My 2¢ worth....

Posting a question on a forum like this usually means, usually I repeat, that the OP has done at least some research. There are times when I am stumped by somthing that would seem simple to others and I need assistance. That's what forums are for. However, this forum and a few others I won't name have more than their share of pompus members who will make comments to OP's about being lazy, or ask if google is broken, etc... To be honest, I don't understand why people reply to a post if they think the OP is not trying to learn something for themselves. Both parties would be better off if the topic was just left alone. I for one will never reply to anyone with something as lame as RTFM. But there are those who seem to enjoy this...or my all-time favorite reply from the self-righteous is, "If you don't know the difference between a (fill in the blank) and a (fill in the blank) then what are you doing even trying to learn...." I may not know the answer to my post, that's why I'm posting it. And when I read wiseguy replies it make me want to remind them that sure, you're an expert on this topic, but what if you needed to know something that I know and you don't.

Now, just to give you an example of what one goes through trying to find information....usually it's because something has never been done before. That's at least 80% of my work is something that's never been done before. Now I search on google, bing and yahoo. Many of the search results are bogus, especially if they are up top these days. Many links will contain something near to what you want, but miss the resolution by a mile. Then there are those broken links, or links to someone who had the exact same question 4 years ago and it was never answered. Then there are the real PITA links which are totally criminal in how they make you think the answer is right here, just give us your credit card numbers so we can e-mail the answer to you. And don't forget there are lots of the old bait and switch sites, which have keywords that lead you in but once you're there its an advertisement for a VB.NET college course. Now while, you're going through all this, imagine the sound of cooky (Benny Hill chasing naked women around) music going on in the background. And that's how it sometimes feels.