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Speaking From Experience or Search?

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by admin

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Ok, so sometimes I put in URL's for an answer too but I was really curious about this in another discussion for the billionth time and thought I'd start a new one.

Scenario:

Question: "I have a problem running "Blather" and would like to makeit less "blathersome" can anyone help?"

Answer: "Yes! Check out blather.com blatherfaq.org and blathersomemore.net."

"Blather is a wonderful product full of blather and easily customizable!" "So, as you can see you can customize it so you canmake it less blathersome!"

And then I really want to post back:" have you ever used it? Do you have any idea what I am talking about?" etc.

Can't all of us use search engines here?

Just Wondering.

4 replies

by james r linn

I've sometimes been guilty of the reverse - the "I am not your homework server, go look it up for yourself" from people doing practise MCSE exams or the like. I've also given urls and not much else when I know they'd be faster and better served by going directly to the site instead of reading my loose explanation.

www.cexx.org is one example - its a great site for finding out about spyware, popups etc. And there are objective reviews of many different apps. I know that they do a much better job of explaining spyware than I do, and they stay current on a day to day basis which I can't do.

The problem with asking newbies to just use a search engine is there is unfortanately alot of mis-information out there - and even on here. If we can point someone to the best source, we've been of help.

But I do hate homework qestions.

James

by tbragsda

It?s not a literacy problem, although that?s a problem too, but people would rather get the ?short? answer. I too would rather have information digested to the point that it?s right to the point, but someone?s got to read the crap.

If the personasking the question is unable, or unwilling to read the doc that you link to, it is an incomplete answer. I?m not making excuses for anyone, just trying to say that they wouldn?t ask if they could do it them self?s.

Let me put it another way. Igo to an accountant, and ask him about filling for side consulting work. He hands me ?The Complete Guide to Boring Accounting Stuff 2001?, and says, ?have at it.? I don?t count that as an answer. In this analogy, I know little of accounting. Even though I?m asked by the government to do it yearly. Same with some guy asked by his boss to setup the office network.

I wish there were less people trying to get into the IT industry, that are ill suited to it. I don?t like answering a question that is someone?s homework, or that he is billing to some company as a ?consultant?. With that said, I don?t mind helping anyone that I can when there just in a jam.

Frame of mind today, but I?m rambling, read it all at http://www.ramblingman.com/somerant.html

by thechas

Some of the issue with asking for help, is not knowing how to word the search properly, or wanting to know what software works.

I can usually get better search results than my teanagers.

Also, some people are so affraid of causing damage to their system that they want advice on what other people use.

Let us not forget the "lemming" effect, where people just don't want to try anything new and different from what their peers use.

Chas

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