. This argument is only applicable when used with other hackers, however, given that the concepts surrounding open source software are designed to be suitable for use by non-hackers. In fact, usability experts recommend designing some kind of software to be usable without a manual at all, since users don't ever actually read them.^[6] Although, of course, there is the argument that users don't read manuals because designers, knowing that users don't read them, don't bother to make them very useful. Regardless of original cause, this problem will be mitigated as the 'intelligent in context help' paradigm comes into play^{[citation needed]}.

Related terms

There are many derivative acronyms of the form "RTF*", where '*' is the appropriate source of information.

To avoid the use of the expletive "fucking", other variations of the acronym:

• replace the letter 'F' with another letter (eg. 'D' for 'damn' or 'B' for 'bloody)
• bowdlerise the 'F' to another adjective (eg. "Fantastic", "Friggin'", "Fscking", "Friendly", "Freaking", "Fracking", "Flipping", "Flaming", or "Fine")
• Drop the "F" entirely and render the initialism as "RTM" (Read The Manual) or "RTMP" (Read The Manual Please).

Other derivatives of this expression found in hacker slang or internet slang include:

EEUC : "Equipment Exceeds User Capabilities"

ESTO : "Equipment Smarter Than Operator"

FGI  : "Fucking Google It"

FTA  : "From The Article"

GBTFW : "Get Back To Fucking Work"

GFE : "Google Fucking Exists" (coined by Dan Savage)

GIYD : "Google It You Dumbass" (pronounced "GUIDE")

GIYF : "Google Is Your Friend" or "Google It You Fuckwit"

GLOG : "Go Look On Google"

GMF  : "Got Me Fucked" (Often used by Technical Students after Technical Instructors ask a really difficult question)

ID-TEN-T: replace TEN with 10, the word reads ID10T, or "idiot"

JFGI : "Just Fucking Google It"

JFWI : "Just Fucking Wiki It" (a derivative of JFGI found on IRC)

PEBKAC : "Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair"

PEGA : "Pilot Error! Go Around!"

PICNIC : "Problem In Chair Not In Computer"

OTFM: "Open The Fucking Manual"

RTFA : "Read The Fucking Article" (commonly used on forums to someone who has obviously posted a comment without reading the relevant article)

RFMF : "Read the Fucking Manual First"

RTFC : "Read The Fucking Card" (used by Magic: The Gathering players as a reminder not to make play errors based on not reading the cards)

RTFC : For programmers, "Read The Fucking Code"

RTFMA : "Read The Fucking Manual Asshole"

RTFFAQ or RTFF : Read The Fucking FAQ

RTFN : "Read The Fucking News"

RTFQ : "Read The Fucking Question" (sometimes used by technical instructors to prevent exam errors due to a less-than-thorough reading of the test item by the student)

RTFS : "Read The Fucking Source" (commonly used by programmers to other programmers or sufficiently technically aware people who would benefit from looking at the code)

RTGDM : "Read the GOD Damned Manual"

RTFW: Read The Fucking Wiki (or Walkthrough)

RTMFQ : "Read the Mother Fucking Question"

STFNG : "Search The Fucking News Group" (probably goes back at least to the advent of DejaNews in 1995 but the earliest citation Google Groups has for it is March 1999.)

STFW : "Search The Fucking Web" or "So The Fuck What? (first seen on Usenet in 1996 )

TFA : "The Fucking Article"

UTFG : "Use The Fucking Google"

UTFSE : "Use The Fucking Search Engine"

UTFSF : "Use The Fucking Search Function"

UTFW : "Use The Fucking Wikipedia"

UTSL : "Use The Source, Luke" (a play on the popular Star Wars line commonly used in Linux context, where the basic or fallback type of installing software is the installation from manually downloaded source code instead of installing packages)

WTFM : "Write The Fucking Manual" (seen in a post on the R-help mailing list: "This is all documented in TFM. Those who WTFM don't want to have to WTFM again on the mailing list. RTFM by Barry Rowlingson on R-help, October 2003. Later used by Branden Robinson as the title of a presentation on writing man pages.)

Some of these versions are less pejorative than RTFM and used in a humorous sense, as it is assumed that it was the developer's fault for not providing documentation.

There is also a French magazine titled RTFM, short for Read That Friendly Magazine. It costs €3.50 in Metropolitan France and contains computer jokes and stickers.

In the game F.E.A.R. for the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 the main character meets a portly computer programmer named Norton Mapes who wears a large belt buckle engraved with the letters "RTFM". In addition, Mapes comes off as brash and condescending. The character Norton Mapes is a reference to the novel Jurassic Park, which features a very similar if not identical tech-support character.

See also

• Internet slang
• Unix manual ("man" pages)
• Usability engineering
• User interface design

References

1. ^ Telling people to use "Google," to "RTFM," or "Use the search feature"—LinuxQuestions.org
2. ^ Please point to the right "M" so I can "RTFM" — LinuxQuestions.org
3. ^ Forum Policies and Expectations — Ubuntu Forums
4. ^ "Newbie subspecies" — thread on LinuxQuestions.org
5. ^ "How To Ask Questions The Smart Way" — Eric Steven Raymond
6. ^ User Interface Design for Programmers - Chapter 6: Designing for People Who Have Better Things To Do With Their Lives

External links

• RTFM — Jargon File definition
• First there was RTFM, now there is STFW; Michael Dillon; Usenet post; 9 June 1996.

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