Q & A Posting Template
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I'm going to term it the JSOP filter. There's a lot of developers / learners that seem to struggle with posting a question and not showing sufficient detail to prove to us that it's not homework or laziness. I would imagine that for some of our more esteemed members, visiting these areas on a daily basis in the hope of offering some help that it gets quite frustrating and difficult to distinguish the honest from the lazy. When creating a new Q&A post, how about a checkbox or radiogroup that offers some very general options as to what you're trying to ask. On checking/selecting the option, a basic template is populated in the textbox that they can fill out, ie. Hi All, I have the following code/problem; I've tried to write this myself; But I've not had much luck in getting this to work. Thank-you for your time I understand that sometimes, English is the barrier, but maybe if the guidance is there some people won't have to be schooled on how to ask a question. I was thinking of making this a comical suggestion in the Lounge for JSOPs benefit, but I actually think this is worthy of bringing up.
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I'm going to term it the JSOP filter. There's a lot of developers / learners that seem to struggle with posting a question and not showing sufficient detail to prove to us that it's not homework or laziness. I would imagine that for some of our more esteemed members, visiting these areas on a daily basis in the hope of offering some help that it gets quite frustrating and difficult to distinguish the honest from the lazy. When creating a new Q&A post, how about a checkbox or radiogroup that offers some very general options as to what you're trying to ask. On checking/selecting the option, a basic template is populated in the textbox that they can fill out, ie. Hi All, I have the following code/problem; I've tried to write this myself; But I've not had much luck in getting this to work. Thank-you for your time I understand that sometimes, English is the barrier, but maybe if the guidance is there some people won't have to be schooled on how to ask a question. I was thinking of making this a comical suggestion in the Lounge for JSOPs benefit, but I actually think this is worthy of bringing up.
Keep the title brief Keep the question as brief as possible. If you have to include code, include the smallest snippet of code you can. Do you expect this to stimulate good questions? I copied it verbatim from the legend on the "Ask a Question" page. IMO changing the legend (to something more in line with the stickies on programming forums) is the first step. :|
Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles]
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Keep the title brief Keep the question as brief as possible. If you have to include code, include the smallest snippet of code you can. Do you expect this to stimulate good questions? I copied it verbatim from the legend on the "Ask a Question" page. IMO changing the legend (to something more in line with the stickies on programming forums) is the first step. :|
Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles]
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I don't know about stimulating good questions. It's clear that some people just don't read the BIG notices or the subtle comments. Maybe being asked to enter their question following a guideline would at least help those that genuinely struggle to compose their question stand out from the lazy.
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Keep the title brief Keep the question as brief as possible. If you have to include code, include the smallest snippet of code you can. Do you expect this to stimulate good questions? I copied it verbatim from the legend on the "Ask a Question" page. IMO changing the legend (to something more in line with the stickies on programming forums) is the first step. :|
Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles]
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I admire your optimism that offenders will take the time to read those posts. It is misguided, though. Sorry.
cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP
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I admire your optimism that offenders will take the time to read those posts. It is misguided, though. Sorry.
cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP
I am fully aware not everyone is reading the instructions. That is however no excuse for providing poor instructions. Not in the forums, and not in Q&A. When questions can't be answered by lack of information, do you expect us to keep asking for more explanation, more contextual information, more code, while the instructions point in the other direction? :|
Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles]
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Keep the title brief Keep the question as brief as possible. If you have to include code, include the smallest snippet of code you can. Do you expect this to stimulate good questions? I copied it verbatim from the legend on the "Ask a Question" page. IMO changing the legend (to something more in line with the stickies on programming forums) is the first step. :|
Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles]
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Luc Pattyn wrote:
IMO changing the legend is the first step.
But that's assuming I want to change...
.45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly
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"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"The staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - J. Jystad, 2001 -
Luc Pattyn wrote:
IMO changing the legend is the first step.
But that's assuming I want to change...
.45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly
-----
"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"The staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - J. Jystad, 2001Obviously I meant changing for the better, so it doesn't apply to you. ;P
Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles]
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We all depend on the beast below.
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I am fully aware not everyone is reading the instructions. That is however no excuse for providing poor instructions. Not in the forums, and not in Q&A. When questions can't be answered by lack of information, do you expect us to keep asking for more explanation, more contextual information, more code, while the instructions point in the other direction? :|
Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles]
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The instructions are there specifically to stop people dumping their entire code file into a forum, or worse, their entire homework question. For Q&A we're thinking a wizard interface may be better. For forums: I'm loathe to put in custom code to pre-populate with a template just for questions, just in the programming fora. What about if someone asks a question in the lounge, or an article?
cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP
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The instructions are there specifically to stop people dumping their entire code file into a forum, or worse, their entire homework question. For Q&A we're thinking a wizard interface may be better. For forums: I'm loathe to put in custom code to pre-populate with a template just for questions, just in the programming fora. What about if someone asks a question in the lounge, or an article?
cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP
For Q&A, there is a big gap between "as brief as possible. If you have to ..., the smallest snippet of code you can" and "don't dump all of it here". You make it sound as if every word is costing money, and code snippets are to be avoided. Do you really want to turn this site in codetwitter? I made it a habit to limit the length of my replies to the length of the question, When essential information is missing, I'm not elaborating "if you meant A, then do this; if you meant B, then do that; otherwise, try yet something else. Maybe ..." So shorter questions, shorter and less useful answers, fewer satisfied users. And with the absence of a descent dialogue possibility (a forum to each answer, still in the works?) it does not work well at all. For the forums, I don't have such problem. The instructions are worded much better, plus people are more used to the way they are supposed to operate. Furthermore the layout is better overall: one sees example threads before setting out to ask a question, and as a potential replier one has a better view of what others have already replied. PS: I don't think there is anything new in the above, I summarized my comments on Q&A six months ago, and nothing much has changed since. :|
Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles]
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For Q&A, there is a big gap between "as brief as possible. If you have to ..., the smallest snippet of code you can" and "don't dump all of it here". You make it sound as if every word is costing money, and code snippets are to be avoided. Do you really want to turn this site in codetwitter? I made it a habit to limit the length of my replies to the length of the question, When essential information is missing, I'm not elaborating "if you meant A, then do this; if you meant B, then do that; otherwise, try yet something else. Maybe ..." So shorter questions, shorter and less useful answers, fewer satisfied users. And with the absence of a descent dialogue possibility (a forum to each answer, still in the works?) it does not work well at all. For the forums, I don't have such problem. The instructions are worded much better, plus people are more used to the way they are supposed to operate. Furthermore the layout is better overall: one sees example threads before setting out to ask a question, and as a potential replier one has a better view of what others have already replied. PS: I don't think there is anything new in the above, I summarized my comments on Q&A six months ago, and nothing much has changed since. :|
Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles]
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Luc Pattyn wrote:
You make it sound as if every word is costing money
I think that's an unfair assessment, and there is, as you put it, a big gap between "every word" and "1000 lines of code". You're unique, Luc, and the message in the forums and Q&A is not directed at you. I stand by my claim that those who abuse the goodwill of the community will not bother reading - let alone abising by - guidelines, and that the best way to couter this is to allow the community to neaten things up a little, or at worst, remove or hide anything written by someone clearly not interested in making it easy for others to help them.
cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP
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Luc Pattyn wrote:
You make it sound as if every word is costing money
I think that's an unfair assessment, and there is, as you put it, a big gap between "every word" and "1000 lines of code". You're unique, Luc, and the message in the forums and Q&A is not directed at you. I stand by my claim that those who abuse the goodwill of the community will not bother reading - let alone abising by - guidelines, and that the best way to couter this is to allow the community to neaten things up a little, or at worst, remove or hide anything written by someone clearly not interested in making it easy for others to help them.
cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP
yes, the community can neaten things up, and/or remove something; I fail to see how they can add relevant but missing information when the OP is instructed to be as brief as possible. For those who don't read instructions, it does not matter what is in them; for those who do, I would like the instructions to be fairly accurate. :|
Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles]
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