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[Computers] Please read before you ask.
- Thread starter Psionicist
- Start date
Tsyr
Explorer
That document should be titled "How to be an arogant blowhard and how to deal with the same". 
When you are having problems with a piece of software, don't claim you have found a bug unless you are very, very sure of your ground. Hint: unless you can provide a source-code patch that fixes the problem, or a regression test against a previous version that demonstrates incorrect behavior, you are probably not sure enough.
Remember, there are a lot of other users that are not experiencing your problem. Otherwise you would have learned about it while reading the documentation and searching the Web (you did do that before complaining, didn't you?). This means that very probably it is you who are doing something wrong, not the software.
Hello. Yes. Everytime I click on "close file" I get an illegal operation error. Yes, uh-huh... Right, ok, since I can't patch it, I can't say I found a bug... right...
When you are having problems with a piece of software, don't claim you have found a bug unless you are very, very sure of your ground. Hint: unless you can provide a source-code patch that fixes the problem, or a regression test against a previous version that demonstrates incorrect behavior, you are probably not sure enough.
Remember, there are a lot of other users that are not experiencing your problem. Otherwise you would have learned about it while reading the documentation and searching the Web (you did do that before complaining, didn't you?). This means that very probably it is you who are doing something wrong, not the software.
Hello. Yes. Everytime I click on "close file" I get an illegal operation error. Yes, uh-huh... Right, ok, since I can't patch it, I can't say I found a bug... right...
Enforcer
Explorer
Hehe, nope. Not going to go get a computer science degree so I can feel justified in asking for help when I have computer problems. I'll be a "lazy sponge who wastes everyone's time" by just asking nice people who can help me, thanks. And, I'm not sure how that wastes "everyone's" time, given that the l337 jerks...err...computer gurus, can just ignore me.
Psionicist
Explorer
Piratecat said:No, I'm pretty sure.
It probably is.
If you ask any computer related questions on a forum, mailing-list or IRC-channel you are not familiar with it is a good idea to follow all the advice in the guide even if you don't agree with them. Many of those who can answer your questions praise this guide.
(When you have read thousends of thread titles such as "Help my computer is broken" or "URGENT: Word doesn't work" you really start to like that guide).
STFW.
Henry
Autoexreginated
I'll take an opposite stance and say that I agree with most of the article. It is true: Most frequenters of a tech-oriented web site are totally volunteer in their efforts, and are often met by posts from someone who has not taken more than the requisite 1 minute it took to create a post saying:
In the face of one out of every ten posts taking this kind of approach, its no wonder frequent users get miffed. To me, it's not egotistical to suggest that a person does at least a minimal amount of work looking up the version number of the application they use, and stating the problem as clearly as possible.
The other extensive suggestions (Google search, full version info, etc.) are more helpful than most beginning users realize, and also eliminate possible dead-ends to the problem.
Though I've never visited any countries besides the U.S., I've been told many times that a visitor who at least tries to speak the native language correctly and not offend local custom is better received than someone who does not even try. The same principle applies: The visitor is making the effort, and that goes 50% of the way to friendly ground.
At work, I deal with technical problems frequently; I am always more pleased and friendlier in tone with someone who is willing to learn the "why" than someone who just wants their problem fixed. The first person is in need of help, and the second person is just a user, and I'm not talking about the computer.
In the face of one out of every ten posts taking this kind of approach, its no wonder frequent users get miffed. To me, it's not egotistical to suggest that a person does at least a minimal amount of work looking up the version number of the application they use, and stating the problem as clearly as possible.
The other extensive suggestions (Google search, full version info, etc.) are more helpful than most beginning users realize, and also eliminate possible dead-ends to the problem.
Though I've never visited any countries besides the U.S., I've been told many times that a visitor who at least tries to speak the native language correctly and not offend local custom is better received than someone who does not even try. The same principle applies: The visitor is making the effort, and that goes 50% of the way to friendly ground.
At work, I deal with technical problems frequently; I am always more pleased and friendlier in tone with someone who is willing to learn the "why" than someone who just wants their problem fixed. The first person is in need of help, and the second person is just a user, and I'm not talking about the computer.
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