MVPS and friends, question for you guys.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Alex Pet
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A

Alex Pet

Hi,

Please, consider me your friend. and think about the following. This
also apply to all the groups, not only where I post the message.

Before you reply to any of the question in the news server. Do you
think, What is the level of question you are answering?

How many times you reply ready-made solution for very very very
simplest problem which is related to logic of writing query or code.

Do you really think that way you help community or making them
disabled to solve the problem on their own?

I leads to think that, because I saw many of the questions, that is
very simple and directly available on the helpbook of the product.
But, they tend to come here instead of put their own efforts own that.

I really like this service and really help the community. But, When
there is prons, i see cons also. The professionals or MVPs think that
before answer?

Regards,

Alex
 
Alex,

Thanks for your comments.

If a poster has indicated their level of experience or skill, I certainly
try to take it into account. But it is often not stated, and when it is not
stated, to me, often not obvious from either the question or the way it was
asked. However, even if the user does not have extensive experience, I may
post an answer that requires VBA code if it is a valid answer to the
question. Others may benefit -- newsgroups are not just a way to provide
free tech support; they are also a resource so that others can learn from
the questions and answers.

In fact, just recently, I posted an answer that using the Query Builder was
the simplest and easiest way for the poster to accomplish what he wanted,
and gave detailed instructions for doing so. I had not understood (perhaps I
overlooked what he had said on the subject, or perhaps it was not clear)
that he was seeking a way to do what he asked _programmatically_ because of
the requirements of his application.

However, I will (and am sure that others will also) take your comments into
consideration and I am sure that I will make an extra effort to answer at a
level appropriate to the question.

Regards,

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP
 
I also take help from community and also try to help them. but, In both
cases, I try to keep close to give/take guidance, not the solution.

If I answer something on the groups, I try to giving path so, he can lead
himself to his solution (let say, in case of sqlserver one write
queries/sps/triggers for others, instead of giving path to do so) and feel
satisfied about his own creation and feel like creator of something.

Regards,

Rajesh Patel
 
I try to explain my solution. [got that from paldino MVP]. If the OP wants
something more detailed then they usually follow up with a post explicitly
stating what they are looking for.
 
How many times you reply ready-made solution for very very very
simplest problem which is related to logic of writing query or code.
Click to expand...

To me one of the big problems is terminology. The newbie knows what
they want to do but they have no idea what keywords to search.

I recall that when I first was working with Access 1.0 I didn't
understand the difference between a label and a text box on a form or
report.

Recently in VB I wanted to open a second form from a form. I spent a
half hour searching through the VB help before I finally went to
groups.google.com and the first or second posting had my answer.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
 
Hi Alex,

The ones who helps are no judges you know.

And I can tell you that when you are the first time starting with Dotnet, it
can be very hard to find something.

And sometimes you are afraid if your simple solution is the right one, or in
the oposite if there is not a more simpler solution.

Than can a little help from a friend gives maybe some courrage to do it next
time yourself.

Just my thought,

Cor
 
In most cases I reply with descriptive solutions, an explination of what
they need to do or what classes to look at instead of code to do what they
want. With beginners the reason for this is twofold, for one they aren't
going to learn if I do wrte the app for them, for another I certainly don't
have the time, information, or positioning to understand them majority of
code and anything I write is likely to be too fragile for the entire scope
of their purposes, they need to be able to understand why. With
professionals its mainly to not waste their time.
In the rare cases when I have to answer with code,
Alex Pet said:
Hi,

Please, consider me your friend. and think about the following. This
also apply to all the groups, not only where I post the message.

Before you reply to any of the question in the news server. Do you
think, What is the level of question you are answering? Always.

How many times you reply ready-made solution for very very very
simplest problem which is related to logic of writing query or code.
Click to expand...
Usually only as a modification to code that doesn't work or doesn't work as
expected. I rarely write out entire solutions, instead modifying or writing
my own only when nessecery(too complex to write out in long form). Even when
I do the code is the minimum part of my post, I try to write comments and
explanations before and afterwards to illustrate what the code does and why.
Do you really think that way you help community or making them
disabled to solve the problem on their own?

I leads to think that, because I saw many of the questions, that is
very simple and directly available on the helpbook of the product.
But, they tend to come here instead of put their own efforts own that.

I really like this service and really help the community. But, When
there is prons, i see cons also. The professionals or MVPs think that
before answer?
Click to expand...

I won't refuse to answer a question only because its available in
documentation, but granted in the framework the documentation is rather
large and it is easy to miss information even while reading it intently. I
only get aggervated when a particular person effectivly asks how to do his
whole project through a series of posts, that person probably isn't trying,
while others will come with code asking why it failed or how it could be
improved, that person probably is and is simply looking for answers that
experiance, not documents, brings.
 
I'm not quite sure that I understand the question, Alex. I'm not sure
whether you mean that answers are too complex, or that we should be
encouraging users to find answers for themselves instead of providing them
with ready made answers. Or perhaps you meant both of the above? I'll
attempt to give some kind of partial answer to both questions, as they are,
I think, quite closely related and interdependent.

I attempt to take the poster's level of experience into account when that
information is provided. More often than not, it isn't. If the poster does
not understand my answer, I'm happy to try to provide further clarification
if asked. There is, of course, some limit. I'm not going to post a detailed,
step-by-step explanation of how to graphically design a simple select query
in Access. Why? Because every introductory Access book ever written already
gives that information. It would be a complete waste of time, effort, and
bandwidth to reproduce it here.

While encouraging others to learn to find their own answers, rather than
providing them with ready-made answers, is undoubtedly to be preferred, when
possible, I'm not sure that it is practical to demand that approach from a
newsgroup. It takes a great deal more time and effort to do that than to
provide the ready-made answer. While the individual concerned might gain
more from the experience, the price that would have to be paid is that other
questions would go unanswered - it simply would not be possible to answer
all the questions while adopting that approach.

Perhaps courses and seminars, rather than newsgroups, are the place to look
for the Socratic approach to teaching. (See the following URL for a
description of the Socratic approach -
http://www.cyberhigh.fcoe.k12.ca.us/PASS_Program/methodology/Socraticteaching.htm).
 
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