November 28, 2008 at 6:54 am
May as well chime in on this one.
First off, Phil, feel lucky. At least your developers are still at least using the words "data." We've had a rash of the new term, "information persistance." They don't even want to use the word data, let alone muck about with that tainted database thingy (even though they're still storing their data there).
Second, I love this site. I learn from it almost every single day. I try to pass that learning back by posting. I'm right more often than I'm wrong, so maybe it's working. Either way, I'd still do it because it really does provide an opportunity to learn. In this business, we're kind of like sharks, learn or die. If we didn't have this place, we'd need to go out & build it.
While we're posting this sort of thing, can I just add, I really do appreciate the people who post here, from the top posters to the one-timers, even when the question is so completely out to lunch I laugh out loud and call co-workers over to look at it. They all help. Thanks everyone.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning
November 28, 2008 at 7:09 am
I guess like most I just started out using SSC as a great source of info and then decided I should try and give something back (which speeds up the learning process by the way). Being a sole SQL DBA I need someone to talk to sometimes!
Also there are threads which just make enjoyable reading.
This current one for instance is typical, informative and educational with a certain frisson:
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic608554-361-2.aspx
🙂
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November 28, 2008 at 7:27 am
I would love to contribute more but seldom find the time. I prefer those forums where you can respond via email like lazydba and sswug. I'm 1 DBA here looking after 300 SQL Servers...
I do read the daily newsletters though.
-- cranfield
thanks
SQL_EXPAT
November 28, 2008 at 7:33 am
Hello,
I am a member of the silent majority but read the articles daily. Thanks for a great site!
James
November 28, 2008 at 7:57 am
i would love to write more and be able to answer questions, but by the time i read a lot of questions on this or other forums, most of them have already been answered.
i simply do not have enough time in the day to poll newsgroups and forums, hoping to be the first one to answer a question. i try to help when i can, but for the most part the work is already complete.
so i find myself reading, more than writing. i suspect many others feel the same way
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https://thomaslarock.com
November 28, 2008 at 9:32 pm
It was always one of my favorite things early on in this site to answer questions and help others. I've always felt that most of the people reading the forums are looking for help, but don't want to post something. So by answering those that do, you're helping many others.
Thanks to everyone that helps, and makes it so I don't have to answer every post, something Andy, Brian, and I did early on.
November 29, 2008 at 3:37 am
GilaMonster (11/27/2008)
I started posting on this forum because I wanted to improve my own SQL skills, and trying to figure out other people's problems seemed like a good way to do that.I think it worked.
That's why I started posting here and on my local PASS chapter (http://sqlserver.ro). Unfortunately I do not have enough time to do more.
Phil, you're lucky. I can't get my co-workers to understand the benefits of normalization...:(
November 29, 2008 at 4:17 am
Stewart Bailey-Smith (11/28/2008)
I'm one of those wallfowers who just reads on this site (in fact this is my first post) but I've had the nagging feeling I should contribute to the community as a whole for some time now. It's bailed me out countless times in the past. Mainly my reluctance has been due to the fact that that you never really feel like an expert, everything new thing you learn always seems to highlight ten more things you didn't know. But enough is enough you have to push away from the edge of the pool sooner or later...Basically I wanted to say that this article has pushed me in to creating a new habit to find some time each week to start trying to answer questions and put something back in, I've taken my fair share out so hopefully I can repay some of that.
Keep up the good work everyone else I for one am grateful.
😀 Well done and Welcome 😀
This is how I started.
If you think you can help then post your ideas and opinions. More often than not someone just wants their T-SQL to work, and are not necessarily interested in the best performing most efficient code - don't back off just because you may not have the most elegant solution. But be prepared to be corrected by the experts occasionally - you'll learn from your mistakes better that way and soon you'll be arguing the finer points with them.
November 29, 2008 at 5:05 am
I am currently one of the 925,000 and was starting to consider myself a parasite to SSC. This article makes me feel a bit better about that in the short term.
In the food chain of SQL knowledge I'm way down the bottom at the moment and hence any questions from other people I am able to answer, are usually already answered by the time I get them. However, one day I'll discover something interesting and or novel in SQL land and be able to contribute to the site. I'll frame the post and hang it on the wall when that happens 🙂
Thanks for a great site, for providing answers to my many questions, for the humor, for the camaraderie I feel with the SQL community because of it.
Alister
November 29, 2008 at 1:02 pm
There used to be an old quote. Something along the lines of, "There are no stupid questions, just stupid mistakes." I think that I've said this before but I've been at this game for over 30 years. I learn something new every day. A great deal of it has been from forums like this one.
Some of us arch conservatives feel that we have been sucking in knowledge for so long that we owe it to the community to give back. It's not the greater helping the lesser, by the way. Dissuade yourself of notions like that as soon as you can. Rather it is helping the seeds around one grow and flourish. We all benefit from the safety and comfort of a forest of comrades.
If you want to stay silent and just read that is fine. You will learn along th way. I read lot's of forums where I have not, and probably will not, post. There are a few where I'm an active poster. It's my choice.
If you have a question then pick the right topic and post it. It's not likely you will get you head handed to you here. That only happens when you post in the wrong thread. (Can you hear me yelling at people who cut someone down without telling them what the right thread is? Is my participle dangling again? Old age, that.)
If you know the answer to a question, and can prove it, then post a response. It feels good to help someone you don't know. After a few times you start to get a rush. The "dirty little secret" is the gentle high that comes from from seeing, or hearing, the smile on someone else when you have helped them through a bad time. Oh, you'll hear people say: It's my job. I'm only doing my duty. I'm no hero. That is so much self righteous, self justifying, bovine excretion. What's the word you Brits have for it? Ball something or other. It feels good. It is good. I hope everyone gets to feel that at some point.
ATBCharles Kincaid
December 1, 2008 at 9:45 am
The great thing about SSC is that even if you know you're not one of the experts, but think you can help, you can post what you know, and without fail someone will come along who will either confirm that you are doing the right thing, or show you a new way of approaching the problem that will help both the poster and yourself.
From one who began as a wallflower, and drifts in and out of the topics from day to day, I sincerely hope that everyone continues what they are doing here. The quality of assistance, responsiveness and collective intellect of the community is truly impressive. Dangling participles aside 😛
Thanks all!
Jon
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How best to post your question[/url]
How to post performance problems[/url]
Tally Table:What it is and how it replaces a loop[/url]
"stewsterl 80804 (10/16/2009)I guess when you stop and try to understand the solution provided you not only learn, but save yourself some headaches when you need to make any slight changes."
December 1, 2008 at 6:21 pm
I think just as much thanks should go to those who post questions as those who answer them. If nobody asked questions, we'd not learn anything. As an instructor from time to time, I dread the groups that never ask any questions... where it makes one feel like either all are either uninterested or do not care to discuss what is being presented.
I think sometimes we may feel embarrassed to ask a question because we don't want to feel like a neophite, or want to look like we are in the know.
I have appreciated this site in particular. As a long time net news poster on a few topics, I eventually left because it got so bad. I have not seen many postings here that lend to any personal derogatory remarks... An occasional tongue-in-cheek maybe amongst some who evidently know each other... but nothing serious.
Thanks to everyone for "making it good".
December 2, 2008 at 8:25 am
Over the last year, there have been times I've been very active on this site, and times when I haven't had the time to even visit, much less post.
When I'm active, it's because I enjoy helping people. That, after all, is the whole point of civilization.
As for learning when I answer, definitely! I've learned quite a lot by posting a few things, either because of research I had to do to answer a question, or because of other people posting alternate answers, or because of the original question being something I had never thought of.
Even with a "silent majority", it's still a great site.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
Property of The Thread
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon
December 2, 2008 at 8:42 am
dphillips (12/1/2008)
I think just as much thanks should go to those who post questions as those who answer them. If nobody asked questions, we'd not learn anything.
Remember the first words spoken by the Guardian. "A question!" How many centuries did the Guardian wait for a question?
ATBCharles Kincaid
December 2, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Well, it's refreshing to see I'm in the majority. 😀 I post as often as I can but usually most items that I can provide a suitable answer for have already been answered (I blame it on the time zone differences - my story, I'm sticking to it! 😉 ). BUT that gives me the opportunity to see how others may approach the topic at hand, giving me an alternative way to the same solution. I'm always learning something. The site is great, so many of you, to me, are the cream of the crop. I won't mention names (the list would simply be too long) but I find myself amazed with the solutions you provide on a consistent, seemingly effortless basis.
I feel I personally know so many of you, from your technical writings to your sometimes witty, tongue-in-cheek responses to the simple, non-technical stuff that I'm reading here. It's my pleasure to be a part of this community (pushing 1 million strong - we ROCK!). To all - keep up the good work!
Lastly - special thanks to Steve, Andy and Brian - my career has truly been enhanced by this site and all who roam it! You guys have something really special going here.
-- You can't be late until you show up.
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