15.07.2013, 17:59
Hello,
For the most part I frequent the Scripting Help board on this forums. I like to code small bits and enjoy helping people get through problems they face. With my attention to the board I tend to see a lot of things I find "inappropriate" for the board. These things include:
1) Replying with no knowledge of the problem at hand or how to fix it.
2) Simply giving the code to make the original poster's problem get fixed. No explanation of what was wrong or what they did to fix the issue. No examples of alternative use cases or help to prevent future errors.
3) Suggestions of using outdated and inefficient methods.
There are more (IMO) problems throughout the board, but I label these most important. Constantly seeing these things arise while browsing and helping fellow members, it makes things very un-enjoyable and even sometimes harder. Explanations as to why I find the things noted above problems:
This is probably the most common thing I run into. People come to the board to seek help from the community with the issue they are experiencing, not to further complicate the matter. A handful of people reply simply in the hopes (from what I have seen) of getting higher reputation points. Thus, with their lack of knowledge, reading, and/or comprehension skills, they answer the problem with an incorrect solution which sometimes damages the original problem further. This makes it harder for people who can contribute to the problem in a positive way.
I understand this is a community and the recent push for some of the rules is to make it more like such (i.e. no posting just to retrieve private help). Do not get me wrong, I very much like the fact that there are people here to try and help in a bonded fashion. However, I don't think you should be replying when you don't have a remote idea on how to fix the problem. "Know your limitations" is a quote that comes to mind.
I cannot think off the top of my head a way to help prevent this, so hopefully some replies can stir up a conversation.
Also a very common occurrence. This by itself destroys the whole purpose of the board. When replying you should be giving advise on how they can attempt to fix the problem themselves. Otherwise, they'll be posting again tomorrow asking the same thing; "How can I fix this??". Neglecting this and just giving the code prevents them from being able to identify and prevent the problem later on. Their natural response to any problem will be to post on the forums, as they will continually get non-contested code.
This is commonly seen by new coders coming and asking how to save data for offline players. Often, when one less experienced replies, they will give the suggestion of dini. With it being (IMHO) the simplest system to use, the original poster isn't going to convert to anything else once they get it working - even if you suggest it is outdated - they won't care. As they are beginning they will just want to see results with what they do. At this point, they can write an entire saving system with it in 10 minutes and see no use learning a whole new system. The same theory will apply 4 years from now when dini is still being used to save player data.
As of now, I cannot think of a rational way of attempting to fix the first and third issues. Telling them? They will most likely ignore the request and move on. Report them? It's not a rule. Take some reputation points? Sure, but I think that is kind of cruel as some people are truly there just trying to help. Beyond that, I don't know. Perhaps some ideas?
As for the second issue, I think it should be a rule. It it no way helps anything beside allowing that person to run the code at that current time. They will be right back 10 minutes later when they get another warning. This should be addressed as "#pragma *******" recently was.
For the most part I frequent the Scripting Help board on this forums. I like to code small bits and enjoy helping people get through problems they face. With my attention to the board I tend to see a lot of things I find "inappropriate" for the board. These things include:
1) Replying with no knowledge of the problem at hand or how to fix it.
2) Simply giving the code to make the original poster's problem get fixed. No explanation of what was wrong or what they did to fix the issue. No examples of alternative use cases or help to prevent future errors.
3) Suggestions of using outdated and inefficient methods.
There are more (IMO) problems throughout the board, but I label these most important. Constantly seeing these things arise while browsing and helping fellow members, it makes things very un-enjoyable and even sometimes harder. Explanations as to why I find the things noted above problems:
Quote:
|
1) Replying with no knowledge of the problem at hand or how to fix it. |
I understand this is a community and the recent push for some of the rules is to make it more like such (i.e. no posting just to retrieve private help). Do not get me wrong, I very much like the fact that there are people here to try and help in a bonded fashion. However, I don't think you should be replying when you don't have a remote idea on how to fix the problem. "Know your limitations" is a quote that comes to mind.
I cannot think off the top of my head a way to help prevent this, so hopefully some replies can stir up a conversation.
Quote:
|
2) Simply giving the code to make the original poster's problem get fixed. No explanation of what was wrong or what they did to fix the issue. No examples of alternative use cases or help to prevent future errors. |
Quote:
|
3) Suggestions of using outdated and inefficient methods. |
As of now, I cannot think of a rational way of attempting to fix the first and third issues. Telling them? They will most likely ignore the request and move on. Report them? It's not a rule. Take some reputation points? Sure, but I think that is kind of cruel as some people are truly there just trying to help. Beyond that, I don't know. Perhaps some ideas?
As for the second issue, I think it should be a rule. It it no way helps anything beside allowing that person to run the code at that current time. They will be right back 10 minutes later when they get another warning. This should be addressed as "#pragma *******" recently was.
