Peter_SSs
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A moment of frustration...
- Thread starter Oorang
- Start date
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Jonmo1
MrExcel MVP
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- Oct 12, 2006
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Greetings.
I would say I fall somewhere between the teacher and the spoonfeeder. It really depends on the "mood" in which the question was asked. If the question was well thought out and detailed, my answer will be well thought out and detailed. If the question was blunt and to the point, so will my anwser..
The question that frustrates me the most is the "dummed down" question
How do you do .....
you answer...
OK, wait, now what if...How would I do it then ?
So I say, ask your ACTUAL question up front, don't try to dumb it down..
I would say I fall somewhere between the teacher and the spoonfeeder. It really depends on the "mood" in which the question was asked. If the question was well thought out and detailed, my answer will be well thought out and detailed. If the question was blunt and to the point, so will my anwser..
The question that frustrates me the most is the "dummed down" question
How do you do .....
you answer...
OK, wait, now what if...How would I do it then ?
So I say, ask your ACTUAL question up front, don't try to dumb it down..
Oorang
Well-known Member
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- Mar 4, 2005
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- 2,071
Wow, resurrected after all this time 
With another year and half of experience I would say the best advice I got on this matter came from Greg "Let 'em sink" Truby 
There are many many people who will ask for help, you will give it, and they will learn and build on what they learned. (Yay those people). And then there are those who will not learn, and just want someone to do the work for them. And trying to help 1 of the later will take up 10 times as much time as 1 of the former. If you think a poster is not looking for help, but looking for free labor, just pass it on by.
With another year and half of experience I would say the best advice I got on this matter came from Greg "Let 'em sink" Truby There are many many people who will ask for help, you will give it, and they will learn and build on what they learned. (Yay those people). And then there are those who will not learn, and just want someone to do the work for them. And trying to help 1 of the later will take up 10 times as much time as 1 of the former. If you think a poster is not looking for help, but looking for free labor, just pass it on by.
Greg Truby
MrExcel MVP
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2002
- Messages
- 10,030
Aaron,
Wow, I must have seen too many "do my homework" posts that week! That and as I recall, we had recently had a thread or two already discussing the topic. Looking back I think perhaps I should rephrase my response to read "help as much as you want".
If you are the kind of person that typically wants to learn how things work so that you don't have to come, hat-in-hand every time you need the smallest of edits to a formula or code, then you will not have a great deal of patience with people who want you to work harder at solving their problems than they themselves are willing to work. You will probably be doing yourself and the OP a favor if you just skip their thread. Normally I offer to serve as a guide. If the person takes me up on it, I try to illuminate the way. If they just want a hand-out then...
...I may not let all the lazy-bones sink. If their problem is of great enough interest that I find the challenge/learning experience worthy in its own right then I may go ahead and tackle it. There have been occasions when a poster's problem entailed something that I'd been wanting to learn more about, so I would go ahead and spend a lot of time on it. But in that case I am the primary beneficiary and the OP becomes a collateral beneficiary.
And, of course, some folks are just bored and find solving other people's problems is a form of entertainment.
Wow, I must have seen too many "do my homework" posts that week! That and as I recall, we had recently had a thread or two already discussing the topic. Looking back I think perhaps I should rephrase my response to read "help as much as you want".
If you are the kind of person that typically wants to learn how things work so that you don't have to come, hat-in-hand every time you need the smallest of edits to a formula or code, then you will not have a great deal of patience with people who want you to work harder at solving their problems than they themselves are willing to work. You will probably be doing yourself and the OP a favor if you just skip their thread. Normally I offer to serve as a guide. If the person takes me up on it, I try to illuminate the way. If they just want a hand-out then...
...I may not let all the lazy-bones sink. If their problem is of great enough interest that I find the challenge/learning experience worthy in its own right then I may go ahead and tackle it. There have been occasions when a poster's problem entailed something that I'd been wanting to learn more about, so I would go ahead and spend a lot of time on it. But in that case I am the primary beneficiary and the OP becomes a collateral beneficiary.
And, of course, some folks are just bored and find solving other people's problems is a form of entertainment.
Last edited:
Lewiy
Well-known Member
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<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice
></o
<oThe question that frustrates me the most is the "dummed down" question<o
<o
How do you do .....<o
<o
you answer...<o
<o
OK, wait, now what if...How would I do it then ?<o
<o
<o
So I say, ask your ACTUAL question up front, don't try to dumb it down..
></o><o
> </o>I’m pretty sure that some people know EXACTLY what they’re doing when they post these kinds of questions. Quite recently I got sucked into a post like this. What started as a pretty simple question gradually escalated, bit by bit, until I found myself completing an entire project for the OP without even realising. **** my helpful nature!!
<o></o><o
> </o>On the other hand, at least I knew what I was looking at when we did finally get to the root of the real question. If they’d have asked it properly in the first place, I doubt I would have responded as it would have sounded too complex and ambiguous to be worth spending my time on.<o
></o><o
> </o>So I think there’s a time and place for this kind of post. If it does actually help to achieve an ultimate goal, then it can’t be THAT bad can it? (Or maybe I’m just too nice!!!)<o
></o>Just noticed this thread (I try to avoid anything with frustration in it), so here is my tuppence worth.
I joined the forum oh so many moons ago because I stumbled upon it in my search for the solution to a particular problem. My search on the web did not answer it, nor did my search as a guest on this forum find me what I was looking for, so I registered, posted my question, and I got an answer within two hours, showing me a tool I did not even know existed.
I realised this was a forum that has a vast store of knowledge and brains and stayed on.
While I do not usually have specific questions to post, I do have specific problems, and I do search the forum to see if my problem has been raised before. I have found a number of solutions here. So, a plea from a novice - don't just think of the OP alone when providing a solution, but also of the silent majority like me who lurk a lot and learn just by reading, even though they do not actively contribute.
I agree that on occasion one does see posts that slowly, step by step, have got their whole project worked out for free, but these are few and far between. Others I have seen range from the absolute novice to extremely complicated questions returned with extremely complicated solutions, where the OP has not come back with requests for more but just to express thanks. I am sure a majority of us fall halfway between the two extremes, and we learn just by being here.
I would like to take this opportunity to once again thank all you Excel-lent people.
I joined the forum oh so many moons ago because I stumbled upon it in my search for the solution to a particular problem. My search on the web did not answer it, nor did my search as a guest on this forum find me what I was looking for, so I registered, posted my question, and I got an answer within two hours, showing me a tool I did not even know existed.
I realised this was a forum that has a vast store of knowledge and brains and stayed on.
While I do not usually have specific questions to post, I do have specific problems, and I do search the forum to see if my problem has been raised before. I have found a number of solutions here. So, a plea from a novice - don't just think of the OP alone when providing a solution, but also of the silent majority like me who lurk a lot and learn just by reading, even though they do not actively contribute.
I agree that on occasion one does see posts that slowly, step by step, have got their whole project worked out for free, but these are few and far between. Others I have seen range from the absolute novice to extremely complicated questions returned with extremely complicated solutions, where the OP has not come back with requests for more but just to express thanks. I am sure a majority of us fall halfway between the two extremes, and we learn just by being here.
I would like to take this opportunity to once again thank all you Excel-lent people.
Lewiy
Well-known Member
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2007
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- 4,284
I think it would be appropriate at this juncture to say that, if it weren’t for this board, my Excel skills would be significantly less than they are. There have been many important milestones on my Excel journey, some from before discovering MrExcel (the day I discovered VLOOKUP and began to unleash the power of formulas) and some since joining the board (suddenly realising that this “macro” business was actually useful!!). My advancement has come from asking the right questions and receiving the right answers…or in some cases the wrong answers!! 
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o> </o>
But I think the major factor has been receiving advice and suggestions that have fuelled my desire to learn more. I have spent many hours trawling through the help files (they are almost my second home) having been prompted by a post/comment here. Although I could just have used the suggestions given to me, I wanted to understand so that I could apply methods in other situations.
To all that are reading that are just beginning or are in the early stages of their journey, I would urge you to try to really understand solutions that you are given. Try to ask not for a complete macro/formula but just a solution for the part that you are having trouble with and above all, enjoy using and abusing Excel to it’s fullest!!
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com
fficeffice" /><o> </o>But I think the major factor has been receiving advice and suggestions that have fuelled my desire to learn more. I have spent many hours trawling through the help files (they are almost my second home) having been prompted by a post/comment here. Although I could just have used the suggestions given to me, I wanted to understand so that I could apply methods in other situations.
To all that are reading that are just beginning or are in the early stages of their journey, I would urge you to try to really understand solutions that you are given. Try to ask not for a complete macro/formula but just a solution for the part that you are having trouble with and above all, enjoy using and abusing Excel to it’s fullest!!
