[mariusor]

I think there is a very clear distinction between asking for help like: 'I have searched for a solution to my X problem in this or that way, but I couldn't find anything.' and 'I don't know how to do X.'

If you feel like neither of them deserves a RTFM, I think you have a very entitled view of being a user, and personally I will never want you as a one for the software I write.

RTFM is a perfectly justified answer to people that consider that a developer's time in replying to their problem is less valuable than their own in searching for a solution. Exceptionally more so when the answer is an "apropos" or "man" page away. The least thing a user can do is to spend a fraction of the developers' invested time into finding solutions on their own.