Spoonfeeding

[Iridium]

airplane method of getting them to eat

The 'choo choo train entering a tunnel' method can be quite effective too. As you say burping is a necessity!

 

[Zack Barresse]

i realize this is an old post, and hope nobody minds my 2 cents.

all i know, is that when i started on this board a few months back, i didn't even know what i wanted, just knew the expected results. i didn't actually think you could do that with excel i received my first answer from the infamous...yup you guessed it, iridium & Cbrine! 2 extreme EXCELer's!

Welcome to the Board!
Have a look in the xl help on VLOOKUP to get you started
Also have a look at http://j-walk.com/ss/excel/usertips/tip080.htm
HTH

and

Take a look at the online help for the Vlookup formula. It allows you to reference your main table values and look them up on a different table with your assoicated data.

now i wasn't spoon fed the answer, and this worked out great for me. i'm of the type in which i like to learn on my own, but need the occasional, *umph* if you will. countless member of this forum have helped me. and i look up to more of you here than you probably know.

anyway, i think this is somewhat of a redundant question. it's all in the eye of the beholder(s): the person posing the question, and the person(s) answering the question. either the questioneer is going to want to learn or not. either way it's in their hands. i've learned almost as much from answers as i have from posting myself. it causes you to look at other options/variables you may not deal with for your personal needs - at least for me anyway. most users use xl in their own fashion, and may not come to fruition as a *guru* of their office.

in anycase, i am also of the belief that this should be basically a case-by-case basis in lieu of personal needs/gain, knowledge/learning & the human ambition to better themselves.

ps - you just gotta love tbardoni's post! i love it![/quote]

 

[dneunabe]

In my humble opinion, I think questions should be answered and we should be taught. Few would dispute that Microsoft puts what many consider dumb things in their programs, and omits the obvious. There are many things I would never figure out if not for some help. I love to learn things, but I personally don't want to be an Excel expert. I want the program to do the things I want it to do, so that I can get onto other things. I've only posted one question so far. But I'm here because reading Excel books, help menus, microsoft.com etc. never seem to help. I'm amazed by the solutions--plus the generosity of people and their amazing ingenuity.. I'd hate to see the novices scared away.

Perhaps the Excel gurus among the group could gently give "posters" feedback--e.g. have a system of rating the questions as beginner, etc. or direct people to books etc for further study.
thanks
Dan

 

[NateO]

Hello Dan,

This makes sense, you have to determine the value proposition of knowing the software versus your investment, being the time spent of attaining such knowledge, etc...

Perhaps the Excel gurus among the group could gently give "posters" feedback--e.g. have a system of rating the questions as beginner, etc. or direct people to books etc for further study.
thanks
Dan

In my estimation, this could be problematic in terms of a way of life at MrExcel.com, varying from people being personally put off to miss diagnosis, etc... But, if you were to ask a solution provider for feedback in terms of where the specific quandary stands in terms of difficulty in their mind, you might get some interesting feedback.

 

[Todd Bardoni]

or direct people to books etc for further study

Have you seen Iridium's posts??? He's a top poster here and most of his posts are links to questions/answers that have already been asked/solved.

And I must add that he's very gentle about it.

firefytr, glad I could make you laugh. Now open up wide for the big airplane...vroooom!

 

[zoso]

If I might add another newbie's perspective on things...

This board and all of the people on it (SixthSense, JustJon & Richie(UK) to name but 3), are the best thing that's happened for my knowledge of Excel. But for all of you, the knowledge, patience and time given to noobs such as myself is humbling.

I have previously been on a beginner's VB course (but not for VBA as yet - read on), but my point is this. In my town (in England) the method of 'teaching' involves a dozen students sat in front of a dozen monitors with some pre-typed notes. They're asked to perform tasks from the questions in those notes. The teacher lurks in the background waiting for people to ask when they get stuck. As a beginner (it was a beginner's course after all) I didn't even know what question to ask - it might as well have been Swahili I was learning. This was least effective method of learning for me.

This exceptionally poor experience put me off learning completely. Then I discovered this site. Over the next few months the guys on this board have tirelessly put up with some pretty basic stuff from me, but I was, and still am, learning from their responses, although it may appear that I want(ed) spoonfeeding. I now feel more confident in finding a VBA course for Excel after gaining a basic grounding from you guys - at least I will know where to start, and what questions I should be asking!

I hope that I will then eventually know enough to be able to help out people on the board like you do (albeit with much more basic queries) and give back something in return for everything I've taken.

Thanks once again!

Zoso

 

[TryingToLearn]

Well as long as this post seems to have been resurrected...

I am a self proclaimed beginner (less than 6 months) and either self taught or learned from this board. I have found the MS help files contain most of what I need and are a great reference for what I already understand. They are useless to me for what I don't understand. This board fills that gap. Those people that are willing to take the time to explain or to point to where it has been explained cannot replace any help function of any software in my opinion.

As I have developed my basic skills, I find that by posting exact answers to others' questions I am reaffirming my understanding of concepts which in turn helps me expand my view of how solutions can be approached. In that respect, I may be spoonfeeding, but it is for my own advantage.

I learn from responses to my attempts at solutions for others' questions as I am shown other ways to accomplish the same task.

I have also found that those op's that consistantly reply with phrases like, "that didn't work, what else can I try" will not be getting any of my attention. Taking into consideration there may be language issues, after 1 or 2 such responses it is not worth my time to help someone who will not provide enough information. I would urge anyone else to do the same. If nothing else, anyone posting here should have the courtesy to respond with what it DID do, what the error message was or a thank you for getting it resolved or at least trying.

Just my humble opinion from someone who spent 15 years in POS software support and truly appreciates the responses on this board!

 

[Todd Bardoni]

those op's that consistantly reply with phrases like, "that didn't work, what else can I try" will not be getting any of my attention.

Now now, it never hurts to politely remind someone the correct way to address their problem. And I should know because I'm the epitomy of politeness...just ask anyone here.

 

[Iridium]

those op's that consistantly reply with phrases like, "that didn't work, what else can I try" will not be getting any of my attention.

Now now, it never hurts to politely remind someone the correct way to address their problem. And I should know because I'm the epitomy of politeness...just ask anyone here.

yup - tbardoni is the epitomy of courtesy - in the same way the Pope is Jewish!

 

[TryingToLearn]

Now now, it never hurts to politely remind someone the correct way to address their problem.

Let me start by politely asking that you re-read the paragraph and put my sentence in it's correct context of:

Taking into consideration there may be language issues, after 1 or 2 such responses...

The "1 or 2 such responses" inferred requests for further information had been ignored. I guess my syntax wasn't quite right, but I took it directly from the help files!