hackers don't need permission to look at the source

this blog is about approach, you are using emacs and you are annoyed by a prompt asking you whether to create a missing directory or not. one thing you can do is to go to the IRC channel and ask them how to not see that prompt. other thing (the right thing) you can do is to open the elisp code and try to find out what's printing that prompt. once you found the source, try to implement the fix yourself and if you are stuck somewhere, ask for some help.

the application crashes, you got a stacktrace, don't post it on the IRC channel rightaway and ask for help/(who knows what it is about), put a breakpoint there and try to fix it yourself. if you aren't able to fix it, ask for help. this differentiates a good programmer from the rest.