Spoonfeeding

Spoonfeeding is not appreciated in #Linux. You can give answers to questions, sure, but you should be aware about what answer you give to which type of person. Lazy cluebies who come into #linux for a quick answer to a simple question should be ignored or just kept busy long enough for them to realize that it would have been quicker to look up the answer themselves.

Give the man a fish, and he will eat for a day; teach a man how to fish, and he will eat for the rest of his life.

People should be taught how to find out answers for themselves. That's why we suffice with giving a reference to the proper manual page/website (because admittedly, it can be tough to get started if you don't know exactly what you are looking for). Anything beyond that is spoonfeeding, and should be avoided.
Giving an explanation about something a cluebie found in the manual or on a webpage is alright, of course, as long as the cluebie in question shows he actually made the effort to figure things out for himself.

Exceptions can be, and often are, made of course. That requires some people knowledge however. It is common for ops and regulars to quickly help out other ops and regulars with seemingly simple problems. Those people have usually earned the help and have high kudos in #Linux. You will only gain such kudos if you try hard, invest the time to become part of the channel and get to know its (in)habit(ant)s.

A note of caution: Do make sure you reference the cluebie in question to the *right* documentation for his problem. Wrong advice is worse then no advice at all. Beware of ops in a bad mood who don't tolerate such cluelessness on your part.

thanks to stephen for pointing out the blatant spelling and grammar errors in this section