Things to do before posting!

I don't think this is due to arrogance - I just think it's frustration with the lack of ambition and desire for instant gratification, especially after working so hard to learn something yourself. The best way to learn is to try to figure something out for yourself. We all need help sometimes, but one should at least try before looking for a quick fix.

I dint intened to to accuse ppl. If it implied i'm really sorry abt this.And you know this forum is for getting answers.
Well, not every one knows all the things. I have got more help for ppl in this forum and I'm always great ful them.
What I suggested is that, ppl can just search once in the forum (or if they have MSDN). If that question is answered then they can find their answers quickly!
Well, if it hurted any one of you, I'm sorry.
Ravi

Thanks Bob. Your help are greatly appreciated.

Thanks Bob. Your help is greatly appreciated.

nt = no text :-)

If all of you permit, could I have a final word:
We are a big family, from India to Brasil, from America to Africa, with different types, levels, old, young, expert, inexperienced, ... . We are helping each other and being helped. Let's forgive and forget, and continue to extend our knowledge to others who need it.

Sincerely Yours,

David Hoang

During the last 12 months I've posted 6 questions and received one answer. This discussion makes me wonder if my questions were too easy (or too dumb) for the experts to answer, or they were too difficult. Anyone who does programming, for fun, homework or for a living, is certainly not lazy (physically or mentally). It's true that there are many levels of experience and different areas of knowledge and skills: What is easy for me may be extremely difficult for other and vice versa. The point is when someone poses a question, let's take it seriously and help if one can, and if not, just move on. Don't try to pigeon hole people based on a question.

Signed: In university teaching/research for over 25 years.

Everyone using this discussion forum has the MSDN. It is available to all on the internet for free. Just look.

I agree that there is a difference between being vague in spite of doing the best you can and being vague because you have not done the best you can. I know you are someone that tries, and I think I will never get frustrated with you. If you or someone else needs help clarifying then I can enjoy helping with that. I know that for me sometimes things are so unclear that I do not even know how to ask my question, and I can understand being in that situation. But I am also someone that might spend at least a couple of hours just on a question I want to ask.

It is sometimes not clear to me whether to ignore a question or to try to help the person get help. If a person does not know that their question is not clear then they could easily get wrong answers or no answers. Us oldtimers used to say: Garbage In, Garbage Out.

A big part of the problem is a lack of moderation. The type of guidelines that started this discussion is the type of guidelines that should be stated officially and clearly in a manner that is more supportive and understanding than we are being here. When frustrations get to the point that they are in this discussion we certainly are less likely to be patient and understanding.

The methodology of how, what and where to search is something that could be explained better by this web site. Some people seem to not even know about the online MSDN and Knowledge Bases, but the existance of those facilities and especially the CodeGuru facilities could easily be explained better by this web site.

Yes, yes, yes, yes. I mean that sincerely, not sarcastically.

Sometimes I feel like telling someone that if they do not want the heat then get out of the kitchen. Sorry, I mean I feel like telling them if they want something easy they should use Visual Basic not Visual C++.

So tell me what to do when a question is so vague that it is not likely to get a good answer. Should I ignore it? Leave it unanswered? I do that a lot. Should I try to help the person to understand that the question needs clarification? I do that sometimes.

That's entirely up to you, depending on your patience. In my business of education, it's my duty to explore the questions further or to give answers for a variety of scenarios. But I must confess, when I was younger, keeping my cool was'nt easy sometimes.

What about when the motivation is primarily to help?

Many times it is the person asking the question that is impatient, you know what I mean?

It is often tempting to try to explain to someone that they have not explained their problem well. For those people that resent being told their question is unclear, it is certainly foolish to try to help them.

I think there is a difference between constructive and destructive criticsm. I certainly agree that destructive criticsm should be aggresively avoided.

The type of thing I am often very tempted to criticize are the questions with subjects like "Please Help" and "Urgent" without much of an indication of the actual subject. I usually ignore them and I wonder how many other people ignore them. I think there should be a way to let people know that it helps to provide more meaningful subjects and I think that the web site could communicate that in a very reasonable manner better than it currently does.

I agree!

Often times the post is something like:
"Hi how do I build a program"

This question is fairly useless. What kind of program is it. What is your development environment etc...

People need to think about their question before posting. In order to answer a question, the guru needs to know the context of the problem.

Sometimes if the question alludes to something that I believe I can solve, I will have the poster clarify. Usually, however (sadly) I just end up ignoring that question.

I don't wish for anyone to be offended by any of this, but I am glad that these problems are being posted - it may help someone realize that they are doing something which doesn't aid their cause.

Brian Budge

You two gentlemen are doing great. You show thoughtfulness, dedication,
maturity and sensitivity. You want to help and it hurts when you can't seem to
get through. Take, for example, the question: Hi, How do I build a program?
If my college son asks me that question, I'll be very pleased because he is
interested, motivated and wants to learn something. In Codeguru forum, it is
important not to kill someone's interest and motivation by showing a
condescending attitude. It is also important to keep an open forum as it is
because everybody is benefitting from it, from the top experts to high school
students with the first taste of MFC (do you want to kill it?). Besides, who is
going to judge the judge who makes the decision to exclude or include a certain questions.