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I have been here for only a couple of months... but what I have found quite interesting is the fact that so many people ask questions here whose answers can be found simply by reading the help documentation that comes with Visual Basic... and especially by just pressing the F1 key.
I was wondering exactly how many people out there :
1. Know that pressing F1 at any time gives you help
2. Actually has MSDN installed on their machine
3. Knows HOW to use MSDN to find articles to read.
It would seem to me that half of the problems that reach this board could be easily solved by perhaps teaching people how to FIND answers rather than just handing the answer to them... (Ie the old Give a Fish/ Teach to Fish idiom).
If you people out there would like me to write a small article on a methodology (Not necessarily the best mind you) for finding answers to your easy questions then please reply to this post and if there is enough interest I will knock something up quickly.
:D In the spirit of helping people :D
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I agree, a lot of questions can be answered by checking the helpfile, or doing a search on this board.
But then, probably a lot of ppl don't have MSDN (or don't have it installed...) Remember, hacked version of VB don't come with MSDN...
I think writing such a thingie, "how to use MSDN" is a pretty good idea.. maybe more ppl will use the help first (maybe they found a way to let VB go this site when they press F1 :-)
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I agree with you but this is also a social place and
I belive people should be able to ask just
simple question, maybe just to gain contact
I doesn't think it bother the board that a lot
of people come here and ask stupid question.
As for me I belive it is none of your business.
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I actually disagree completely with you Sire.
This is NOT a social place. If it was it would be called "VB Buddy Shack" and not "General VB Questions".
If people want to contact people then they have a look at the profiles of people and contact them directly.
This place is for people to "learn" about Visual Basic and how to use it. It isn't just a "QUICK FIX" place to pull in, grab someone elses code and then duck off again. You stay, you look around, you learn and hopefully at the end of it you walk out with more knowledge on how to solve problems in the future than what you started with.
If you come to a point where you have exhausted all avenues then you come here and ask if anyone else has come across it
I dont answer questions to be "social"... I do it to help people out just as I would expect them to do for me if they had an answer I was seeking.
But thats just my opinion and judging from some of the questions that people put on here and their angry responses at not having it handed to them on a silver platter I am inclined to believe it isn't the only opinion. :D
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Here is my opinion! Don't take it so defensively from anyone.
I agree most people should use F1 for help before they come to this site. However, the help does not always supply sufficient help. For example, I remember Gen-X helped me on Internet Control. The example that came with the MSDN sucks!!!
Who care if people come to this site to ask simple questions. All they are doing is hurting themselve by having it hand to them. But then again, some people are just simple stuck. I come here to ask about API all the time. F1 can't help me on that, while MR. Sam Finch does. So whether you want to help them, it up to you. It is kind of like turnning to a different channel.
I try to help as much as possible because I still remember my first programming experience. I wanted to learn Turbo Pascal so bad but did not understand the concepts. The guy infront of me on the other hand was just flashing back and forth. Yes! He was good, but at the same time he had a ****en jack up ego and think that anyone less should screw themselve. The boy had nothing to appreciate in life except his programming skills. This was the only thing that made him feel like someone and feel like GOD, but after he gets off his computer, he is nothing more than another ****en Joe.
From that point on, I made a pack to myself saying "if I ever get good, I will help". We are not all gifted.
Computer is like math. You miss a step, you cannot proceed on.
That is my 2 cent.
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In that sense I agree with you Nitro...
But unfortunately there is a "breed" of people out there that have NO skills in programming and when you give them that helpful advice they ignore it, turn around and come back asking exactly the same question.
So again you help them and try to show them a way in which they can gain knowledge to help them in the future... and this time they tell you to go shove it as if they are the GODS even though they know absolutely NOTHING about what they are doing.
So while there is the programming Guru who thinks he is above people... there are also the "indestructable" newbies that think they are breaking new ground in programming with their first "Space Invaders" game that keep slapping experts in the face because they don't care to learn their trade... just hack it.
You ask them "Have you looked at the help file? That is the first place you should check"... and the reason you ask them that is because the question they are asking is so simple to solve (ie Press F1, Type in "Textbox" and select the first entry on the list).. their answer is "Nupe, don't want to look there.. just give me the *#$& answer you @#$*&@" or "Go to hell!!!" because they are upset they have to actually "LEARN" something instead of get force fed.
These people (who are usually junior members who have 3 posts under their belt) take all the joy out of helping people out.
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I agree with Nitro too, and want to add...
Some peeps just like that human interaction
DocZaf
{;->
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I understand you too. In other word, you just don't like people who takes shortcuts. If that is the case, I agree with you a hundred percent. I myself don't like those who takes shortcuts all the time.
Someone posted a message "Free Internet for Nitro". I was looking for the code to hide the adbar not the exe. Yes, I want to learn how to do it. It is not about hiding the dam bar that I am after. It is simply the code on how to do it.
Bottom of the line, you are right! I feel it is a waste of time helping those who just want a quick fix and have nothing to do with it. But those who wants to learn, we should be more compasionate because programming is very intimidating.
See Ya
[Edited by Nitro on 04-10-2000 at 08:25 PM]
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You are a good guy Mr. Zaf.
You have helped me many times.
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<G>
Thanks Nitro, your not so bad either, i guess every one is equal really, none better or worse than anybody else, its the veils of our own making thats blinds us to the obvious.
DocZaf
{;->
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Zaf!
No truer words were spoken.
But the irony of it is that those who ARE blind will read what you have written and say you are wrong and short sighted!!! :D
"Absolute Faith Blinds Absolutely"
"Power does NOT corrupt... it only attracts the corruptable"
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Glad you agree, Gen-X and I agree with what you said about female programmers and the front of their pants/skirts, its such a shame, cos thers more to any person then there physical form.
DocZaf
{;->
