jwcolby
jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com
Thu Mar 26 22:28:28 CDT 2009
Help is pretty much defined by whether it is helpful. I guess you could call that "perception". OTOH you could simply ask if it helped! I and many other people have crafted hundreds or even thousands of answers exactly to people's requests, I see it every day on *this* list. If that is what is required to be helpful, then that is what is required to be helpful, and that is what we should strive to do, and I find that to be the driving force on this list. I have to say that I distinctly remember one list member crafting stored procedures that were many pages long to do something that I needed. That was sweet... unfortunately I couldn't understand a single line of the stored procedure. I should probably go back to the archives and see if I could find those responses. They might actually be useful to me now that I know so much more. There are many times when a list member knows so little about a subject that a RTFM response is simply not helpful (in fact IMHO an RTFM response is NEVER helpful). I was at that point with SQL Server "back then". I have since learned a lot. And to this day BOL is still pretty much useless to me, even knowing what I know now. Pointing to a precise page in BOL is about like pointing to a precise page in a book on "Molecular Biology" - http://www.amazon.com/Molecular-Biology-Robert-Weaver/dp/0073319945/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238121780&sr=8-1 - when talking to a parent trying to understand a genetic disorder of his child. Pointing to a page that is understood by the doctor is not by any stretch "helpful". Luckily Access doesn't have a BOL so listers here can't give that response and feel that they have "helped". Microsoft positions SQL Server Express as the heir to Access containers. SQL Server (of any flavor) is so entirely different from an Access BE that it should be no wonder that people come in and ask some pretty silly and basic questions. I know I did. And I stopped coming to the list because the responses were not helpful, there was no point in being there. I am happy that BOL has been helpful to you over the years but you cannot generalize that to mean it will be helpful to me or any other specific person. I find it useless, to this day. I have to say Francisco that *you* as an individual have been very helpful to me over the years, and I appreciate that. There has been at least one other individual who has taken the time to craft answers specific to my level of incompetence. I was not in any way joking when I said I have received more *help* on SQL Server on this list than on the SQL Server list. If that matters to you, my suggestion would be to actually ask if your responses help the OP, and if not then shape a different response until it does help. And more importantly, make that the modus operandi of the entire list. I did mention (and I repeat) that the list would probably be very helpful if I was a reasonably competent DB admin who just needed advice from his peers. John W. Colby www.ColbyConsulting.com Francisco Tapia wrote: > John, I still have the threads in which you posted messages. Needless to > say I do remember recommendations being posted as well as links or keyword > hints for the BOL (Books On Line) [which comparing to Access Help over the > years I have found to be extremely helpful]. I do remember that you wanted > responses that were crafted exactly to your request, but that is neither > here nor there, as perception of help is 9/10ths of a lists usefulness. > > -Francisco > http://sqlthis.blogspot.com | Tsql and More...