[NTLUG:Discuss] IRC support question

[Ralph Green]

Howdy,
  I sometimes hang out in the Ubuntu channel on irc to answer support
questions.  I do it on the #ntlug channel too, but not many people
visit.  Today, someone asked if it was possible to recover a file after
he pressed Shift-Delete.  After a few questions to figure out what he
was talking about(He selected a file in Nautilus and pressed
Shift-Delete and then said yes, he did want to permanently delete the
file), I explained that there were methods to recover data that had
merely been deleted, but not wiped.  I explained a little of the process
and said it was very involved and was only worth the trouble for very
valuable data.  He asked a couple more uninformed questions(no biggie,
those are common and everyone has to learn), and then said he was ready.
He wanted me to write him a detailed, step by step guide to exactly what
he needed to do.  Now, I wonder if that question is as funny to anyone
else as it is to me.  Maybe he did not know enough to realize what he
was asking.  This kind of a thing is more of an investigation than a
simple process and writing up such a thing would be a huge effort.  It
certainly seems like a bigger job than was reasonable in a free irc
channel.  Comments?  Maybe it is simpler than I think and someone can
just tell me that.
Good day,
Ralph