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Someone posted a question in QA, asking for help fixing the WORST SQL I've ever seen, three levels of subqueries, SIX lots of sub queries to pull out six values, then DISTINCT at the top because of duplicates. Spent quite a while deciphering the mess and posted a solution. The question had been deleted. I hate that.
Christian Graus
My new article series is all about SQL !!!
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I have to agree: you spend a while sorting sorting out, and bang! it's gone... Rude, I always think...
I still can't see a good reason why you can't delete a thread here if there is a response, but you can in QA where people have to put more effort in. All it does is hide peoples homework requests 
Never underestimate the power of stupid things in large numbers
--- Serious Sam
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No.
But you right. It's a kind of question that fooled you twice. First when you didn't recognized that it's a home-work question. And the second time when you did recognized it's a home-work question.
I'm not questioning your powers of observation; I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is (V).
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OK, that may have been me. the question[^] was a dump of the worst SQL code with "optimise this" as the question. It wasn't a question, it was a "fix it for me" statement.
That's what I hate.
I'll resurrect it for you. Your patience for that astounds me, but at the same time I dislike intensely encouraging people to post questions that aren't questions. Even a "I'm stuck at..." or "I've tried..." or "I heard that maybe..." would show a little self-involvement in the issue.
modified 29-Dec-13 11:02am.
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Chris Maunder wrote: Even a "I'm stuck at..." or "I've tried..." or "I heard that maybe..." would show a little self-involvement in the issue.
Totally agree.
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Chris Maunder wrote: I dislike intensely encouraging people to post questions that aren't questions. Even a "I'm stuck at..." or "I've tried..." or "I heard that maybe..." would show a little self-involvement in the issue.
Ah, the good old days! We'll never see the like again. 
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Chris Maunder wrote: It wasn't a question, it was a "fix it for me" statement.
That's what I hate.
Well, Chris, you cannot shirk away your moral responsibility for allowing thousands of sub-par developers keep their jobs by running a super popular website that lets them fetch answers to stuff they have no clue about! 
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Thanks Nish. I feel so much more valuable to the World.
Now someone hide me before I'm lynched.
In all seriousness: our job is not just to teach, but to teach how to ask the right question.
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Chris Maunder wrote: In all seriousness: our job is not just to teach, but to teach how to ask the right question.
That's a valid point.
SO attempts to do the same thing by marking "low value" posts as such and disabling replies (but not deleting the thread). Maybe posting more than n low value posts in time interval t would disbar the member from posting questions in that forum?
/ravi
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I answered a few questions on SO recently. My answers were correct, but, somehow did not 'meet their format'. The responses I got from more experienced users were so bad, I'll never answer there again ( FWIW, I am answering SQL questions and CP doesn't get enough, so I'm answering them in a few places at once, that's why I tried SO for the first time ).
Christian Graus
My new article series is all about SQL !!!
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Christian Graus wrote: The responses I got from more experienced users were so bad, I'll never answer there again
Ugh - that's too bad. 
/ravi
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It's ridiculously hostile. And MSDN is just weird. There's one guy on the SQL forums who is an MVP and his replies are ALWAYS the accepted answer, the answer is decided by the mods, and sometimes I am the only one who posts the correct SQL, he just posts to nit pick something I said, and his reply is marked as the answer. If answers are elevated in searches, it will make their forums close to useless, IMO.
Code Project is definitely the best environment for answering questions, fostering community and helping people. You have to answer a lot of people who just want their work done for them to find someone willing to talk and learn, but it does happen.
Christian Graus
My new article series is all about SQL !!!
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Christian Graus wrote: the answer is decided by the mods
I thought the OP selected the accepted answer. (At least that's been my experience.)
/ravi
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The mods propose which post is the answer. The OPs don't care about the answer marking process, so if they do it at all, they accept the answer that a mod promoted.
Christian Graus
My new article series is all about SQL !!!
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I'm sure the mods have God privs and can do whatever they want, but when I asked this[^] question on SO, I was the one who selected the accepted answer.
/ravi
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Sorry, I'm talking about MSDN forums now. The SO forums are different, but MSDN has a two step process, a question is marked as a proposed answer, then accepted. The mods seem to propose the answers by MVPs, even if they don't answer the question ( they have a threaded forum, they can't differentiate between answers and comments like CP can ).
When I have asked questions on SO, I got no answers at all 
Christian Graus
My new article series is all about SQL !!!
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Ha! I've rarely (if ever) found a useful answer on MSDN.
/ravi
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I am not surprised. It seems to be an MVP love in.
Christian Graus
My new article series is all about SQL !!!
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I used to spend a fair amount of time time on MSDN but got tired on the BS. The moderators had no real power to moderate and tended to mark answers based on MVP status or worse, mark their own incomprehensible gibberish as the answer. I can count on less than one hand the number of people their that I have a high regard for.
I got curious about their MVP program and looked up the criteria, at that time it was more of a popularity contest in which a person could even nominate themselves for the status.
For what it is worth, from what I have seen of your answers in the past, your typically high quality answers would only earn you disdain over there.
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I have been an MVP, it used to be less political, or perhaps I just had not noticed yet. I was also a mod early on in the MSDN forums and I left in disgust over how they mishandled the whole thing. I stopped being an MVP for a variety of reasons, a long time ago. That is to say, they stopped asking me
Christian Graus
My new article series is all about SQL !!!
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LOL - that's funny, it was you who deleted it Yes, it was pretty bad, but, while I dislike doing someone's work for them, finding someone who REALLY needs help and is willing to engage in an ongoing conversation to get it, is the most fun I have in the forums.
Christian Graus
My new article series is all about SQL !!!
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*blush* my reply had made it through and it was *wrong*, I'd only got half through removing the subqueries...... My eyes were just spinning when I was trying to work through it.
Christian Graus
My new article series is all about SQL !!!
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I'd point and give you a Nelson "ha ha!" if I weren't so impressed with your fortitude. Or is it stubbornness? 
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*grin* that's probably it, my wife says I am pig headed.....
Christian Graus
My new article series is all about SQL !!!
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Christian Graus wrote: my wife says I am pig headed.....
I take it, she likes pork?
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