May 14, 2010 at 5:51 am
I agree with most of the comments already submitted. One thing from my world, Bandwidth is watched closely here at work. Video, Podcasts, Music are against policy. I would think this is the case at a lot of businesses.
Keep up the great work. The editorials are thought provoking.
M
May 14, 2010 at 6:06 am
I agree, the search is pretty useless. I would appreciate that getting an overhaul as I also currently use Google.
May 14, 2010 at 6:28 am
I want a pony!
But seriously - for my purposes, you've already provided more resources than I reasonably need (or can use). As for your idea of a radio/TV show, I don't think that's the best way to reach your target audience. Webinars-on-demand - perhaps. Maybe a live-streaming "call-in" show also made available as a podcast, or some roundtable podcasts would be nice, but you've already got a pretty darned tight mix of info, so think carefully before you add anything to it.
May 14, 2010 at 6:30 am
Others have addressed the search and while I don't find it as bad as they seem to, I do have a suggestion. Whenever I do a search I immediately turn off scripts and forum and do the search again. I want to see articles and blogs first and if I don't find what I'm looking for there, I go to the forum. How about a way to sort your searches by articles, then blogs, then forum? Or whatever the user prefers, really.
Other than that, I'd like to add to the many responses that talk about what a great resource this site is. I enjoy the articles and the discussions that follow. I've found quite a few techniques here that have helped me out and the SQL Server Saturday I attended was fantastic. I can't wait for the next one in Boston!
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When you encounter a problem, if the solution isn't readily evident go back to the start and check your assumptions.
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What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?
You ask a glass of water. -- Douglas Adams
May 14, 2010 at 7:02 am
I agree with ubeauty. SSC is a great resource for me. I can't really think of anything that needs to be added.
May 14, 2010 at 7:15 am
I'm going to echo the need for better search/article organization. It would be great to have a 'definitive' article on particular subject (as picked by the SSC user-base). My best example would be Jeff Moden's article on Pivots vs. Cross-Tabs. It was exactly the explanation i was looking for, complete with performance testing data on the different approaches! if there was a mechanism to push articles like that to the top of the pool in a particular category, it would save a lot of time and effort slogging through search results.
I don't know if the 5-star rating system would be best suited to rank articles, or if i might be better to implement a Reddit-esque Up/Down-vote system.
May 14, 2010 at 7:26 am
Stefan Krzywicki (5/14/2010)
Whenever I do a search I immediately turn off scripts and forum and do the search again. I want to see articles and blogs first and if I don't find what I'm looking for there, I go to the forum.
Whereas I'm usually trying to find where someone said something in a forum post so I can quote them.
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
May 14, 2010 at 7:31 am
Thanks for all the wonderful comments and I do appreciate them. Good to hear that we are doing some things right.
I'll push on the search to get something better going.
May 14, 2010 at 7:43 am
I would like a better search engine for SSC.
One that works in general as well as in the "my posts" section.
Maybe add an "extended search" or "search within results" button to refine the (current) results.
please provide more than 10 rows in the search result set, maybe even implement it as a setting
(cfr forum settings)
As SSC grows, many questions seem to come back.
- Or users are to lazy to search SSC and just pop their question in the fora.
- or they just cannot find it within a reasonable time or number of effords.
Johan
Learn to play, play to learn !
Dont drive faster than your guardian angel can fly ...
but keeping both feet on the ground wont get you anywhere :w00t:
- How to post Performance Problems
- How to post data/code to get the best help[/url]
- How to prevent a sore throat after hours of presenting ppt
press F1 for solution, press shift+F1 for urgent solution 😀
Need a bit of Powershell? How about this
Who am I ? Sometimes this is me but most of the time this is me
May 14, 2010 at 7:52 am
GilaMonster (5/14/2010)
Stefan Krzywicki (5/14/2010)
Whenever I do a search I immediately turn off scripts and forum and do the search again. I want to see articles and blogs first and if I don't find what I'm looking for there, I go to the forum.Whereas I'm usually trying to find where someone said something in a forum post so I can quote them.
Yep, thought that'd be the case for some people as I was typing that, which is why I followed it with
Or whatever the user prefers, really.
: -)
I think being able to rank the categories starting with your first attempt would be useful.
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When you encounter a problem, if the solution isn't readily evident go back to the start and check your assumptions.
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It’s unpleasantly like being drunk.
What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?
You ask a glass of water. -- Douglas Adams
May 14, 2010 at 8:01 am
Here are my thoughts on what I'd like to see on SQL Server Central:
1. I agree with a previous post that a "definitive article" section would be great. Or anything that would provide the equivalent of "read me first" advice. That would streamline the help process for people seeking help on a particular topic (first question to a poster would be: did you read the "read me first" article ?) and would also help people who are simply seeking self-instruction whether or not they ever post a request for help.
2. I completely understand that the more expert members are here at SQL Server Central to help, not simply do other people's work for them or cut and paste answers for someone in a rush to fix their crisis. However, I do think that (combined with item 1 above) it would be helpful to include a series of tutorials that are more step-by-step to cover common scenarios that all DBAs and SQL Server users should learn, organized in their own top-level section for easy reference. My suggestion would be to use AdventureWorks or some other common database that has lots of the basic SQL Server features, so that users could work through the examples in a consistent manner. That would also alleviate the problem of asking people to post code, since some people are either (1) lazy and don't post it first, (2) panicked and confused (or else they wouldn't be asking for help) and haven't been instructed on posting etiquette, or (3) don't want to post sensitive or proprietary code, so they have to concoct phony sample code with field names such as field1, field2, etc., that is inconsistent and notoriously hard to follow. Similarly, if SSC members feel that a user needs to post more info, they can ask the user to translate the issue, as best they can, into an example using AdventureWorks (or whatever sample db is devised).
3. Standardize the Question of the Day (QOTD) categories. Although I like the QOTD a lot (see below), I find it unhelpful to see the same types of questions sorted under, say "T-SQL," "T SQL," "Transact-SQL," etc. Naturally, I am the typical critic who has never tried the thing myself :-), but it looks like the users get to create their own question categories - if so, I think that should be changed to a drop-down to keep the data clean and consistent, with a link to email the admin if they think a new category should be added. Then at least I could have increased precision on my woeful average performance on disaster recovery questions. :blush:
4. The search. I agree that the search and organization could be improved (I enjoy tagging articles for the Briefcase, but then never go back to the Briefcase to look them up). I wonder if the search could be modified to have a section from your Briefcase at the top, assuming that if you took the time to add the articles to your organizational process, the site should list those articles first. That in turn may reduce further research and make you realize why you saved the article in the first place.
Having said that, here's what I like about SQL Server Central:
1. The people. They are almost always willing to help. I can recall only 1 or 2 posts where I never had anyone respond. And Steve Jones in particular. I know the goal of a popular site is for it to transcend any one person, but Steve has shown an uncanny patience, humility, and good nature that keeps these often contentious DB issues, freaked-out DBs in panic mode, and various factions of pro-certification/anti-certification/fill-in-the-blank debates under control. Actually, most of the top contributors here are like that, but it is great to have, in Steve, a guaranteed person in that leading role.
2. The QOTD. As others have said, despite all the criticism heaped on many of the poor souls brave enough to submit a question, the debates around the questions are often as helpful as the original questions and answers, and the range of questions runs across the whole range of SQL Server topics.
3. The amount of information. Yes, the search can be improved, but taken as a whole, SQL Server Central is usually the first place I look for SQL information.
That's probably more than anyone wants to know about what I want for SQL Server Central, but I hope my thoughts will be taken into consideration.
Thanks!
webrunner
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A SQL query walks into a bar and sees two tables. He walks up to them and asks, "Can I join you?"
Ref.: http://tkyte.blogspot.com/2009/02/sql-joke.html
May 14, 2010 at 8:18 am
Geez Steve, I'm a rookie here so I don't get to contribute very often, but I always find helpful information when I visit here and am looking for something. I've been surprised to see that the "word" about how helpful this site is has become more and more commonplace. When I started working for a new employer in February this year, 2 of the other developers here already had this site book-marked.
We all love it because of the helpful and (mostly) friendly people we find here. It seems to be of use to folks that are rookies (like me) all the way up to experienced data-heads.
As each of us becomes more skilled in the basics, we start needing to find different levels of information and help and it's got to be a challenge to match our needs against those that are just starting out. I think that SSC does a pretty good job of providing useful information to everyone...no matter what level their skill-set is.
Thanks and keep up the good work!
Larry
May 14, 2010 at 8:29 am
I would most likely not be interested in live/video content. I predominantly consume the articles, scripts, and editorials, and have found these resources to be worthwhile. Browsing through the forums have also been beneficial, and have given me some great insight into how to address similar issues I come across in my own work.
As some have already suggested, focusing on addressing the organization and search capabilities of the site could be useful.
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Brian
May 14, 2010 at 8:47 am
I also want to thank you for a great resource. I'd say don't strain to do more, unless you are "following your bliss".
i might add that i usually can't attend most live broadcasts, but will find the time to listen after the fact to relevant content, if a link is available.
keep up the great work!
Fred
May 14, 2010 at 8:55 am
I love the site as it is, it's my primary resource for articles and forums.
I think I would like to see a special cathegory of articles focusing on business cases, something like Hugo Kornelis' series on packing bins.
A collection of articles on business subjects or common algorithms would be really interesting in my opinion and would avoid having to re-invent the wheel. It could also become a sort of "wiki" everybody can contribute to, fixing bugs and squeezing every drop of performance.
I think I would love to be part of such a project.
-- Gianluca Sartori
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