This is great forum with very helpful, knowledgeable and patient people. But I'm constantly baffled by the behavior of many C# noob posters. Time and again they are totally clueless, don't bother to explain their problem (or are not able to), haven't done ANY of their homework, they just throw a chunk of lousy code, or just the text of their assignment, and expect someone else to do their work for them. Worst of all, when someone takes the trouble to try and help them (which often amazes me too) they do not even say thank you, if they respond at all. Honestly, are there even worse manners than that ? Or am I missing something ? Just wondering.... Sorry for the rant, but this has been bugging me for a while.
What is it with some posters ?
- Thread starter cbreemer
- Start date
It's my opinion that many people just think of forums like this one as online resources. It doesn't really occur to them that there are real people at the other end, or that those people have no actual commercial interest in the site and are just other developers who volunteer their time to help others because they love development. Some people actively try to take advantage and get away with doing as little as possible for themselves but, in most cases, I think that it just doesn't occur to people that, if they would like strangers to volunteer their time to help them, they should do all they can to help those people do so. The fact that they can't logically break down their problem and explain it clearly is indicative of why they have a problem in the first place.
I suppose you're right. It's just so damn rude to not acknowledge a reply - even if it is perhaps not the one you would have wished. I much admire your patience (and that of some others here) in dealing with these people.
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Skydiver
Staff member
Part of it also the StackOverflow effect. In SO, the responders are rewarded for "answers" and not necessarily explanations, although there are stand outs who take time to teach before responding with the final solution. So some posters come to expect the same kind of behavior of getting a response no matter how crappy their questions are phrased (as long as the question is not obviously homework).
As a Devil's Advocate, though, how would you feel if you are at your doctor's office and they say you should get XYZ procedure done, and you just blurt out "What is XYZ and why do I need it?" and your doctor responded with "That was not a well researched question. Go Google it and ask me a better question next appointment."
Is the difference you are paying for the doctor's services, while not in the case of asking on a forum? So what about asking a question to your lawyer who charges by the hour? Do you do your research up front to minimize the number of hours, or do you pay however many hours it may take for the lawyer to explain things?
As a Devil's Advocate, though, how would you feel if you are at your doctor's office and they say you should get XYZ procedure done, and you just blurt out "What is XYZ and why do I need it?" and your doctor responded with "That was not a well researched question. Go Google it and ask me a better question next appointment."
Is the difference you are paying for the doctor's services, while not in the case of asking on a forum? So what about asking a question to your lawyer who charges by the hour? Do you do your research up front to minimize the number of hours, or do you pay however many hours it may take for the lawyer to explain things?
Interesting thoughts, although the analogy with doctors or lawyers is a bit lopsided. Because nobody expects you to have any medical/legal skills when you go to the doctor/lawyer, but IMO you do have to understand at least a bit of programming before asking people for help in a C# forum. If you're totally clueless, there's great tutorials all over the internet. But it's not the crappy questions that bother me most, rather the fact that so many people just do not respond when they get a reply. The sheer indifference and ungratefulness towards someone trying to help you. It's bad forum etiquette to put it friendly. Oh well, I'll stop ranting about this now. I already feel better ☺
Skydiver
Staff member
I love this quote!
Skydiver
Staff member
I sometimes ask clueless "why do X instead of Y" questions in shooting, woodworking, and archery forums. I do take time to thank people who take time to explain. For "because that's the way it's always been done so just do X" responses, I tend to leave them alone because they never responded to the "why" part of the question.
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