Lynn Pettis (9/11/2008)Again, we don't work in a perfect world. How many times do we have to make assumptions in our day to day work? Users don't tell us everything we need to get them what they need, so we have to make assumptions all the time.
Yes but that's why I ask them further questions and why I stipulate that I don't get the blame for assuming things when they have not provided me with the information I need and ask for.
Lynn Pettis (9/11/2008)To tell people who are willing to come up with QotD that they must provide completely unambiguous questions is simply , IMHO, unreasonable. They might as well just give us the answer instead of having us figure it out and get it right or wrong based on our assumptions and research.
While I mostly agree with you on making all questions completely unambiguous as this can sometimes be a mammoth task, how hard would it have been to say "In SQL Server 2005 (using 2005+ tools), what is the result of this query."
Honestly I'm really not trying to be picky I just think for query questions it's not totally unreasonable to ask someone to specify the sql version and tools/versions if it is going to make a difference to the answer as not everyone will be using the same configurations and tools.
Sorry maybe lots of people will disagree with my view and as I haven't been in this field for a long time (being a relative youngster) maybe they are correct but I'll certainly take this on board for future questions now I am aware of the std thinking.
Thanks. 🙂