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

[WTF]

Is it me or the forums are losing the usefulness that it used to have? There are dozens of post asking "How do I get to show a MsgBox when all the Textboxes have all numbers?" or you get a long-long-long code for you to analize it. Trillions of threads that had already been asked that pulls down the "hard" threads that nobody answer because it goes down too quickly.

I heard of a newsgroup that once the admin writes "RTFM" (Read the f-word manual) nobody ever post anything else about the subject.

Do you think the forum would need to go back to the "specific questions"?

Do you think the stupid posts should be answered with a "RTFM" or "Please, search the forums" instead of getting again dozen of repeated posts (which would be quite similar to the previous ones)

[crptcblade]

Here, have a bagel...

[MartinLiss]

While this thread belongs in Chit Chat because it's not a technical VB question, I'm going to leave it here because I think it serves a useful purpose.

I often wanted to give RTFM as the response to some questions, but I've chosen not to for three reasons
[list=1][*]It is often the case that new users are not aware that there is a search facility[*]Maybe they did look and couldn't find the answer[*]It's rude[/list=1]

Here is what I suggest instead. If the person has a low post count, say less than 25, answer the question if you want to, but in any case add something polite like "Are you a aware that these forums have a search facility where you can most likely find the answer to this and other questions? If the post count is higher, do what you feel is best but please don't be rude to the person.

Finally if you see a thread with a subject like "Please help" I suggest that you respond by telling the poster that he/she is more likely to get help if the subject is as specific as possible.

[Edneeis]

Sometimes I just do a search myself and post links to possible answers from previous posts. I usually inform them of that there is a search feature or just say something like try a search for this topic. I think a log of people don't know about the search option or just don't think about it at first.

How come *** only has a post count of 1?

[BuggyProgrammer]

he doesn't want to be identified probably

i didn't even see that

[MartinLiss]

I suspect that *** is really an experienced user of these forums who created *** as an alias.

[MidgetsBro]

I usually answer questions that have been answered many times before with something along the lines of:

"There is a new thing just invented on the Internet.... it's called SEARCH"

and I usually link the word search to the search results for whatever the person is asking. That way they will know it's there, and (in theory) not ask dumb questions anymore.

[BuggyProgrammer]

Originally posted by MidgetsBro
I usually answer questions that have been answered many times before with something along the lines of:

"There is a new thing just invented on the Internet.... it's called SEARCH"

and I usually link the word search to the search results for whatever the person is asking. That way they will know it's there, and (in theory) not ask dumb questions anymore.

which, unfortunately, doesn't get through to most new people here at the forums.

[MuzzaD]

While I have no problem with what has already been written, I would like to add my two cents worth from the point of view of a relatively new user of this forum.

In most cases when I have a problem I will perform a search but the problem with searching occurs when you do not know what you are looking for. Unless you enter the correct "keyword" into your search you may get a long list of threads and miss the very one that contains the answer you are looking for.

I have been very appreciative of the help given to me, even if it was only a link to a previous thread.

I do believe that the contents of the Post Subject is very important and then it is up to the users to decide if they want to look at any particular post.

[Jim Brown]

Apart from the fact that oftentimes the answer is in another thread here as mentioned by others, in many cases the answer's in MSDN in the first place!

On a number of occaisions, the person answering says "Here's what MSDN says:" and pastes in the word according to MS, straight from the horse's mouth!

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

And Yes, I think the thread title should say something specific like "Can't get blah to work under blah conditions", rather than "Can someone help please?"

And add the word "Resolved" to the title if it gets fixed.

While I'm here, there's another annoying habit. You often see the exact same thread title from the same user a day or so later. Presumably there's been no reply, so they post again. But it's much simpler just to 'bump' the thread with a dummy post.

[Slaine]

I don't really mind people asking simple questions - Often I have been stumped by something that is so simple. What really annoys me is the recurring questions that could easily be solved by searching - The most annoying being the "I've lost my source code, is there anyway to decompile an exe."

***'s original point about the hard/Interesting questions being swamped by all the guff is a valid one. Usually I do a quick search for the answer and post a link to previous post that might help.

I think In future I will start to PM the answers/search results to the poster instead of to the post - If we all did this it might stop the forum being overrun.

For questions where there is no obvious answer, or where responses might assist others I would continue to post to the post (so to speak )

[Swatty]

All things mentioned are wright.
If I see a member is posting the same thread several times, i'll bump his thread and let it know that they should do it that way.

There are people that search on different places but can't find the answer suiting them.

Coming to this site and placing a new thread, they want it to be answered straight away.

Because of several threads beeing answered more than once but asked again the realy important threads are way down in no time.

Maybe it would be better to have an extra button for unanswered threads. It could be verry helpful for those who really want to help someone with a difficult (new) problem than to be giving an answer that has been answered a thousand times before.

[Slaine]

Originally posted by Swatty

Maybe it would be better to have an extra button for unanswered threads. It could be verry helpful for those who really want to help someone with a difficult (new) problem than to be giving an answer that has been answered a thousand times before.

Add the following link to your favourites and you will be able to do this with one click.

Unanswered Posts

[Swatty]

Did it.

[Wokawidget]

Thought I'd have my say...

I hate irrelavant subjects for posts. It's OK once a thread has been added and the other following subjects, for posts added to this thread, are silly...(see above ). But a subject of "Please Help" could mean anything. I now don't view them since virtually everytime I do I find someone asking something like "I can't print a document to the printer...please help..."...What ****ing document, what printer, waht code are you using...for ****s sake!!! Why do people leave out important points when posting...I am ill, doctor, what's wrong with me?! **** OFF! :MAD:
Sorry, I really hate it

Also, what does my nut in is when I, or someone else posts a "hard" (not newbie) question, say for example raising events while subclassing a class module...and someone posts "You have to define your varible to be public in the class module" and "You have to define it using WithEvents..."....Really?! Did you have a team of ****ing monkeys to work that one out! DOH! Doesn't the fact the question is about subclassing and API, and the fact I say it work, and the fact I have over 1200 posts, tend to suggest I would already know this *sigh*

I ahve just re-read what I have written...Oooo good old whinge

Couldn't "we" (vbForums) have a "How To..." section...with code snippets listed alphabetically??? Have 3 sections: BAsic-Have things like changing the color of your form, Medium-Populating a treeview using ADO ( a question I saw here the other day), Advanced - Subclassing a class module and using API to smack Mendhak Hahaha, sorry, I am still smiling even though this post my seem harsh.
This way if someone has a problem they go to the code snippets section to find their code 1st, if they can't find it then post a message on vbForums...I know for a fact I would find this very helpfull...It also make you aware of other code that you might not need then, but will do later...Not saying post full apps or anything, just have cut and paste or zip files with code so users can find things fast. I know it may take a bit of time to set up, but it will be worth it.

Right I have had my say, and it seems to have turned into a HUGE rant
Sorry...

Off to invade a farmers barn...Hahahaha, the American pledge goes against the constitution...Now that's funny Hahahaha....Sorry.

Adios,

Woka

[Wokawidget]

I think I may come across as a tad harsh in my posts on this thread. I appologise...Had a tough day at work *sigh*
I don't mean to be rude, and I appriciate people applying to my posts, but when I have been waiting 3 days for an answer and I get a mail saying someone has replied my reaction is Wooohohooooo! 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. Now and again, I'm sure I have posted some crap, which people have looked at and thought "What the hell is he talking about!"...Misreading the question is one of my strong points, although I don't do it very often

TechGnome...Cheers I agree, a code snippet section would be great.

Could we have the vbForums home page changed so it HUGE letters it says:


Press F1




Me.

[Michael_Kamen]

I partially agree with Techgnome: It is true that people should do some homework before posting on these forums, but these forums are made for posting. So I don't think it is a crime to post here. Therefore you must not make it impossible to post here. Like: "I want to post". "Have you searched the entire internet?", "No", "Then leave." So, yes, people should look around first (Just begin by searching these forums!), but it isn't a crime if people post here. If you say:"Search the other VB forums before come posting here", what do you need these forums for?

Got my point?

[Wokawidget]

Agreed, but there is posting and there is posting...There is a big difference....

[bethew]

As a new member I would hope that some stupid questions will be allowed to be posted. I have just spent two hours searching several web sites looking for an example of how to correctly write a Clng function. I am trying to make sure my two inner joined tables work correctly. I am now getting a type mismatch error and I have found NOTHING that will help me on any of the web sites.

So if I post this type of question the answer may be already out there some where, but I can not find it. So it may be frustrating to some of you who are helping to answer our questions, because you fell like you keep seeing the same thing, but the search does not work unless you know the correct keyword to put into the search field.


Thanks
B-

[Michael_Kamen]

I agree. And don't forget that we've all been newbies. If people hadn't answered our (stupid) questions, we might have been newbies right now. (At least I would be)

[Michael_Kamen]

I agree. And don't forget that we've all been newbies. If people hadn't answered our (stupid) questions, we might have been newbies right now. (At least I would be)

[Wokawidget]

Failing to work out why you're getting a Type Mismatch error is a very valid problem, but asking how to add a node to a treeview is not, since if you press F1 while in the VB IDE it will display the TreeView help file, which tells you, in detail, how to add nodes and all other related topics

There is a HUGE difference...
For the first 5 months I learnt ALL of my VB from the help files I still use them...Oooo I am stuck...*Press F1*...Oh that's how to do it

[techgnome]

Originally posted by Michael_Kamen
I partially agree with Techgnome: It is true that people should do some homework before posting on these forums, but these forums are made for posting. So I don't think it is a crime to post here. Therefore you must not make it impossible to post here. Like: "I want to post". "Have you searched the entire internet?", "No", "Then leave." So, yes, people should look around first (Just begin by searching these forums!), but it isn't a crime if people post here. If you say:"Search the other VB forums before come posting here", what do you need these forums for?

Got my point?

I didn't mean that people should be denied from post, just make sure things have been thought out a little. As for me personally, I exhause all avenues, MSDN Online, searching various sites, using CodeHound, even Google, before I try to post here. One of the questions I have seen time and time again, "... have any links to VB|SQL|.NET|.... sites?" Or, often, I see the following in a reply ".... can be found on XYZ site." I'm just wondering if VBForums has got a place where these "favorite" sites can be listed? The biggest pet peeve I have is the Too-Little/Too-Much code syndrome. Some people post either not enough code to understand, or they go the other extreme and post 20million (an exageration I know) right in the post (instead of using a zip file).
I don't think there is anything wrong with asking simple, basic questions. That's why we are all here, to learn. All I'm asking is for people to stop, think about it, at least make some kind of attempt at trying to find the answer, and most imprtantly, try to be CLEAR, consice, and explain FULLY what the issue is. Conversely, when replying, READ THE WHOLE post first, make sure you read the code & be as clear as you can in your answer, not everybody is a geek.

[MartinLiss]

For those of you who mentioned tutorials, plenderj has a good set here

[Garratt]

I ask a lot of really stupid or weird questions.... I do spend A LOT of time doing searchs on the forums. Sometimes I can't think of a good search string/key and end up getting frustrated and going throug 50 posts trying to find what I'm looking for.

REALLY - sometimes I'm working really hard on doing something, and a single problem will side-track me and I just want a quick answer because it's not what I'm concentrating on.


Anyway - my appologies and thanks for the help! I really appreciate it. I've learned most of what I know (which isn't much) on this forum.



Thank you thank you thank you.

[Slaine]

Originally posted by bethew
As a new member I would hope that some stupid questions will be allowed to be posted. I have just spent two hours searching several web sites looking for an example of how to correctly write a Clng function. I am trying to make sure my two inner joined tables work correctly. I am now getting a type mismatch error and I have found NOTHING that will help me on any of the web sites.

So if I post this type of question the answer may be already out there some where, but I can not find it. So it may be frustrating to some of you who are helping to answer our questions, because you fell like you keep seeing the same thing, but the search does not work unless you know the correct keyword to put into the search field.


Thanks
B-

If you have gone through the process of searching the help files and have googled your problem and are still unable to find a solution then just preceed your post with "I have searched the web/forum/MSDN but am still having problems". If I see this I, and I am sure others, are immediatly more likely to help. It shows the poster is genuine and intelligent and probably appreciative enough to warrant time formulating a reply

[Wokawidget]

Originally posted by MartinLiss
For those of you who mentioned tutorials, plenderj has a good set here

It's OK, to a certain extent, but a section on vbForums, rather than a thread, with a huge list of code snipets. not just 10 or 20, really wouldn't go a miss

Typing "I have searched the web/forum/MSDN but am still having problems" as a subject is far too easy, and it brings me back to my earlier point that a relavant subject heading is required.
I can't stress enough that the MS VB help files have enough in them to help most programmers with most problems, but people just "conceniently" forget about them ie, it's amazing how many people don't know how to use the IF and SELECT statements...These are detailed very well in VB help files, and it only takes common sense to modify them slightly to make your code better...eg:

If lngWoof = 0 And lngGrowl = 1 Then
   MsgBox "Howl!"
End If
If lngWoof = 0 And lngGrowl = 2 Then
   MsgBox "Sausage..."
End If
If lngWoof = 0 And lngGrowl = 3 Then
   MsgBox "Badgers in my pants..."
End If
'It's not ****ing rocket science to work out that the above can be replaced with
If lngWoof = 0 Then
   Select Case lngGrowl
      Case 1
         MsgBox "Howl!"
      Case 2
         MsgBox "Sausage..."
      Case 3
         MsgBox "Badgers in my pants..."
   End Select
End If

The SELECT statment could also be replaced with the ELSEIF statements.
But people still ask...If only people pressed F1 on the IF statement and then looked at the help file, then at the related sections, they would find the SELECT statement, and a lovely help file...
I feel too many people here have no common sense, sorry if that offends you, and just want the moon on a stick straight away without even thinking.

Just had a thought...Could we have either:

3 sections...Advanced, Medium and Beginners section, where you need to have over x many posts to access them? So Beginners don't post small and tw*tty questions in the advanced section of General VB Questions...?

OR

Have, in your preferences, a field which you set, so that you can't see posts by people with less POSTS than you have secified. ie If I set it to 500 then I will only see posts by people who have over 500 posts...

OR

Just have a biginners corner of vbForums where people can ask small and tw*tty questions...???

Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against begineers in the slightest, but you have to agree the majority of complete bollox on here is posted by beginners, or Mendhak Sorry, only kidding Hahahaha

Right that's it...
Another HUGE post from me.
I really must get some work done...
Bad vbForums *SLAP*

Adios,

Wokawooooooooooooooo

[msimmons]

Originally posted by Garratt
I ask a lot of really stupid or weird questions.... I do spend A LOT of time doing searchs on the forums. Sometimes I can't think of a good search string/key and end up getting frustrated and going throug 50 posts trying to find what I'm looking for.

REALLY - sometimes I'm working really hard on doing something, and a single problem will side-track me and I just want a quick answer because it's not what I'm concentrating on.


Anyway - my appologies and thanks for the help! I really appreciate it. I've learned most of what I know (which isn't much) on this forum.



Thank you thank you thank you.

These are my sentiments exactly. Somtimes I can't remember a syntax or something (I work in ASP/VBscript/Javascript/HTML/CSS so f1 does no good.) so searching will be impossible because I have no clue as to a querystring (and I have never had any luck searching VBF (even if I know the post I am looking for)). But alot of times I am either lazy or in a hurry so before searching I just post, and alot of times I figure out the solution while I am trying to type the post .
As for 'newbys' with "stupid" questions I welcome them w/open arms because I (as well as the rest of us) have been there before. But for the "Help!" posts, I won't even open them.
Michael

[MidgetsBro]

Originally posted by Wokawidget


It's OK, to a certain extent, but a section on vbForums, rather than a thread, with a huge list of code snipets. not just 10 or 20, really wouldn't go a miss

Have you ever looked to the left of the forums you are posting on? Or actually probably the top because you are using the VBWorld format and not the VBSquare format. Either way, there are tons of snippets and tutorials on both these sites www.vbworld.com and www.vbsquare.com. They have lots of tutorials, articles, tips and demo projets for people to download and look at. If more people realize they were there, then they wouldn't ask "dumb" questions anymore... but people tend to not look around, and instead just plop the question down. If that's what they want to do, then let them do it, and just ignore them. Simple as that.

[KayJay]

My apologies at the very outset, should I sound harsh or loud or if I am just redundant.

One:
AN ABSOLUTELY EMPHATIC NO to all posts which are blatant apparent "Answer-Is-In-The-Help-File-There-Are-Free-And-Pretty-Good-Websites-For-Beginers-In-VB-And-Other-Such-Places"

Two:
AN ABSOLUTELY EMPHATIC NO to all posts which do not have a reasonably explanatory subject.

Three: The All Evasive SEARCH in VBFORUMS
YES. Everyone MUST first search with the keywords they want to enter into the "Subject" field of the post. If the administrators have to force users, then they should. VB-Forums has a plethora of information and it is a Criminal Waste of resources to have duplications and triplications and quadriplications and quintiplications and you get the idea.

My joining date and my first post's date should be noted. I had made and SOLD two apps in the meantime. I joined VBForums when I had just finished hearing the word "VB" with no prior programming knowledge at all. I learnt, BASIC, VB, SQL, HTML, ASP, et. al. in the last year or so. Each time I had a doubt, Search VBREF98.CHM, VBCON98.CHM, VBFORUMS, GOOGLE, MSDN's WEBSITE, USE MY HEAD and 99.9999% the answer is some where there, else POST.

Now, I am quite confident of Answering a few posts.

Yes. I too have lapsed once in a while into posting lame or incorrect info. But not as a rule (at least I hope not.)

I hope I have made (a) valid point(s). My apologies, If I have hurt anyone. Did not mean to.

Thanks and Regards

KayJay

[techgnome]

Originally posted by Wokawidget


Just had a thought...Could we have either:

3 sections...Advanced, Medium and Beginners section, where you need to have over x many posts to access them? So Beginners don't post small and tw*tty questions in the advanced section of General VB Questions...?

OR

Have, in your preferences, a field which you set, so that you can't see posts by people with less POSTS than you have secified. ie If I set it to 500 then I will only see posts by people who have over 500 posts...

OR

Just have a biginners corner of vbForums where people can ask small and tw*tty questions...???

Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against begineers in the slightest, but you have to agree the majority of complete bollox on here is posted by beginners, or Mendhak Sorry, only kidding Hahahaha

Right that's it...
Another HUGE post from me.
I really must get some work done...
Bad vbForums *SLAP*

Adios,

Wokawooooooooooooooo

Why does the # of posts indicate your Beginer/Intermediate/Advance level? By your standards, I'd proly fit into the "Beginer" catagory, yet I've been in VB since the early days of VB 3 and would consider myself Advanced. The only reason my # of Posts is low is due to my newness to this board. Maybe what is needed is a B/I/A setting in the UserCP.
Level of expertice cannot be determined by posts alone. I've seen newbies w/ way more posts than me. That's becasue they are asking so many questions (some needed, and some.... well, that's why we are here....)
I think it's going to come down to common sense on everyone's part. Posters and readers alike.
Posters: Pay attention. At least appear to be making an effort to do some initial reasearch before asking for help. "God helps those who help themselves." Same concept applies here.
Readers/Replyers: Be kind, we've all been there. Nudge them a little, don't push. Try the "I think I may have seen that on MSDN somewhere. Have you tried looking there?" then give them a link.

Just my two cents worth.

[Slaine]

Typing "I have searched the web/forum/MSDN but am still having problems" as a subject is far too easy, and it brings me back to my earlier point that a relavant subject heading is required.

I didn't mean put it as a subject heading - but rather to start the post with that sentence.

3 sections...Advanced, Medium and Beginners section, where you need to have over x many posts to access them? So Beginners don't post small and tw*tty questions in the advanced section of General VB Questions...?

OR

Have, in your preferences, a field which you set, so that you can't see posts by people with less POSTS than you have secified. ie If I set it to 500 then I will only see posts by people who have over 500 posts...

The problem is that the number of posts is not a relevent indicator of experience. When I made my first post on the forum my count was 1 but my experience was high - likewise there are many on here with massive post counts and no experienc (I won't name names but we all know who they are )

[nemaroller]

I think the solution boils down to this:

General (Beginner) VB Questions
Expert VB Questions

In this way, the newbies can still get answers, and the experts won't have their posts swallowed by useless posts.

I agree most don't use MSDN, I think perhaps some people may have an illegal copy(or learning edition) of the dev environment. For the most part, MSDN is pretty well written.

By the way, my two cents, I am more than happy to help even the dumbest question, I spend a lot of time visiting this forum everyday. I will tell you, I've noticed even the 'experts' posting a problem and not being able to properly communicate what is wrong, or what they expect for an answer.

But definitely message boards seperated into at least two categories (more than that, just means people will post in more than one place), can lead to a better forum.

[TheBionicOrange]

Well as I HATE to be left out, I'm going to throw in my 2 cents worth too ....

I think you are always going to have this problem, and its just something you have to accept.

I try and help people when I can, and not just throw a link at them, because with inexperience comes a LOT of questions (I should know ), and 'chatting' to someone about it gets the job done quicker.

I have had a lot of good response from people on this forum over the last 6 months or so, and I feel giving something back is the least I can do.

There ya go .... I'll shut up now !

[Slaine]

Perhaps the board Admins should create another sub forum for advanced VB questions/discussions.

Then you could frequent the fourm most suitable to your level of expertise.

If the admins didn't want to do that then we could just hi-jack one of the rarely used forums - "Other BASIC" looks fairly quiet

[Wokawidget]

Don't get me wrong, I am all for helping beginners, but there are some questions that even the hardened, most helpful, user still thinks "What the...!". eg:

Dim MyName   As Long
   MyName = "Badger"

Q. "Why do I get an error?"
You have got to admit, that even for a beginner that is just inexcusable...

If you have an advanced section then wouldn't beginners just go and add to that?

I feel that at the end of the day it will be impossible to sort this out, without some serious stokey beard sessions at head office

OK, maybe going on posts = experience is a bad idea, but is was the concept of determining who is advanced and who isn't that I was getting at...

I think everyone has posted some crap reply or thread without realising, it's bound to happen. I know I have...

God my typing is terrible Boooooooooo...Sorry.

[Garratt]

Thanks for the Excel help TheBionicOrange!

[TheBionicOrange]

Yup. Going by post counts is not a good indicator of experience.

God I must be on 500+ plus now (can't see it whilst editing so don't know), but thats because they have all been questions, some of them pretty dull (you don't all have to rush to answer that ).

There are guys on here whose code I look a and think "God, how many years do I have to do this to get to THAT stage !!!"

When I grow up I want to be clever ..... unfortunately at 32 my scope is shortening (!)

[TheBionicOrange]

SEE ! I can be useful sometimes.

Pay attention Mendhak

[nemaroller]

If you have an advanced section then wouldn't beginners just go and add to that?

Perhaps its the title of this new forum that would make the most difference....

Beginner VB Questions Forum
Advanced VB Questions Forum

I have actually noticed at least today, that most of the questions in the General section right now are not drivel posts...

A person may have used VB for years, but the first time they have to incorporate a control they've never used before, its amazing how frantic they become(ie MSCHART.. ).