"Gullible" and "naive" are just too narrow of options…need to add "lazy" to the list…
Always more willing to help someone if they say
I'm looking for help on xyz and I have done this, this, and this in order to try to find help.
People do get so lazy they don't use google or even the search function of the forum they are posting on.
And to add to the laziness, include that they cut and paste the same thread and post to the 3 major forums.
All of the above comments are interesting in themselves but I am more interested in exactly why Paul blogged about this. What exactly did he run across that led him to get this matter off his chest. Come on Paul - spill.
Regards Richard
Sorry Richard
It's been brewing for a while now but I am not going to single out any individuals
Interesting how this post has developed to cover the attitudes both of enquirers and respondents.
Most people, if you ask them to help, will help. It's human nature. Some people's idea of help is provide "an answer". Other people's idea of help is to provide "a solution" - the fish vs how to catch a fish.
Joe Public, when given a seemingly helpful response to a request for help, won't query the integrity of the answer. But I guess the poin is that anyone on this forum should consider themselves "above" Joe Public and have the necessary inquisitive mind to challenge "truths".
As a learn-on-the-job part-time internal corporate resource in a team-of-one, I think it's great when someone responds with a potential answer to a problem (the fish). But I've had my ears burned a couple of times by Seniors who basically told me to go away and do some testing and research myself (how to catch a fish) - which was infuriating at the time but also invaluable.
So who's naive, gullible, lazy? Enquirers? Respondents? Enquirers again?
So who's naive, gullible, lazy? Enquirers? Respondents? Enquirers again?
I'd say, all of us.
How many times in forums do we see posts of the same subjects over and over again? I think we all see the same topics again and again…
How many times is a question posted without so much as a hint to the operating system, or the version?
How many times is there a response that has nothing (or at least very little) to do with the question?
I keep coming back to the analogy I like best that an investigation is like building a house. You have to draw out our plans - yes write them (or type them) before you do anything else so you develop a scope. The pick your foundation. Then your framing material. Then your walls, etc.
It would be silly to go to a home builder’s forum and ask what type of roofing do I need?
Um, I dunno. What are your plans, where do you live, where are you in the project? There needs to be some reference points.
I am not sure there is an easy answer to why we are seeing questions presented in half-assed manners. IMO there is a combination of factors at play. Certainly there is the fast feedback loop of the Internet that has created the expectation that ask and ye shall receive. That is addictively gratifying.
I also see there is a generational attitude as well. I can’t believe I am at the age of complaining about “kids these days” but there is almost a bratty entitlement to information. That somehow because you have the ability to ask a question you deserve an answer. No sense of wonder or thought to derive a solution – that takes time. Just tell me so I can move on. Understand the cause and effect? Got better things to do. There is a lack of sense and patience to deep thought and taking the time to bang at an issue from every angle until you are forced to ask for help. It’s not about being too proud to ask for help, but being at your wits end so when someone asks what you have done so far there is logic involved (true, false, if, then) so they can adequately help you
Also, it is if the <30 generation are not taught proper research methods from an early age. Do they even buy books? There Internet is A research tool no THE research tool. There are still many other sources such as published papers, magazines, books, etc. that go into greater detail and are often held to higher scrutiny. I am not getting the sense that this generation is taught even where to look for published documents, research, reports or periodicals.
There just seems to be this general social anxiety that results and answers come at the inconvenience of the process not because of.