RTFM is an acronym for the statement "Read The Fucking Manual". This instruction is usually given in response to a question that can be answered easily by reading relevant documentation, and suggests that the inquirer may be wasting people's time.

To avoid the use of the expletive "fucking" in the statement (which is offensive to many people), RTFM also means "Read The Foolish Manual". It is also sometimes taken less pejoratively to mean "Read The Friendly Manual", "Read The Flaming Manual", or "Read The Fine Manual". Alternately, the "F" may be dropped entirely and the acronym can be rendered as "RTM" (Read The Manual).

In some Commonwealth countries, hackers prefer to use RTBM or "Read The Bloody Manual" as an initial reply. If the discussion escalates, RTFMs are used to reply.

Other derivatives of this expression found in hacker slang include RTFS ("Read The Fucking Source") and RTFB ("Read The Fucking Binary"). The former expression is also found in a variant inspired by Star Wars: UTSL ("Use The Source, Luke"—a play on "Use The Force, Luke"). 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 — in particular RTFB is used to indicate that a program is so ancient or poorly documented that the only way to work out what it does is by examining the machine code. On Slashdot, a common variant of this is RTFA ("Read The Fucking Article"), usually said to someone who has posted a comment which makes it clear they have not actually read the relevant article. Another variant first seen on Usenet in 1996 is STFW ("Search The Fucking Web"). A more concrete version is UTFG ("Use The Fucking Google").

Critics would say that frequent users of the phrase (or similar sentiments) are simply expressing elitism, and that their attitude drives away newcomers without helping them. Their time could better be spent adding the question to an FAQ, pointing the user to a helpful website, or simply not responding. One of the most frequent criticisms of the open source community (where this acronym is often found), is lack of friendly support for newcomers.

External links

• First there was RTFM, now there is STFW; Michael Dillon; Usenet post; 9 June 1996.
• And also WITFM?
• Fucking Google It
• How to be elite
• How to ask smart questions