[AccessD] Moderator Message

The whole points thing turned me off completely.  I have in the past
posted questions (not in a loooong time) without ever receiving an
answer.  I don't want points for an answer either, so it just isn't a
good fit for me. I'm not looking for a free lunch, but I'm also not
looking to buy a pig in a poke.  I think I'd feel better about it if you
could search the PAQ without being a member but you had to join in order
to post a question or answer.  Forget the points, that's just a numbers
game that doesn't actually say anything about how "expert" you are, only
about how many questions you've answered and had accepted. 

Charlotte Foust

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Jim Dettman
Sent: Friday, August 07, 2009 5:51 AM
To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
Subject: Re: [AccessD] Moderator Message

Charlotte,

  I'd be the first to admit that the PAQ database (Previously Asked
Question) has gone down in quality tremendously.  When the site first
started out, it was of course smaller and had much more of that
"community feel" to it like Access-D does.  There were far fewer
questions and answers were more concise.  In the Access area, there were
only a dozen or so at most of Access Experts.

  Now with the number of members in the millions, it has moved more to a
"ask a question, get an answer" type format rather then relying on the
PAQ.
Although EE still says that about 80% of the members still don't ask
questions and get their answers from the PAQ, I find it hard to believe.
You need to wade through a lot of stuff.

  Personally, unless you have a very specific question (ie. you have an
error message or something like that), it's very hard to get a answer
from the PAQ anymore.  Your far better off to simply post a question and
get an answer and with the number of people now on the site, that
happens fairly quickly.

  That's really no different then what happens here on Access-D.  You
post and get an answer or someone says "search the archives".  I think
here on Access-D though there is a lot more quality to the posts then a
lot of what you'll find on EE.  It's turned into too much of a points
race there (Experts get points for answering questions) so answers tend
to be short and quick. That all started when they allowed members
unlimited question points.
Before that, the amount of points you had with which to ask questions
was limited, so you asked good questions and were more involved with the
answer.
Now that's not the case and many questioners simply give up and move
onto another question since it basically costs them nothing.  This is
another reason why the PAQ has gone way down in quality.  EE has finally
started to put a cap on that by limiting the number of questions you can
have open, but it's too little too late I'm afraid.

  As far as the paying part, I always remember TANSTAAFL; There ain't no
such thing as a free lunch.  As I've already pointed out, you sign up
and pay or contribute and get the service for free.  They do have a
limited membership for 30 days that is free to try things out, but 30
days is all you get.

   And to be clear, my point for posting all this is not to do this as a
form of promoting EE here, but trying to figure out what it is about EE
that
everyone dislikes so much.   I have to say, I was quite surprised at the
level of resentment towards EE the last time this came up.  So much so
that you guys actually worked out a way to eliminate it from Google
search results.

  What I want to understand is it a matter of EE being misunderstood, or
the way in which it actually operates that is the problem.  Frankly I'm
surprised that more of you have not shown up there or else where.

  I guess though that is a testament to Access-D.

Jim.