Is Quick Answers a weirdo honey trap?
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I think quick answers has the potential to improve the quality of the site, if the senior members just follow some basic steps. 1. Delete the useless questions about creating a virus in VB6 or similar ones or asking for homework help. 2. Improve the questions, if they look a genuine but the language seems to be broken. 3. Ignore the questions which they don't understand 4. Stop ridiculing and making a big deal of "improper" questions by posting them in the lounge 5. Remember the times when they were beginners and when they asked questions which were as silly.
Rama Krishna Vavilala wrote:
5. Remember the times when they were beginners and when they asked questions which were as silly.
For myself at least, the irony is that when I started (in 1994) there wasn't anything like CP around. I had to buy books/magazines and either learn from the book, study code, or by trial and error.
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow
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Rama Krishna Vavilala wrote:
5. Remember the times when they were beginners and when they asked questions which were as silly.
For myself at least, the irony is that when I started (in 1994) there wasn't anything like CP around. I had to buy books/magazines and either learn from the book, study code, or by trial and error.
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow
i wonder how many UrgentCodePlzNow letters BYTE magazine received, back in the day...
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Rama Krishna Vavilala wrote:
5. Remember the times when they were beginners and when they asked questions which were as silly.
For myself at least, the irony is that when I started (in 1994) there wasn't anything like CP around. I had to buy books/magazines and either learn from the book, study code, or by trial and error.
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow
Ya, I hear you... By the time I got access to USENET, I already knew how to program... And posting a question that effectively asked readers to implement your idea was no more likely to produce a friendly response than asking the same on CP today. OTOH, asking which books to read worked pretty well... Even if the answer was a terse, "read the FAQ".
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Ya, I hear you... By the time I got access to USENET, I already knew how to program... And posting a question that effectively asked readers to implement your idea was no more likely to produce a friendly response than asking the same on CP today. OTOH, asking which books to read worked pretty well... Even if the answer was a terse, "read the FAQ".
I didn't even know about USENET or anything like it till much later. I did know a few guys at school who were in comp sci program, but anytime I asked a question, they could never answer it, so I gave up on that approach pretty quick.
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow
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I think quick answers has the potential to improve the quality of the site, if the senior members just follow some basic steps. 1. Delete the useless questions about creating a virus in VB6 or similar ones or asking for homework help. 2. Improve the questions, if they look a genuine but the language seems to be broken. 3. Ignore the questions which they don't understand 4. Stop ridiculing and making a big deal of "improper" questions by posting them in the lounge 5. Remember the times when they were beginners and when they asked questions which were as silly.
I agree with you, and I would never make fun of a question which I think is legitimate, even asked by the worst beginner in the worst pidgin English. I might point out that the enquirer should try displaying 'hello world' before attempting to write a multi-threaded service for artificial intelligence with mood recognition on a NUMA architecture. What bothers me are the people who have non-legitimate questions (I want to crash my kid brothers PC! I'm selling some stolen code!), and who have no clue about what programming is about. I can deal with the homework questions, they always be there, and they're easily recognizable. What I'm worried about is that there is no upfront filter on these kinds of questions, and that the sheer volume of them might scare off knowledgeable people. I stopped frequenting the msdn social forums because of the amount of crap posted there. (admittedly, they have more traffic, but quantity does not equal quality). I don't know what the solution is. CP is a commercial organisation, like any other, and maintaining quality vs achieving profitability is a difficult problem. I like CP and I want it to succeed (because it helps me, too, I've found many an idea or clue in articles). I think the whole thing requires some fine-tuning, and my post is aimed at generating ideas for this fine-tuning...
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Rama Krishna Vavilala wrote:
5. Remember the times when they were beginners and when they asked questions which were as silly.
For myself at least, the irony is that when I started (in 1994) there wasn't anything like CP around. I had to buy books/magazines and either learn from the book, study code, or by trial and error.
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow
When I started (1976), there were no computer magazines. I think the printing press wasn't even invented.
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Ya, I hear you... By the time I got access to USENET, I already knew how to program... And posting a question that effectively asked readers to implement your idea was no more likely to produce a friendly response than asking the same on CP today. OTOH, asking which books to read worked pretty well... Even if the answer was a terse, "read the FAQ".
"Urgent response" doesn't really apply on a 14.4 dial-up connection :)
I know the language. I've read a book. - _Madmatt
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Rama Krishna Vavilala wrote:
or asking for homework help
Homework question are not de-facto invalid; a well formed homework question can be fun to answer (without giving out the complete solution).
Watched code never compiles.
Maximilien wrote:
Homework question are not de-facto invalid; a well formed homework question can be fun to answer (without giving out the complete solution).
FFY. Fun is fun. It is'n matter of being educational. :)
If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong. -- Iain Clarke
[My articles] -
i wonder how many UrgentCodePlzNow letters BYTE magazine received, back in the day...
Unfortunately, I don't know how many letters wrote Jim at that time. :-D
If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong. -- Iain Clarke
[My articles] -
Rama Krishna Vavilala wrote:
or asking for homework help
Homework question are not de-facto invalid; a well formed homework question can be fun to answer (without giving out the complete solution).
Watched code never compiles.
I gave this a 4 just because someone else gave it a 4, and so it seems like the fun thing to do. And yeah I do agree.
Jeremy Falcon
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I think quick answers has the potential to improve the quality of the site, if the senior members just follow some basic steps. 1. Delete the useless questions about creating a virus in VB6 or similar ones or asking for homework help. 2. Improve the questions, if they look a genuine but the language seems to be broken. 3. Ignore the questions which they don't understand 4. Stop ridiculing and making a big deal of "improper" questions by posting them in the lounge 5. Remember the times when they were beginners and when they asked questions which were as silly.
:thumbsup: Chris needs to make this post as 'sticky thread' in the lounge for few weeks... :)
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Unfortunately, I don't know how many letters wrote Jim at that time. :-D
If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong. -- Iain Clarke
[My articles]I couldn't write! I was still such a child!
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow
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I gave this a 4 just because someone else gave it a 4, and so it seems like the fun thing to do. And yeah I do agree.
Jeremy Falcon
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I couldn't write! I was still such a child!
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow
Cheater! I found this one: "plz plz gimme bytez codez --
Little Jim" :-DIf the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong. -- Iain Clarke
[My articles] -
:thumbsup: Chris needs to make this post as 'sticky thread' in the lounge for few weeks... :)
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Ya, I hear you... By the time I got access to USENET, I already knew how to program... And posting a question that effectively asked readers to implement your idea was no more likely to produce a friendly response than asking the same on CP today. OTOH, asking which books to read worked pretty well... Even if the answer was a terse, "read the FAQ".
Well, I got ripped a new one when I asked a C++ usenet group how to create a window. Along the way, I learned about C++, and I learned to respect the help I got from people who plainly knew a lot more than me, and offered me help for free.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
