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Hi Hans,
I visit Q&A once a week as an observer (always hoping things have improved, they haven't) and not three times a day as a replier, as I do with forums. And I have my view on voting, I prefer 1-to-5 voting everywhere. So I decided to reply, to remind anyone interested.
Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles]
I only read formatted code with indentation, so please use PRE tags for code snippets.
I'm not participating in frackin' Q&A, so if you want my opinion, ask away in a real forum (or on my profile page).
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Yeah, there are some mind-blowers, but then I see a question from someone who is just trying to understand. You should try it again. I see a lot that you could easily answer.
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I answer the questions in forums when I can, and I do not like Q&A, so I stay away from it. It has been and still is my view the forums could benefit from a little upgrade and that is what this site really deserved; starting a new Q&A system, reinventing half of the forum functionality, small step by small step, and leaving out essential parts, I simply don't understand it. I see a lot of wasted effort, and a site that is not making progress as it used to. People asking questions do so either in Q&A or in forums; lots (most?) of them not switching to Q&A seems to confirm I'm not alone here.
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I respect your opinion, and actually agree with most of it.
I am going to take your modded sig as a small step forward.
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I'm in the process of coming up with another statement!
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Hans Dietrich wrote: Guy asked for an explanation of ASP.NET architecture and was voted a one. Why? I would ask the same question if I started working on ASP.NET.
Surely you would be better searching for the ASP.NET home and spending some time there, or buying a book. Questions like this really do not belong in a section titled "Quick Answers" as explained in the guideline notes, which few new posters seem to read. So we can use the grading system to point out that their question is inappropriate and perhaps point them in a direction which will help them. I think the voting system adds a reasonable emphasis onto the comments.
It's time for a new signature.
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Hi Richard,
Suppose you are a newbie, and had used google to search for this, but just wanted to make sure you haven't missed anything, so you decide to ask on a site where you *knew* there were experts. Would you expect the answer to be "Buzz off", or would you maybe expect to see answers like, "Here are some good overviews of ...?"
My personal philosophy is that there are no stupid questions. Even questions like "Please do my homework for me" should have a civil reply, so that others will see the answer, and not ask homework questions themselves.
As you point out, Quick Answers should be just that, Quick. Surely replying with "Yes, there's a good intro here" is just as quick as telling the OP to buzz off and downvote?
After all, you have the option of skipping the question, if it doesn't fit in with your conception of what QA is all about.
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Hans, I agree with all of that.
I always frown when I see the "bad question" and "good question" widgets. I wouldn't if they said "poor question" and "excellent question", where a poor question would be one that provides not nearly enough contextual information, or was a blatant display of laziness. An excellent question would be one that displays the enquirer has studied the matter and stumbled upon something that is hidden deep in the documentation or not present at all, and deserves better treatment.
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Hi Hans,
I agree - any question deserves a civil answer or at least an edit to make it a sensible question that may get a civil answer. If the question is not specific enough or is not a question then a comment should be posted to say so politely (but the question should be left unanswered) so the OP has the oportunity rephrase or give more detail or disappear into the ether...
Slightly OT - I've always thought the 'Google it' answer is not very fair as there is a good possibility that a search engine actually landed them at CP. A google link with a suitable search term that yields the results they are looking for is far more productive as it leaves good info for anyone coming across it in future, the OP gets sent to the appropriate place and may even learn better how to use a search engine in future.
DaveIf this helped, please vote & accept answer!
Binging is like googling, it just feels dirtier. (Pete O'Hanlon)
BTW, in software, hope and pray is not a viable strategy. (Luc Pattyn)
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Hans Dietrich wrote: or would you maybe expect to see answers like, "Here are some good overviews of ...?"
That's what I try to do, even if it's just a Google search page.
Hans Dietrich wrote: so that others will see the answer, and not ask homework questions themselves.
If they did we would not see them, however we still see questions like "please give me solution to airline reservation system".
In general I agree with what you're saying and do try to be constructive in my answers, but like any ordinary human I don't always succeed.
It's time for a new signature.
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I don't have the time to visit QA often, but when I do, I notice how often and how well you answer questions.
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Thank you, it's not always easy to gauge whether one's answers meet with the approval of fellow (and respected) CP members.
It's time for a new signature.
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I kinda disagree. In this case there's a valid quick answer and that'd be, "yeah the best way would be to get a good book. here's one I read last year that helped me. amazon link follows..."
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If that would be your answer, then we are in total agreement.
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Hans Dietrich wrote: If that would be your answer, then we are in total agreement.
Hans, when I said I disagree, I meant that with Richard's post.
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Oops. Never mind. 
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Well this is what I actually said in my reply to Hans:
Richard MacCutchan wrote: So we can use the grading system to point out that their question is inappropriate and perhaps point them in a direction which will help them.
So I don't see what it is you are disagreeing with.
It's time for a new signature.
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Richard MacCutchan wrote: So I don't see what it is you are disagreeing with.
That the question is inappropriate. Your suggested answer though is perfect.
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You are absolutely right, questions like this are not inappropriate but rather may be considered badly worded; the writer merely needs some guidance as to how it should be done.
It's time for a new signature.
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Just clcked on Improve Question and got an error message - sorry, I didn't record what it said but something along the lines of the error has been recorded.
Going back and looking again it's obvious that the question was locked for editing by another member. IMO the error message should be a bit more informative and reflect that as it gave no clue.
DaveIf this helped, please vote & accept answer!
Binging is like googling, it just feels dirtier. (Pete O'Hanlon)
BTW, in software, hope and pray is not a viable strategy. (Luc Pattyn)
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Perhaps you got a different error?
The error message for a question being locked for editing is:
Error: This file has been locked for editing
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Yeah it was different - just a coincidence that it was locked a couple of seconds later maybe.
If I see it again I'll take a screenshot
DaveIf this helped, please vote & accept answer!
Binging is like googling, it just feels dirtier. (Pete O'Hanlon)
BTW, in software, hope and pray is not a viable strategy. (Luc Pattyn)
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Isn't it time that the naughty word filter applied to the Subject line as well.
I replied to this[^] thread in the lounge, purely for the joy of getting away with using a**hole in a post  , only to find that I was thwarted.
Surely this falls foul of the Trades Descriptions Act?
Henry Minute
Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain
Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?"
“I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”
Why do programmers often confuse Halloween and Christmas?
Because 31 Oct = 25 Dec.
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I think subject line and body text are both handled in a similar way. The problem, dear Henry, is the filter, like the CP search engine, gets easily fooled by plurals. It seems word oriented, and the checklist contains singulars only, so it can't keep up with your multiple naughtinesses.
Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles]
I only read formatted code with indentation, so please use PRE tags for code snippets.
I'm not participating in frackin' Q&A, so if you want my opinion, ask away in a real forum (or on my profile page).
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