Answers to questions

[elgringo56]

There is a difference, I looked it up from the "Help" selection on the top bar, then typed it in the Answer Wizard.

 

[lenze]

It must be something with your machine. I did it from the menu bar on both the Wizard Answer Tab and the Index Tab. Both led me to the same detailed explanation as the OFfice Assistant.

 

[Iridium]

On 2002-08-13 17:44, elgringo56 wrote:
I would like to voice my opinion on something that has bothered me since day one on this site. Please dont get me wrong, I think overall, it is a wonderfull site and I spend many hours on it. Many of the people who ask questions on here are new, not knowledgable in excel or vba, I am one of them. I see so many so called "MVP's" That seem to like to answer questions with statements like, "have you looked in help" or "that question has been asked so many times, do a search for it" or, and I have been told this, "get a book". It would seem to me that the term "MVP" should refer to some one who, has patience, knows others may not know as much as they do, can remmeber when they were novices and, is willing to actually asnwer questions with viable, workable answers. The very worst answer I ever got was, go look it up in the help files. those things were written for people who have 4 years of university and 10 years of experience, not for people like me, who don't even have a clue as to the terminology yet. If I or any other novice could gleen the answers out of the help file, we would not need to come here to ask simple, or even semi difficult questions. Sorry about the post, but I felt someone should vent on this subject. I really do appreciate the help I do get here from most. I will go crawl back in my hole now.

I'm a complete novice in this field and I must say that I agree with you - I'm not stupid but I'm made to feel like it. After searching through various helpfiles to no avail I thought I could ask for a little help - I thought that what the for forums were for! Do we ned a certain level of knowledge or a particular qualification before we can ask for help?

 

[Von Pookie]

On 2002-08-18 12:13, Chris Chattin wrote:
I'm a complete novice in this field and I must say that I agree with you - I'm not stupid but I'm made to feel like it. After searching through various helpfiles to no avail I thought I could ask for a little help - I thought that what the for forums were for! Do we ned a certain level of knowledge or a particular qualification before we can ask for help?

::sigh::

No, you do not "need a certain level of knowledge...before asking for help." However, if you have gone through the help files (or don't have them) and at least done a search here at the board, if you at least mention these factors, it will significantly improve the initial answers you get.

Generally, if all the necessary information isn't given, getting the answers you wish to receive becomes a drawn-out process due to all of the questions which then need to be asked of the original poster.

Honestly, it's not meant to be rude or to insult the intelligence of the poster. It's essentially starting with basic questions.

 

[PaddyD]

OK, my last post on this issue:

1) If someone replying to a post knows that the answer is contained explicitly in the on-line help / another thead, it is surely acceptable to point the OP in that direction - or are people expected to spend time replicating answers available elsewhere just to make life easier? Again, if you've already read the help file etc & don't understand it, say so.

2) While we're on the subject of helpfulness, one could (although people here don't often) make a parallel complaint about gratuitously obscure subject lines. "Help!" or "Chart help" are hardly helpful guides for people wondering whether they can apply what they know to someone's problem.

[rant]
Which is worse, being tersely pointed in the direction of something that may genuinely resolve the problem, or implicitly expecting everyone to have to view your post because you cant be bothered to provide a detailed topic line?
[/rant]

Paddy
This message was edited by PaddyD on 2002-08-18 19:07

 

[Ivan F Moala]

Hi everyone,
Elgringo56 & Chris Chattin I undertand what your saying, I'm sure that it is NOT the intent of the MVP's or anyone else
for that matter to belittle you or make you feel stupid. PaddyD & Kristy have replied with what I think is applicable and sums up what you should do
when asking a question (thanks ).
We are certainly not above everyone else, but a few simple explainations on what you have done will show us where you are up to, where you have been, as well as indicating that you have made an effort. We (or any other poster) then
don't have to refer you on to what is already avialable eg. Searching the site, help files etc.
If someone has made you feel this way then post back and tell TELL THEM SO, and don't let it pass, you'll probably find that you were both @ fault in the Q & A.
This maybe a good time to setup a howto post in order to get a meaningful reply.

eg Excel version, OS version, Problem, What you have done etc....obviously needs more refining.

Try posting again, and if you get anything you're not happy with then say so and why in a civilised manner.

 

[Asala42]

lol - I almost spit soda out of my nose laughing so hard at the use of: [rant] [/rant]

Maybe I should make the switch to decaf now

 

[Anne Troy]

So true, lenze.

As for elgringo, I suggest first hitting Help. When the Office Assistant comes up, hit options and uncheck "use the Office Assistant" and close the box. Now, hit Help again. You'll get a 3-tab help file. The first tab is a table of contents thing, the second is the answer wizard--try that one. See if you get better results. Perhaps it's not help, but the Office Assistant just being difficult (hee hee).

If you still don't get a decent help return, try running Detect and Repair from the Help menu in Excel. This *should* repair any problems you're having.

If you still can't get decent help files, let us know whether it's a work or home PC, and the version of your operating system; we need to troubleshoot it.

 

[elgringo56]

Thank you very much, Dreamboat, I tried what you suggested, then did an Alt F11 to bring up the macro editor. Went to help, typed in VLOOKUP and got the message please rephrase your question, just as before. I am using Windows XP with Office 2000 professional on a home computer.

 

[Von Pookie]

Elgringo,

You never mentioned that it was the macro help file you were having problems with. This is kind of what we meant by not giving all of the information. Results in a miscommunication (though I'm not saying that this is specifically your fault )

You can't find VLOOKUP in the VBA help file because it isn't a part of VBA. Use the regular Excel help file for VLOOKUP, don't get into the macro editor. It's a formula thing.

_________________<font color="#3399FF" size="3">Kristy</font>  

<marquee scroll="left" loop="0"><img src=http://www.smilies.nl/dieren/dogrun.gif></marquee>
This message was edited by Von Pookie on 2002-08-19 18:08