Spoonfeeding

[Cbrine]

The way that I look at it is that everyone who post here has a choice. If you think that you should post a solution, then you do. If you think the user should do a little digging then you point him in the right direction, and let him/her go. If someone else chooses to expand on that, that their choice. I personally point them in the right direction for the minor things, and if something catches my interest, that I haven't done, I will create a full solution for it. Not the for OP, but for my own development.

My two cents.

Cal

 

[Jon Peltier]

That's why the sign above my computer says
"Poor planning of your part does not constitute a crisis on mine!"

Hmm, ever work in a corporate environment? Whatever your boss says is a crisis on your part, is a crisis on your part.

I am curious though, if someone is in a hurry, I would have to assume that one way or another they have mismanaged their timeline. How is that not their fault, generally speaking?

Hmm, ever work in a corporate environment? If you have no control over the inputs to a timeline, then it's not your fault if it goes awry. (Well, unless you boss says it's your fault.)

I'm being a little tongue in cheek, of course. But I never judge a poster's need for speed. I don't know (I can't know) what caused it, but I do know I've been in that position myself.

 

[NateO]

Hi Jon,

I am curious though, if someone is in a hurry, I would have to assume that one way or another they have mismanaged their timeline. How is that not their fault, generally speaking?

Hmm, ever work in a corporate environment? If you have no control over the inputs to a timeline, then it's not your fault if it goes awry. (Well, unless you boss says it's your fault.)

I believe that's me you're quoting... Yes, years of Corporate experience...

Started as a Financial Analyst in Mergers in Acquisitions for a rather large, public company, and have moved along that career path, am currently a Manager of Finance - Strategic Business Planning and Analysis.

Hmmm, it's possible that it's not their fault... And it's also possible that one's boss incorrectly assigns blame, but I'm generally sure it's not the board's or its members fault...

I typically don't care one way or the other if someone is in a serious hurry, but to be honest, I generally do not share their sense of urgency. Having said that, I don't post slowly, deliberately.

 

[Jon Peltier]

I'm never impressed by how much of a hurry someone is in, and "Please Rush" in the subject line does not improve the chances that I'll read the post. I get into the forums during the fringes of the day when I have a chance, so people get what they get.

 

[NateO]

I think that's all we're saying here.

Sure, solutions can come quick and exact, and other times, perhaps not so much.

It's a free, high-volume, technical Q&A group of forums; set your expectations at a reasonable level, and you just might be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Engineer Joe]

I've been learning VBA for excel for about 1 year now. Sometimes i just want someone to toss me some code that is over my head so i can use it. Sometimes I want things explained to me. Most of the time, my post makes it evident which i desire. I think the same is true for most of the questions posted here. I've learned so much from both methods that I would consider that the learning is significantly more dependent on the person asking the question than the methodology of the answer. When someone says,"Just do this", i do it, and eventually i come to understand it. When someone explains it, i understand it immediately. Either way, I learn what the code does because I WANT TO LEARN it, and as long as the answer given is correct, it will prompt me to figure out what all the commands mean. Nearly everytime someone tells me to do something, i search the help file for it. You'd be surprised how often someone is just looking for the syntax to execute something that they already essentially know how to do.

 

[Greg Truby]

Geez, I remember reading this thread several years ago when it was new. I hadn't realized that it had been resurrected (and not for the first time it appears). I think the whole "spoonfeeding" debate is always going to boil down to personalities. Some folks are just more of a pedagogue than others and have a tendency to write more didactic posts. Likewise, some people just want an answer and some people want to learn and some people (for a variety of reasons as has been pointed out) just don't have the time to learn how it works at the time they wrote the post.

But I want to follow up on something that Erik said -- he made a comment about "following it through to the end". Like Jon P. and I'm sure most others, I tend to hop in here when I have a couple of minutes. (Typically when I'm cranking some big Excel process like I am right now). Even if I can see that I can only move the discussion part of the way, to me some progress is better than no progress. [And it bumps the thread back to the top of the heap.] But I may get busy at work and not have the time to invest in deep follow-up for several days. In the interim hopefully another board member will also help the OP get what he needs (or better, I gave the OP enough assistance to make it the rest of the way on his own). But if I'm swamped at work, sorry. And once in a while I'll pull up MrExcel when at home. But most evenings I'm doing some "papa-bear stuff". If it's a choice between offering free help to folks on the internet or reading my daughter "the three little pigs" for the 1,824^th time, well, sorry, but she's gonna win that one, folks. I'm glad to volunteer - indeed I feel I get as much knowledge as I give - but at the end of the day, it is volunteer work.

 

[gwkenny]

Prefer mashed peas or bananas?

Prefer to help those that make an effort to help themselves and have different expectations given the level of the poster and the question asked.

Beginners
Nothing much is out of bounds for me for someone who has only the basic skills, though I do get irked at employers asking their employees to do something way above their heads without giving the employees the tools/education to do the job. See that too often.

Intermediate
I really don't care to help an intermediate user whose question is answered directly in the help files.

I enjoy helping someone who has a problem and made an honest effort at a first shot.

Expert
I appreciate these questions the most, as well as just the plain existence of the forum because of the participation of the numerous knowledgable folks.

The more thought provoking discussions rather than the black and white question and answer.


In summary, I'd say I'm against spoonfeeding in general with a sliding scale with beginners having a lot of leeway.

Frankly, we're here voluntarily. If I'm going to be spoonfeeding I want to be payed and then everyone gets to eat!

 

[MarkAndrews]

I will help anyone no matter how trivial it may be.

I think an important point here has been missed, we were all beginners once and we relied on either being taught, or researching the answers.

Sure there are people who either cant be bothered to view the help file, but what’s the harm of posting a quick reply which will help them in seconds, rather than them either 1) having to repeat their post or 2) not sharing their experiences (which surely a Forum is all about)

Something easy for one person, may be a little more harder for the next to pick up. The fact remains here, this board is used as a help forum & as such surely new users have signed up for this reason.

I do not mean to offend anyone from my comments, just extricating my freedom of speech, a basic human right

Rant over….

 

[YoBubba]

As a newbie, I must reply. 18 months ago I was thrown into a job where I needed to use excel. I added by "=A1+A2+A3+A4......"etc. Sad but true. I read the help files until my eyes burned. But between the help files and this board, I have learned very much. I believe some people may come here for a direct answer but some of us want to understand the answer. Sometimes the answers don't work in my situation but lead me toward the solution. My hat is off to every one of you. Those with the answers, and those that ask the questions that I never thought to ask. Great job!