Specific question or "help me with this code"??

I've just been browsing the general VB Forum and there is some classic examples of 'pointless posts' (This was my favourite silly post

and then I got to thinking about the rate post system - I'm not sure exactly how it works but if we all made an effort to rate the decent posts then you could view the posts in descending rating order. Obviously this could be open to abuse and wouldn't totally solve the problem but it was just a thought - ok I'll shut up now :)

I'm not against answering stupid question. But I just can stand of a post which answer is 2-3line, such as:

VB Code:

Private Sub Text1_Change()
   Command1.Enabled = Len(Text1.Text)
End Sub

Ok... I gotta admit... that's a hard one :rolleyes: No, really... there are some things that needs of the basis of VB. For example it's not the same to write your code in the Form_Load than in a subroutine or timer. The first one would only be executed each time the form loads, the second could be executed each time you needed. I've seen of people trying to unload the form and reload it just to get that code executed again.

My point is... there are some question that needs for you to know the basis... you've got to know what's an event, a property or even a method. If you don't know this you can post a stupid question, which would be answer in less than 5 minutes (depending on the hour of the posts, the GMT time, and the number of users online)... but if you don't understand the code, or the esence of it you might not realize that you should probably need to know about VB first... get into it (at least a 2-3 classes course with the basis of it to get you started)

However, I should admit that I've asked some stupid things or things that was asked before. But you won't be able to find it because you might don't know the keyword that would lead you to the answer. And even if you knew... you might get 30 posts, many of them which subjects that reads "Can anyone help me?", "Is this Ok?", "Need help here.". How on earth can you even imagine if the solution might be there or not... you have to open all of them to be sure. That's why the importance of meaningfull subjects. For example, off this forums, if you're looking for a code in Javascript to do something, and the subjects reads "How to <do something> in C#?"... you might know that even you got that post (because the keywords were on it) it might not be helpful. It could probably shed a light (with a new keyword) or to be as lucky as "I know the code in Javascript is this, but how would you translate it" In any case, I would see first the posts which are more likely to have the answer.

I can't think of anything else right now, and gotta rush to have a bath and go to work. TTFN.

I suggest putting a 'sticky' post at the top of each forum with the topic 'ADVICE FOR FIRST TIME POSTERS' and the text below. It might not solve the problem but it could help

Quote:

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While there are many talented and helpful people on this forum who are willing to help you with your queries, please bear in mind that many questions have already been asked and have solutions provided. Before you post make sure you have taken the time to perform a search to see if your particular problem is one of them.

You can do this in one of three ways:
[list=1][*]If you are having problems with the syntax or usage of a particular Visual Basic statement then in the IDE select the statement and press F1. This will bring up the VB help topic associated with this keyword and provide you with extensive details of the usage.
[*]Microsoft have an extensive library of tutorials, articles, examples and online help on their MSDN Library website - http://msdn.microsoft.com/library You will find this an invaluable resource of hints and tips.
[*]Enter some details of what you are looking for in the 'Search VB-World' box at the top of this page. This will return a list of previous topics that might help you with your problem. You can also access the advance search at http://www.vbforums.com//search.php[/list=1]

Sometimes the above sources will still not provide you with a solution and you will find yourself having to post a request for assistance to the forum. In this case please follow some of the guidelines below. Doing this will help others identify and respond to your enquiry accurately and speedily.

[list=1][*]Identify the forum that is most specific to your enquiry. You can see a list of all the available forums here: http://www.vbforums.com
[*]Try to use a descriptive title for your topic. It is much better to say 'Help required passing a variable ByRef' than the much less descriptive 'Help needed, I'm stuck'.
[*]Provide as much information about your problem as possible. Useful things to include are your operating system, any error messages you may be getting, what you are trying to do and what is going wrong. It can also be helpful to include screenshots and code.[/list=1]

You may also like to read the forum FAQ which answers many common concerns : http://www.vbforums.com/misc.php?s=&action=faq

Following the above advice will help you to get the most from the forum.

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I'm going t osuggest something that will be highly unpopular, but will probably shift a lot of the posts out into the correct categories, and willstop the speed at which the posts disappear off the first page....



Don't record post counts. At least not in the General VB forum.



A lot of time it's not necessarily the number of dumb threads that get started - it's that people here continue to post crap in them to get their post count up. If there's no post count, then there is much less likelyhood of a post hanging around, or tangental discussions happeing once the initial problem has been solved.

People need help, and often times new users need a particular thing answered for them so that they understand. I remember many moons ago (in the pre-web days) having variables explained to me - I'd read the books etc, but just didn't get it. I needed it explained to me on my own terms.

I just don't think that we should redirect users to the search all the time, or treat the new users like they are stupid - they aren't - they just haven't had the experience some of us have. Everybody here was a new user at some point. Some of us had access to the web to get answers, some of the older hands did it the hard way with things called books, and then put up with the dumb questions.

Be tolerant. You were all that stupid once.

Another suggestion would be to be able to flag a thread as a 'good' thread, and return that higher in the search results. I know that the rating exists, but the problem is that everybody can set that - we need a group of people who actually know what they are doing (ie: they can actually decide what's good and what's crap) to set the ratings as they see posts.

- gaffa

Quote:

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Originally posted by Jim Brown

So I think users should be encouraged to search MSDN first off, then search here, then ask the question.

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That's a good point and I often say that the answer is in MSDN. Then along comes someone else who goes and writes the code for the person anyway.

I can see several reasons why questions get asked over and over.

1) A person doesn't even come here until they're aggravated usually. I know that I try to work the problem frontwards and backways and don't post until I'm thoroughly stuck.

2) A lot of the questions get asked in bizarre ways so even if you are searching for the right thing, the keyword you would expect to be in a thread isn't there even though the thread holds the answer.

3) A lot of people here stole VB and don't have MSDN. Some of them even brag about it.

4) Some people are not programmers so even if a thread basically tells them what to do, they don't know enough to adapt it to their particular situation.

5) Some people are just lazy.

Quote:

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Originally posted by gaffa
Be tolerant. You were all that stupid once.

Another suggestion would be to be able to flag a thread as a 'good' thread, and return that higher in the search results. I know that the rating exists, but the problem is that everybody can set that - we need a group of people who actually know what they are doing (ie: they can actually decide what's good and what's crap) to set the ratings as they see posts.

- gaffa

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I think it would be good if we had some editors as well. Then when a thread is good, we could maybe strip the chatter out of it and leave the relevant stuff. I doubt that will ever happen because it will take a lot of someone's time and then they'll get accused of being fascists as well. But I think it would be helpful when a thread has 50 replies and only the first couple and a few in the middle have any useful content.

Quote:

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Originally posted by cafeenman

4) Some people are not programmers so even if a thread basically tells them what to do, they don't know enough to adapt it to their particular situation.

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That's exactly what I meant... some of them doesn't even know what an event is or to quote a problem (which I won't link to so that no-one get offended), I posted the answer copied textually from MSDN. Then he asked me how would you do it to "change it a little"... it was matter of reading what was there and realize that the only thing needed was to comment and If-End If so that the code inside it gets executed regardless of the condition.

There you have to things "wrong"... the answer was at an F1 of distance (if you had it installed) and you're lazy enough not to read what you've found to try to learn from it and modify it to fit your needs. I guess most people tries to program as they can... and that's when we "hit the problem".

Quote:

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Originally posted by Wokawidget
Then I go to the post and it says "You have to Dim WithEvents", I just look and think *sigh*...I know people mean well and don't deliberately mean to patronising.

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I think we've all felt your pain. As long as we're griping... I have one of my own.

I'll post something like this:

Quote:

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I need to do X. I know I can do it using Z method, but Z method is cumbersome for this particular application and I'm looking for a method that works more like Y.

First responder: "Well, have you tried to do it Z way?"
Me: "Yes, I specifically said I can't do it that way."
Second responder: "Try doing it Z way."
Third responder: "If you were using C++ it would be easy."
First responder: "Or Java"
Me: "That's all great, but I'm using VB. Do you know how to do this Y way?"
First responder: "Let me post some really dangerous API code that I didn't write, but I put my copyright information all over. It looks pretty impressive and then crashes you app. By the way, it doesn't come close to solving your problem" <huge code listing follows that doesn't relate in any way to my problem>
Second responder: "Wow! That's great code! Can I use it???"
First responder: "Yeah! Just give me credit, OK?"

30 posts and a week later:

MartinLiss (John McKernan or a few select others): Do this and your problem is solved. <actually works>
Me: "Thanks Martin!"

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caffeenman - ain't that the truth... In the (few) posts I've actually started, most state that I sepcifically DON'T want to do it a certain way, yet without fail someone suggests it... are people just thick (or is a post race?)

PS. How's the CV?

- gaffa

Quote:

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Originally posted by gaffa

PS. How's the CV?

- gaffa

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2 interviews this week. Three possibilities total. I'm not holding my breath though. But that's more than I've had total since I started looking last Oct or Nov.

I spiffed it up a little bit. I think it looks professional without being flashy. But what do I know??

Thanks for you help with it.

http://www.paulkjohnson.com/professional/resume/

Perhaps some more moderaters to do simple forums cleanup. I KNOW there are people out there who visit at least 20 times a day and are more then willing to do the job. Perhaps people will get the hint and post in the correct forum. That is probably the biggest problem that I see with the General VB Questions forum, is the multitude of posts that deal with something other then VB. If we had a bunch of people who skimmed over the posts, and moved them into the correct locations, people might start posting in the right spot in the first place.

Same with cross posting. This isnt as much of a problem here as on some other boards, but it still wastes space. Cross posts should simply be deleted =).

Well, my 2 cents...

Z.

Maybe some answers aren't the ones you need or you tried them out already.

But if you're not satisfied with such an answer why do you give such answers yourself ??
Woka answered


I know by now you weren't helped with my answer but you can still put me in your ignore list , so you don't have to read my answers.

If someone is certain that the other can't help him , why don't you let him know this.

If anyone isn't pleased with what i offer , just let me know and i won't waste more time trying to help.

This is for all of those who think they are the better half of them searching through this site.

I do think sometimes there is a certain amount of 'ego flexing' on this forum, which is a shame.

The whole point of the forum is to help each other, so if you go segregating the 'experts' from the 'novices', it seems to me that you are defeating the point a bit.

There are a few people on here who feel it beneath themelves to answer anything they regard as obvious, but isn't this the whole point of the forum in the first place ?!

Quote:

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Originally posted by Swatty
Maybe some answers aren't the ones you need or you tried them out already.

But if you're not satisfied with such an answer why do you give such answers yourself ??
Woka answered


I know by now you weren't helped with my answer but you can still put me in your ignore list , so you don't have to read my answers.

If someone is certain that the other can't help him , why don't you let him know this.

If anyone isn't pleased with what i offer , just let me know and i won't waste more time trying to help.

This is for all of those who think they are the better half of them searching through this site.

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You make some good points swatty. I am always greateful to people answering my questions, even if they have misunderstood or suggest something that doesn't work. Nobody is perfect and it is wrong to assume that others will always have a 100% correct answer to your problems - we should be grateful that they have taken the time to answer - if we start putting people off then the one time they might be able to help they could think 'I think I know the answer to that but I'm not going to bother responding in case he flames me for being stupid'

To sum up most of my responses above - I think we should be tollerant of those with less understanding - but help them to gain more understanding of both Visual Basic and the resources available on the net/this forum that might assist them and how best to use them.

Swatty...errr, not sure what you are getting at :(
If you are on about that link you posted then....errrr...still not sure what you are getting at. I was willing to go off and search the web to find a solution, but I do have work to do as it's a requirement for my job and didn't want to waste my time searching for a solution when it may be the wrong one. I asked a question, and got a reply saying that I am ****ed...that does not make sense. My second post was my dry sense of humour :D I was insinuating that if I don't get an answer to my question then I can't help...:(
Why would I want to put you on my ignore list...?! You have been very helpful in the past...errr...still confused and not exactally sure what you're getting at :(
As for ego flexing...Hmmmmmmm...don't agree in the slightest, well not that I've seen anyways. The only way someone can "ego flex" is by not posting to a question they feel in beneath them, but if they don't post, how do you know they are ego flexing? :D
I ahve helped people on this forums write an entire form before, from scratch, and spent over 2 weeks explaining to them. That doesn't bother me, even the simple stuff, but you have to admit that a certain level of common sense is required.
Swatty, still not sure what you are getting at...were you having a go at me? *sob* *sob*
Maybe I have got everything wrong this morning, if so then I appologise...*goes down on one knee to grovel*

Not wanting to sound harsh or anything, but BionicOrange, if I have a deadline, which is over due, and I have spent 3 days trying to subclass a class module and I am stuck, then the answering "How do I change the caption of a label?" with "Label1.Caption = "Woof", by the way, don't suppose you know how to subclass a class module..." I could spend 24hrs a day doing that and then I get sacked...well, that's over the top, but you know what I mean. I tend to, if I am really busy and stuck, answer posts which are posted by more experienced programmers with more taxing problems, as one of them JUST might be able to help me, so I can kill 2 birds with one stone as they say. I know that may sound harsh, but I do get paid for writting VB apps, and not for answering loads of really simple questions on vbForums, which I could do ALL day...Oooo...just re-read that, it does sound harsh. I do appologise...do u get what I mean?

If anyone sends me a personal message or an email, I will go out of my way to help them, as they have gone out of their way to contact me, irrelavant of how simple of complicated the problem.

Oooo...I'll shut up now, as I sound like a muppet :(
Not like that in the slightest...Oh Woka shut up...OK :D

Adios,

Me

Let's face it. Alot of us people Like answering newvie questions cause it makes us feel smart or something.. We get off on it.


Plus, if no one posted questions that have already been answered on here and everyone only used search,, these forums would be baron, becasue nearly every possible question that could ever be asked has been asked and answered already.

WokaWidget : The 'ego flexing' comment wasn't aimed at you, you were just unfortunate enuff to have written the previous post :D . You have given me good advice in the past so I have no problems there ;)

Arcs comment is a good one. I've only been doing this for just over a year, so theres LOADS of stuff I haven't covered, so to be able somebodys question confidently is a bit of a confidence booster, and I will continue to do it whenever I can :D

I was more refering to Swatty and the link he added to his post. Still confused :(
In fact I am very confused, SQL Server is playing up, NT doesn't like ActiveX EXE's and the RaiseEvent command, I am just generally confused today *sob*

I am not bothered about simple questions, it's just the lack of common sense that winds me up...

A. What's 1 + 2?
B. 3
A. Cheers, so what's 2 + 1?
B. R u taking the piss?
A. No, I can't work it out, I've tried everything...
B. Errr...3
A. Cheers for your help...

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...:D

Well, I think you guys are forgetting that for some people this is the only place where they can be taught how to Program. Most try to teach themselves, and books and online tutorials can only go so far.

Sure, people should search (altough I think the Search textbox would be better suited a the top of the page!), but as has already been said, newbies don't know, or feel that there question is somehow different from others.

Being given code that was used for another project can confuse people, so newbies prefer to be given code that relates to there project..

I blabbering on abit... but hopefully I got my point across... :D

I mean, if you think about when you learnt algebra, it could get confusing as hell, ... well I at least couldn't get my head around doing things to numbers which meant nothing to me, so for example,

VB Code:

text1.text = a+x+y \ z

When you compare it with

VB Code:

text1.text = firstscore + secondscore+thirdscore \ average

Obviously you can change this to any scenario to something a little harder, but the point is there.

So basically, dumb questions will be common, and slighty unfair to punish people for trying to learn.(Although pointing out the search is more than fair :D)

Now for my link you did answer it like.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Wokawidget
Errrr...click on the little arrow to the side of the combo box...

*sigh*

Or do you want it so that when you TAB across to that control the dropdown automatically appears??? Is so then I feel that API code is needed. Don't know exactally how to do it, but it should be hard to find the code somewhere on the web...

Woka

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There you didn't answer it like you want to be answered yourself.

Why I placed the link , cause you're recalling to a post reply that I have given, trying to help.

To be honest I'm no longer developing in VB, but do want to help people on this forum cause it helped me in the past and i hope in the future.

So I hope you now understand the meaning of my reply on this thread.

Errrrr...:(
I want to talk to my lawyer before I say anything else :D

Swatty, yea, I understand now. No longer confused...
Although I did correct myself and explain to you exactally what it was I wanted.
Although, both posts to my question in that thread couldn't have been further off the mark. The only thing in common with my question was that they are both used in VB.
No offence meant, but after a while if everyone posts answers like that to difficult questions then people would start think "Why do bother, it's a waste of time posting here :("
Sorry, not having a go or anything...

Woka