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That's why I don't like that many "answers" in QA don't take a holistic approach to helping and mentoring the monkeys.
Don't just point out the minor syntax error in the bad code -- like a missing apostrophe in a concatenated SQL query -- tell them how to make the whole thing better!
You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.
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I quite like stack overflows attitude of pointing people to the same question asked previously . It eggs people on to spend a little bit of time looking for themselves .
Aside from that ,what you are saying is to only ask questions that google and self investigation cannot fix ? Wouldn't that mean we have no forums at all ?
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Andrew Torrance wrote: Aside from that ,what you are saying is to only ask questions that google and self investigation cannot fix ?
Not quite, but not far off. What is wrong with idea that you try to work out something for yourself before asking for help? I was taught to think like that at school, and that's how you actually learn.
Regards,
Rob Philpott.
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Sounds like you just need to avoid Q&A discussion areas then  Probably any and all information is available somewhere online, in a book, or discoverable through individual investigation and testing. Asking in a Q&A is just another resource not the only one. Sure someone could get an answer in one of those other avenues or they could ask. If you really don't want to ever state anything which has already been stated then Q&A discussions probably just aren't your cup of tea.
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That's a fair argument! There's a good deal of expertise I can rely on here when I get stuck so it'd be wrong to make out that is not the case. But, I don't think Q&As reflects that, its about people answering rather trivial and specific questions often over and over again and makes for rather boring reading. Unfortunately the forums, which make much better reading having gone quiet after its arrival.
Regards,
Rob Philpott.
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Rob Philpott wrote: experienced developers who know their field
I do not think it is necessary to postulate a Manichean struggle between an illuminati of developers who exist "far from the madding crowd," who have "arrived" at some special level of competence, versus the unwashed hordes of the barbarian invaders in order to explain the historical change in QA on CodeProject.
By the way, in my book, an "experienced developer" is one who has learned the necessity of constant re-training in order to be able to implement the wisdom, principles, heuristics, etc., learned from formal education, self-education, and long experience, in technology that is constantly changing, using tools that are constantly changing.
I propose that what we see on CodeProject QA today (and on the language forums, to some extent), compared to, say, five, or ten, years ago, is best characterized as a shift in demography. For whatever reasons, CodeProject QA now has the reputation as a place to get a quick answer among students, and newcomers to programming, many of whom are not fluent in English. Imho, there's nothing inherently "wrong" in that !
And, yes, CP QA gets a spate of questions from homework-shirkers, the terribly confused, and people who are probably victims of really poor quality education. But, why do these folks swarm into CodeProject QA ? That is the question.
Many of the questions on CP QA would never be tolerated on, say, StackOverFlow. Please note that by saying that, I am not implying I think CP QA should be like StackOverFlow.
One reason CP QA may have gained this reputation as a soft touch; is, imho: CP doesn't really demand anything of the person who posts a question. You are not required to even properly select tags for the question; the result is you see hundreds of comments, or even posts as "solutions," which essentially beg the OP to please tell us what the question is about, as in: whether it's WinForms, or WPF, or ASP.NET, etc.
In my opinion, people often do not value what they are given free; or given without responsibility (a sad aspect of human nature, I am afraid): I believe that some of the frequent abuses of CP QA, such as people who literally ask questions as they develop a program blow-by-bloody-blow (often never voting for the helpful answers they receive), simply relate to the fact the poster has no obligation; there is no implicit requirement for reciprocity. Unfortunately, it is an even sadder aspect of human nature, imho, that people go beyond not valuing what they receive for free, but actually do not respect what they get at no perceived cost, and do not respect the source of what they get for free.
This behavior by (some of) the OP's is matched, in my perceptions, by the variance in behavior of those who post solutions; one respondent feels free to post a sermon on how the OP's entire technical knowledge is beyond redemption as a solution; another, posts a request to clarify the question as a solution. Others use comments.
Another respondent throws a bunch of links they found with a quick search on CP and/or Stackoverflow into a solution post (and some of those posts are quite helpful to the OP because they do address the OP's question, so I am not hinting I believe there should be a fatwah against solutions that contain only links, LOL) [^]. Some respondents feel free to actively solicit the OP to select their response as "the solution;" others, like myself, would never do this (an artifact of the way I was raised, I believe).
Beyond this "variance" among respondents lies the active abuse of the QA Forums for the purpose of bloating reputation: into that circle of hell, we shall not go in this post
Should CP QA be changed in structure ? I think so, and I've said my piece on that both here, and on the "Suggs and Buggs" forum. I suggest if you think it should be changed, you say your piece.
In the meantime, I will continue to post comments, and solutions on CP QA, playing by my own rules, because: I enjoy it; and, it helps my on-going attempts at self-education. There can be the rare satisfaction of feeling that you have genuinely helped someone learn something they were ready to learn. "Reputation" is "small potatoes" compared to that [^].
cheers, Bill
“Use the word 'cybernetics,' Norbert, because nobody knows what it means. This will always put you at an advantage in arguments.” Claude Shannon (Information Theory scientist): letter to Norbert Weiner of M.I.T., circa 1940
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Bill - possibly the longest and most articulate answer I've ever received here, and a delight to read
I can't argue with it and neither have the inclination to do so!
Regards,
Rob Philpott.
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After 12 years, support for Windows XP will end on April 8, 2014. There will be no more security updates or technical support for the Windows XP operating system
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R.I.P. ![Rose | [Rose]](https://codeproject.global.ssl.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/rose.gif)
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Its a reminder like a count down 6 days and counting...
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Please don't.
You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.
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Remember you heard it here second.
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Really? We've pretty much all known that for the last 5 years.
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On 2nd April 1972 Actor Charlie Chaplin returned to the United States for the first time since being labeled a communist during the Red Scare in the early 1950s.
Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.
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And did Leslie Nielsen die?
[Flags]
public enum Bool {
True, False, ForSure, Maybe, ProbablyNot, Depends, NotDecidedYet, Undefined
}
private interface IShy { }
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I dear me, what will we do. What will we do....
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I hope that helps to get some people to at least win7.
So far I heard it looks to different... lol.. Imagine if they migrate to win8..
There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. Colin Powell
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I've put a fresh copy into a VM just for history sake. I use 7 now, of course, but WinXP was a real gem especially after it had a couple of SP's under its belt.
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You're kidding me, right?
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No, just for history sake.
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You can find a copy on eBay for about $50.
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