RTFM

rude slang An initialism of "read the fucking manual," an exclamation of frustration and exasperation directed at someone who has asked a question or series of questions that have already been answered in the manual for something. Would you stop asking such boneheaded questions and just RTFM? I don't have time to hold your hand on every project we do. I don't understand how you could be having so many problems installing the software. RTFM, dude.

Read the fucking manual!

and RTFM exclam. & comp. abb. Simply read the manual and stop asking someone else to explain it to you! (Usually objectionable.) Why should I write you a how-to book? RTFM! See also: fucking, read

RTFM

verbSee Read the fucking manual!

RTFM

(jargon)/R T F M/ Read The Fucking Manual (alwaysabbreviated, sometimes bowdlerised to "Fine" or "Friendly") An(unhelpful) guru's traditional response when someone asks aquestion in a newsgroup or mailing list which he couldhave easily answered for himself had he bothered to RTFM.

The term may also be used to indicate that you couldn't findthe answer in the manual. E.g. "How do I interface Unix to mytoaster? And yes, I did RTFM but the FM didn't help and Ican't RTFS."

Other derived forms include RTFAQ, RTFB, RTM, and, morerecently, STFW. Compare: UTSL.

RTFM

(Read The F***ing Manual) The last resort when having a hardware or software problem! Of course, this has been a sad but true state of affairs for decades. Most people avoid reading documentation manuals, which includes online help, because they are difficult if not downright impossible to understand. Countless help screens neglect to tell the user precisely which menus to select to find the function in question, and the indexes generally lack the most basic words a person might enter to find out how to do something. In short, documentation in the high-tech industry that is even modestly readable is a rarity (we hope this encyclopedia is an exception). See technical writer, user interface, tech support and how to find a good computer book.

It's So Bad, It's Laughable
Poor documentation is so pervasive that InfoWorld magazine used to present its Documentation User's MalPractice (Dumpy) award to the worst offender. Although hardly coveted, there were always numerous candidates.

Still Around

This notice came from the 2012 issue of Maximum PC magazine's guide to building your own PC.

Instructions Are Sometimes Helpful

This has nothing to do with computers, but the failure warning on Wet & Forget mildew remover is so "to-the-point," we just had to include it.

RTFM

Acronym	Definition
RTFM➣Read The Friendly Manual (polite form)
RTFM➣Read the Fine Manual
RTFM➣Realtime Traffic Flow Measurement (Internet RFCs 2720-2724)
RTFM➣Read The Freaking Manual (polite form)
RTFM➣Read The Flaming Manual
RTFM➣Read The Fantastic Manual
RTFM➣Read The Flipping Manual
RTFM➣Read the Fabulous Manual
RTFM➣Read the Frigging Manual
RTFM➣Read The Fscking Manual (Fsck is a Unix filesystem checker)
RTFM➣Real-Time Flow Management
RTFM➣Read The Forgotten Manual
RTFM➣Read The Fine Material
RTFM➣Repeat the First Message
RTFM➣Read the Famous Manual (polite form)
RTFM➣Room-Temperature Ferromagnetism
RTFM➣Read the Factory Manual
RTFM➣Read This For More
RTFM➣Read The Furnished Manual
RTFM➣Read the Field Manual
RTFM➣Read The FAQ 'n Manual
RTFM➣Read the Fortran manual
RTFM➣Right This Freaking Minute (polite form)
RTFM➣Reboot the Freaking Machine (polite form)
RTFM➣Refer to Factory Manual (engineering drawings)