I didn't come to any forum to write a book about help. Here is so much over posting to look smart that most people we try
to help get lost.
Post a fix get 10 pages of I'm smarter then you that's crazy way to help someone.
Then you have a poster that gives enough to never figure out there problem.

Well I know i'm not the best at writing I wish I was but I see problems better then writing words.

But I think showing how to fix a problem work better today then showing 10 pages about the same things in 10 ways that are saying the same things with 10 better writers.

Hope this makes sense.
What's you idea I what see that.

 

Hello,

The help can be different for many users.
Have a look at these old thread where I helped a member that has concentration problems:
Diagnosis of Marshall 8100 Valvestate head problems
Treble Control Dead...!!


Bertus

 

hi be80,
I often see Threads of interest, where others are posting good solutions to the TS's query.
I try very hard not to jump into a 'busy' Thread with my version of a fix, as so many solutions can confuse the heck out of the TS and they often just disappear.

Obviously if I see a posted comment or fix that I consider wrong or misleading, I will post a reply.

Eric

 

Hi Guys, I'm new on this forum and I joined so I can learn as well as share some of what I've learnt. I hope what I've posted so far hasn't confused anyone, but I'm concerned that it may look that way.

I will often chime in with my oppinion if I have some experience in the subject, but I hope this doesn't get misconstrude with wanting to be helpful. I don't profess to know everything and sometimes what I offer may not be the best answer, but most of the time there is more than one correct solution to a problem.

be80be I think I understand what you mean, but doesn't this just discourage others like myself from further participation in the forum? Yes, there will be a few "know it alls" but I think people generally want to offer some help, and enjoy imparting knowledge (I might just be looking at this too optimistically).

Additional:
Not related to your post, but on a side note about what does discourage me is people being rude and dissmissive.

 

I just think you get more out of it if the tone was a little more caring. I've spent time doing things to help and i don't post a non working idea I tested them before posting. I do really like this forum it maybe the best there is.
I been posting for 15 years now like i said I'm not a writer and I no I'm not the smartest man in the boat.
But I do no it I don't no something how to look and find it out.

 

Nobody can profess to be the "smartest man in the boat". The great thing about this forum is that there seems to be alot of knowledgable people who can correct me if I make a mistake, and because of this I learn. Do you know of any people who have intentionally posted non-working schematics just to look knowledgable? If so I hope you've corrected them, and if they don't want to learn from their mistakes then it's their loss.

I agree with you. I think forum members sometimes have a disspassionate tone because there can be lazy posters / timewasters. For example people join to ask a specific question that could very easily be solved with either:

1. Searching the forum to see if the question has been asked before
2. A simple Google search.

I'm not sure how it can be remedied, I'd just encourage members to be patient and point the timewasters to the correct article where they can spend time reading and learning the hard way like most of us did. And for the people who have done the work but are still stuck, these are the people who desearve worthy attention. Tailor your language to suit your audience.

 

• Searching the forum to see if the question has been asked before

• A simple Google search.

Those are the problems I have. As an senior citizen coming into learning electronics, I do Google and search here. But when you don't know the correct question to ask or the correct term for what you want to find, searching can be very frustrating. But on the other hand, it sometimes leads to things/answers that you will use in the future.

 

But when you don't know the correct question to ask or the correct term for what you want to find, searching can be very frustrating.

That happens a lot here but it isn't the problem; the problem is people who don't even try to find an answer on Google or another search engine before coming here.

I have a simple test to detect this: I copy the TS's thread title into Google, with no editing, and see what comes up. If one of the first few hits from Google provides a perfectly good answer to the TS's question, I write him off as a time-waster and don't bother replying.

 

My opinion:
Post a question to a peanut gallery, get an answer from a peanut gallery.

If a poster asks a question vague enough for a multitude of correct answers, then they should get a multitude of correct answers. It will help teach them precision in language and will give pent up brilliance an outlet for many people.

I really don't see the problem. Well, I see it, but I don't consider it that big of a "problem."

 

I think there is no better job than helping someone.When you help someone, you are most happy that you helped someone .When someone start learning. He has to face many problem and he doesn't understand things easily. Everyone learns something with time, someone learns quickly and someone take some more time to learns.

When I read my old post. I see how simple it was to understand and I took much time to understand but forum members continued to help me till the last. This is beauty of this forum.

@be80be you are fantastic person and i salute your temperament. you are person who motivated me a lot.

 

Of of my peeves are posters who insist that you make their solution to the problem work, not find the best solution to the problem.

 

on a side note about what does discourage me is people being rude and dissmissive.

That's very true. But unfortunately, writing (as in opposed to verbally explaining) is not for everyone and in some cases answers come out dry and terse. And I've noticed sometimes it's not the intention of the person who has posted the answer... in the case of being children on the other side of the screen, I feel we should be more understanding and patient... and if they're adults instead, they're the ones who should understand that people here are trying to help them out out of their own free will... I think that the best strategy when dealing with jerks online is to simply ignore them.

 

I think the person who takes up the thread, should be left to help that person themselves until....

1. They give bad advice.
2. leave out important info.
3. Can't answer a question.
4. Decide to leave the thread altogether.

But that being said, I don't really frown on other people giving advice as well as the original replier, but as be80be says...things can get confusing for the OP and end up in a *bleeping* match to boot.

 

For example people join to ask a specific question that could very easily be solved with either:

1. Searching the forum to see if the question has been asked before
2. A simple Google search.

Jamie,

Searching these forums is one of the many things we ask the poster to do in the homework help rules.

 

Jamie,

Searching these forums is one of the many things we ask the poster to do in the homework help rules.

Exactly. However, I doubt many of the people in question actually take the time to do so. Otherwise the frequency of needless questions would not get posted. I don't think it can be helped, it happens in all forums to some degree.

 

I've found that a fairly large number of people who come here for help don't really want help. They want someone to spoon feed them. Sometimes members are willing to oblige and sometimes a "lazy" poster catches them at a bad moment and they point out the error of the thread starters ways.

Asking or giving advice on a forum that is text based makes decent written communications skills mandatory. This is an English language forum so non-native speakers know what they're getting in to, but I cut ESL (English is a Second Language) members some slack.

One of my pet peeves is people who forgot everything they learned in elementary school English, or never learned, and can't express their thoughts using paragraphs, sentences, proper capitalization/punctuation, and correct spelling. In other words, good grammar. I'm not looking for someone to use 10th grade skills (like the Wall St. Journal); just 6th grade.

Out of curiosity, I ran my post through the grammar checker in Word and it was rated middle school level. It also flagged the fragment I used intentionally...


I also noticed that when I misspell a word, and sometimes when I spell it correctly, the text entry box indicates it's misspelled. From a previous thread, I understand this behavior to be related to dictionaries that are created by the browser.

 

Exactly. However, I doubt many of the people in question actually take the time to do so.

I can agree on that. My crystal ball is in the shop and the wizard is on vacation, so I don't know when she will calibrate it. The oracle at Delphi is not accepting new business. Many don't help the members help them.

Recently in the Homework Help section, I've seen the same problem, in english and French (I believe).

Otherwise the frequency of needless questions would not get posted. I don't think it can be helped, it happens in all forums to some degree.

Agreed. It would be up to the membership to enforce the rules of Homework Help area.