Ted, Your "rant" included --- Also, you'll find, if you write the long post of the 5 What's I listed above, nine times out of ten you'll work out the solution. At least, it works for me. ---
Very many years ago I had a professor - fraternity brother, Marine that served in Korea, amazing man - who said pretty much the same. "Ask the right question and the answer becomes obvious". I have made a living from the Fox since the DOS days. I have been on this list since the Darcy days. I read almost all posts - easy way to gain insight, but generally lurk. I am amazed at there are people - not newbies - that ask to have someone do their work for them. Once they find water in the well, they keep coming back. I am also amazed at how you, and many others keep providing guidance. Your rant was not a rant, rather a reality check. Thank you and numerous others on this list for their invaluable contributions. Carl Lindner -----Original Message----- From: ProFox [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ted Roche Sent: Friday, February 19, 2016 10:05 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [NF][RANT] I need to stop playing 20 questions... Happy Friday, all, and permit me to vent a little steam... "How do I get X to do Y?" is a common question we see on this forum as well as others. (Trigger for this was actually a LUG posting, not here). The Original Poster (OP) fails to explain: - why they want to do this, - what their environment is (OS, #records, performance needed, etc.), - what they have tried as an alternative, - the bigger picture of how they got themselves painted into this corner, and what (ultimately) they *REALLY* need, which is not X to do Y but starting at A and end up at Y. I sympathize that a lot of posters have pulled out all their hair and are at the last resort, but that's no excuse for taking it out on the unpaid volunteers here to help. We geeks often make the bad assumption that everyone knows what we're talking about when we ask an 8-word question, but we can't really fill in "when I try this in MariaDB" or "on the web" or "using a Database Container with Stonefield Toolkit." I have spent a *LOT* of time answering questions online, starting with the Dartmouth Time-Sharing System in 1976 (happy anniversary to me!) and I need to cut back on annoying myself by asking "What are you seeing?" "What have you tried?" and "Have you looked at this: www.lmgtfy.com?q=HowDoIGetXToDoY"" If you don't post: "What I'm trying to Do" "What I tried" "What results I got" "What results I expected" "What my environment is" - relevant OS, hardware, LAN, infrastructure, data structures, size of the data, etc. then you're not going to get a useful answer. Garbage In, Garbage Out. (Also, you'll find, if you write the long post of the 5 What's I listed above, nine times out of ten you'll work out the solution. At least, it works for me.) Bonus points if you've read: http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html Read it again. This public service message brought to you by Ted Roche & Associates, LLC -- Ted Roche Ted Roche & Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com [excessive quoting removed by server] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://mail.leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://mail.leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAPu6lvUKTTdIv+sEx4T3AAniqAAAEAAAAEGq6C2mVJZEnEJ6OosSbYcBAAAAAA==@bdos.com ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
