Are the posted questions getting worse?

Click here to monitor SSC

<a href="http://g.adspeed.net/ad.php?do=clk&zid=15220&wd=468&ht=60&pair=as" target="_blank"><img style="border:0px;" src="http://g.adspeed.net/ad.php?do=img&zid=15220&wd=468&ht=60&pair=as" alt="i" width="468" height="60"/></a>

SQLServerCentral is supported by Red Gate Software Ltd.

Log in :: Register :: Not logged in

<a href="http://g.adspeed.net/ad.php?do=clk&zid=15491&wd=120&ht=300&pair=as" target="_top"><img style="border:0px;" src="http://g.adspeed.net/ad.php?do=img&zid=15491&wd=120&ht=300&pair=as" alt="i" width="120" height="300"/></a>

Recent Posts

Popular Topics

Home

Home » SQLServerCentral.com » Anything that is NOT about SQL! » Are the posted questions getting worse?

Add to briefcase

39,891 posts, Page 1 of 3,990

1 2 3 4 5 »»»

Are the posted questions getting worse?

Expand / Collapse

Author

Message

Michael Earl-395764

Posted Tuesday, November 18, 2008 6:31 AM

SSCrazy

Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 5:07 AM
Points: 2,732, Visits: 23,078

Is it me, or are the posted questions getting worse these days?

I just read a post by someone apparently in charge of something who was asking how to take a database backup and restore it on another server.

It seems like the general feeling of a lot of DBA's (term used loosely) these days is that they do not need to learn anything by reading or studying and they should simply post questions without doing any work themselves. I would expect that they can click the search button at least once before posting a question in a forum.

Anyone else disappointed lately, or am I just getting bitter?

Post #604325

Christopher Stobbs

Posted Tuesday, November 18, 2008 6:39 AM

SSCommitted

Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 4:10 AM
Points: 1,553, Visits: 2,232

Hi Michael,

I do also think sometimes that people don't make enough effort to find the answers themselves.
Some questions about syntax and things can simple be found in BOL or by using help in SSMS.
But I think people find it "easier" (less work) to simply post and wait...

I also find that the amount of info that some people post when asking for help is getting worse.

I often see posts with a question that is asking alot, but no data, not tables, no queries nothing, and then it still takes 3 or 4 post but others asking for more data before it's actually delivered Smile

Smile

I guess the OP's are trying to challenge us he he he

----------------------------------------------
Try to learn something about everything and everything about something. - Thomas Henry Huxley

w00t

w00t

Posting Best Practices
Numbers / Tally Tables

SQL-4-Life

Post #604327

Posted Tuesday, November 18, 2008 8:32 AM

SSChampion

Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Friday, May 17, 2013 12:22 PM
Points: 10,571, Visits: 11,871

I don't know if they are getting worse, just more basic. I think a lot of it is because so many third party apps use SQL Server Express or Workgroup, so some guy or gal in an office all of the sudden has to support SQL Server.

When I started with my current employer they told me thay had no SQL Servers, FoxPro shop, but were looking to migrate to SQL Server. Well, it turns out the Finance department had bought a third party application that came with SQL Server 2000. I found out about it AFTER the box crashed and msdb had been corrupted a few months before so the backup jobs weren't running, thus backups. The vendor had created backup jobs for their databases but NOT for the system databases. If this had happened prior to my being there they would have been in even more trouble.

I think situations like this are why we are seeing more basic questions.

Jack Corbett

Applications Developer

Don't let the good be the enemy of the best. -- Paul Fleming

Check out these links on how to get faster and more accurate answers:
Forum Etiquette: How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help
Need an Answer? Actually, No ... You Need a Question
How to Post Performance Problems
Crosstabs and Pivots or How to turn rows into columns Part 1
Crosstabs and Pivots or How to turn rows into columns Part 2

Post #604448

Michael Earl-395764

Posted Tuesday, November 18, 2008 11:20 AM

SSCrazy

Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 5:07 AM
Points: 2,732, Visits: 23,078

I can understand basic, foundational questions, but what has been driving me batty lately are the questions that you can copy and paste into google and click "I'm Feeling Lucky" and get the correct answer.

I am just seeing a lot of people that do not do any work before posting. Then they proceed to make you pull teeth to get enough information to actually answer the question.

It could just be that I haven't had enough coffee.

Post #604614

Matt Miller (#4)

Posted Tuesday, November 18, 2008 11:39 AM

SSCertifiable

Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: 2 days ago @ 7:57 PM
Points: 6,998, Visits: 13,949

I think in a way - we as a community tend to (inadvertantly perhaps) encourage the behavior. On many other similar sites, ask even a well-formed simplistic question, and invariably you will get back some amount of responses like (see if you've ever seen these):

- Click here to go learn how to use Google
- What are you, a moron?
- Turn your machine off - you don't deserve to compute
- etc....

And yet - you really don't see a lot of that here. Even with questions with no specifics and no way to even know what the actual question even is, you will see a lot of "here's how you should ask the question if you want to be helped". Which, frankly, is a much better way to answer the topic in my mind.

Only when you run across a repeat offender (who should by now know how to get answers, has been asked multiple times already, etc....) do I ever recall even seeing any form of attitude coming out early in a thread.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part...unless you're my manager...or a director and above...or a really loud-spoken end-user..All right - what was my emergency again?

Post #604622

Posted Tuesday, November 18, 2008 11:42 AM

SSChampion

Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Friday, May 17, 2013 12:22 PM
Points: 10,571, Visits: 11,871

I agree. Many times my posts include a quote from BOL that answers the question word for word. It does seem that people will post here without using BOL or on-line search . I think most of the regular contributors to SSC have tried to let others know that we want to help, but please show us that you have tried something.

Jack Corbett

Applications Developer

Don't let the good be the enemy of the best. -- Paul Fleming

Check out these links on how to get faster and more accurate answers:
Forum Etiquette: How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help
Need an Answer? Actually, No ... You Need a Question
How to Post Performance Problems
Crosstabs and Pivots or How to turn rows into columns Part 1
Crosstabs and Pivots or How to turn rows into columns Part 2

Post #604625

Posted Tuesday, November 18, 2008 11:56 AM

SSC-Insane

Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Yesterday @ 11:07 PM
Points: 21,625, Visits: 27,468

I have to agree as well. Most of us do want to help others who are having difficulties. Look at how many of the regular contributors now have a link to Jeff Moden's article in our signature block. It is important to get people to know how to ask a question, to provide as much information as possible to help them.

Some people, however, I think some people have started feeling entitled, that they don't need to provide much information or do much of the work themselves. Hey, I just post my request on SSC, and 5 or 6 gurus provide me with the answer, no problem. But do they understand what we have provided them, usually not.

But, just like officiating soccer, I'll keep helping as long as I a can.

Cool

Cool

Lynn Pettis

For better assistance in answering your questions, click here
For tips to get better help with Performance Problems, click here
For Running Totals and its variations, click here or when working with partitioned tables
For more about Tally Tables, click here
For more about Cross Tabs and Pivots, click here and here
Managing Transaction Logs

SQL Musings from the Desert Fountain Valley SQL (My Mirror Blog)

Post #604639

Posted Tuesday, November 18, 2008 11:58 AM

SSCertifiable

Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: 2 days ago @ 2:17 AM
Points: 6,862, Visits: 8,049

IMO sqlserver in finally entering companies because msaccess no longer suites their needs (performance / size).

"insert disk and run" now gets some shop it guy to the point they actually need to perform some system stuff with it.

I recently did a presentation on SSMS to a developers public. The big aha-moment was when I pointed them to BOL.
That highlighting a keyword and hitting Shift+F1 actually gets you to BOL and positions you at the keywords help topic.

So, many of them just don't know and keep not knowing...

Then ..... a popular forum is the way to go.

Johan

     Jul 13

Don't drive faster than your guardian angel can fly ...
but keeping both feet on the ground won't get you anywhere w00t

w00t

- How to post Performance Problems
- How to post data/code to get the best help

- How to prevent a sore throat after hours of presenting ppt ?

"press F1 for solution", "press shift+F1 for urgent solution" BigGrin

BigGrin

Need a bit of Powershell? How about this

Who am I ? Sometimes this is me but most of the time this is me Hehe

Hehe

Post #604640

Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Posted Tuesday, November 18, 2008 2:41 PM

SSC-Dedicated

Group: Administrators
Last Login: Today @ 1:14 AM
Points: 31,433, Visits: 13,746

It comes and goes in waves. Plenty of new people being thrown into SQL Server every day, struggling to learn.

Most people aren't like those of you that answer questions. They're not driven and are looking for an answer, not knowledge. Sad, but it seems to be that way.

We also have younger generations that have less desire, patience, or skill in asking questions. Everything is a JIT query to them, with only a very limited amount of information provided.

Follow me on Twitter: @way0utwest

Forum Etiquette: How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help

Post #604715

Posted Tuesday, November 18, 2008 9:08 PM

SSC-Dedicated

Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Yesterday @ 7:51 PM
Points: 32,910, Visits: 26,800

I've gotta agree with Michael... the questions have gotten a lot worse. Yeah, I agree that they're probably for the reasons Steve and a couple of others have identified, but WOW!

And, it's not only the questions... it's some of the gosh-awful answers... in one very recent post for SSIS, one poor fellow wanted to know how to get the numeric value out of a string like A07689 and join it on a column that had 007689 in it. Now, forget how bad a design that is... consider the answer that one wiz kid gave...

"You should be using derived column transformation, and use substring or available string functions. This would help." ... and that's ALL that was given as an answer.

Technically correct and, yet, totally useless. There's been a rash of such answers, lately... must be the economy... seems like when the DOW goes down, so does the IQ of the general public. :P Just imagine... some of these folks actually have jobs in the IT world. Hehe

Hehe

--Jeff Moden

"RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for "Row-By-Agonizing-Row".

First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
Stop thinking about what you want to do to a row... think, instead, of what you want to do to a column."

For better, quicker answers on T-SQL questions, click on the following...
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/

For better answers on performance questions, click on the following...
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/SQLServerCentral/66909/

Post #604823

« Prev Topic | Next Topic »

Add to briefcase

39,891 posts, Page 1 of 3,990

1 2 3 4 5 »»»

Permissions

Expand / Collapse