I am just wondering if I am the only one that sits here all day to help people, and when you try to help them, or ask them more questions so you can help them, they

a) either never respond, so they never get helped

or

b) respond with a negative response that is irritating, or they don't even try to answer your question at all

or

c) they give you a problem like the following

i have a script that does blah, and blah, etc.... blah more blah....etc......

and it says this

parse error on line 6445

here is the code

wow, ever heard of debug

yeah i am venting, but it is so frustrating trying to help people when they don't
even try and help themselves first, my biggest pet peave?? is

troubleshoot your code

throw echos in here, echos in there to see what ifs, whiles, fors, etc....

you are certainly getting into

echo your query strings to see what it is trying to run, etc

i guess what i am trying to say is

TROUBLESHOOT

now don't get me wrong, i love helping people, but as i said it is very frustrating sometimes

    the problem is that they don't know what a parse error is, or what "expected T-Variable" or whatnot is... so telling them to troubleshoot isn't gonna help.

    although what really pisses me if is the bit that says "On line XXX" and they ask "where is my error???" 😉

      i guess i am using parse error as an example, and if they did a search on google for parse error in php, they would get a clue, or simply read the whole parse error, usually says missing semicolon, {}, whatever, but they don't even try to fix anything themselves, they just run somewhere for someone else to fix their problems, wow, venting again

        i guess i am using parse error as an example, and if they did a search on google for parse error in php, they would get a clue, or simply read the whole parse error, usually says missing semicolon, {}, whatever, but they don't even try to fix anything themselves, they just run somewhere for someone else to fix their problems, wow, venting again

          Yeah, but that would assume that they try to search - that they think to themselves "I wonder if anyone has had this problem before?" Wilfully ignorant of the mass of help that has been offered in the past and that fact that it's available to them if they just bloody well looked for it, they all blithely assume that they (a) have a "wierd!" [sic] error that no-one else could possibly have seen before, or just (b) have an innate right to receive your help - the fact that you might have answered the same question five hours earlier has nothing to do with the fact that you're now expected to help them.

          It just makes it worse for everyone. With everyone asking the same questions over and over and over again, attempts to search just return more and more and more instances of the questions being asked over and over and over again. It's enough to make one want to do a Josef Stalin impression over the whole show.

          And don't get me started on the subject of subject lines.

            now i know you are eager to become ANON ... 😃

            so you see flowers... there are all kinds of flowers out there...
            same as people... many types....

            anyway, can you tell me which thread that makes you pissed... ?

              I don't so much mind when someone doesn't respond as much as I do when someone insults another because they didn't supply good enough info.
              And I think the worst thing is when someone has a subject line like "hey!!! help me plzzzzzzzzzz 😛PPPPP".. drives me insane!
              If you:
              1) Use a title that's relevant, you'll get a better response
              2) Search, you will find the answer easier if the title describes the problem

                "hey!!! help me plzzzzzzzzzz 😛PPPPP"

                I usually shake my head at it but end up helping if I can

                oh well

                  Originally posted by Mordecai
                  1) Use a title that's relevant, you'll get a better response

                  Coupla hints:

                  We can already guess that you're wanting help with PHP - that's why you're posting in a PHP Help forum. So aim to come up with a title that doesn't use the words "PHP" or "Help" in it.

                  You may reckon that the problem is URGENT!, but that's an aspect of how you're handling the problem - it doesn't make a difference to the problem itself. Won't it be the same if you had six months to work on it? Other people have things to do as well, and some of them are URGENT!. They'll get around to your problems when their priorities allow. Shouting at them won't make them go any faster.

                  I feel myself building up into a full-blown rant here...

                    Originally posted by laserlight
                    "hey!!! help me plzzzzzzzzzz 😛PPPPP"

                    I usually shake my head at it but end up helping if I can

                    oh well

                    Yeah, I do, too, but that doesn't mean I'll like it! 😛

                    Originally posted by Weedpacket
                    I feel myself building up into a full-blown rant here...

                    Uh oh... new code contest! A script that writes a rant about bad titles! 😛

                      Originally posted by laserlight
                      "hey!!! help me plzzzzzzzzzz 😛PPPPP"

                      I usually shake my head at it but end up helping if I can

                      oh well

                      For the love of god, don't encourage them!!

                        i enjoy the moment when somebody whom i helped thanks me...
                        ... in personally... 😃
                        really nice...

                        so, i will try to help if that problem can be helped...
                        the person who know how to thanks is a cleaver boy/girl and they will get help in the later time... those who just want to solve their problem then disappeared is kinda...

                        http://www.phpbuilder.com/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10237870

                        http://www.phpbuilder.com/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10239264

                        wonder why i always appeared in the thread where laserlight also appeared? ... ? laserlight... u know why?

                          I'm pretty much a newcomer to PHP but have finally got over the initial hurdle of losing the thread of a code after the second IF statement. To get this far, I have to say that I've spent perhaps 40:1 searchtime to asking for help time. I found myself the other night going through the archives 1-4000 out of desperation for a well-formulated answer. I got there eventually but it was hidden deep.

                          I guess some people just can't penetrate others' suggestions at times. That's not to blame people here as I've seen posts from everyone here and they've always been dead simple for me to understand.

                          The biggest crime here though is not being arsed to look. And on this I have a question:
                          If you come across a new posting and you remember something similar but don't remember where it was do you:

                          a) tend to answer there and then
                          b) search for the posting yourself and direct the offender to it
                          or
                          c) tell them to pull their finger out

                          I kind of like helping others with what little I know but I'm sure the easy stuff I suggest has been answered elsewhere making me part of the clogging.
                          Official policy please!

                            Hence the reason why I stopped posting in the General Help and Newbies threads. I'd much rather spend my time talking about PHP and other programming (or bullsh*t topics) with people who know what I'm talking about and let people who are newer to the board and not so frustrated with the masses handle the newbie "plz help me!" questions. I usually only have a few minutes at a time, so for me to spend it trying to figure out what someone's talking about and writing their code for them just isn't good time management on my part.

                            However, I can figure out my porn name in a heartbeat 😉

                            -Elizabeth

                              A sensible answer, Elizabeth. I guess I won't be in a position to help anyone for the next eon or so ...

                              porn = peon = pawn = porn! Heeelloh, baby!

                              After thought:
                              But this means that all newbies would eventually start invading other areas with unnecessary questions. Isn't it a moderator's job to keep everyone abiding by the site rules? How about having to find ten unnecessary comments each for deletion to be passed on to the moderator before they get a chance of posting again? Kind of community service.

                                Have you ever had the impression that someone is posting his/her homework?

                                The postings that I mean go like this:

                                "Hi! I need to set up a mysql database which can hold CLIENTS and PRODUCTS. for administration I want to write one script which takes data from a HTML form and stores the record. a second script should etc. etc. Anyone can help me? It's urgent, I have to have it finished by tuesday."

                                Since I've seen such exercises once (my gf had to do such things for university), I'm quite paranoid about this kind of requests. 🙂

                                Well we're here for helping people but not for doing their homework, are we?

                                  anyway, can you tell me which thread that makes you pissed... ?

                                  well there isn't a thread in particular, it is just the way some ask for help, then demand it's urgency, like weedpacket said, and then sometimes don't even try your suggestions cuz they think they won't work

                                  well then why are you here then if you don't take suggestions, or
                                  even try the ones given to you

                                  not only do i try and help people, but i read over posts even if i don't post on that thread and see this happening to other great
                                  helpers

                                  i'm just afeared that the good help will dwindle down (not me) for
                                  the simple fact that people don't care what others say even when
                                  the are in URGENT help

                                  and jimson whats the anon thing for, ya think i am here just to get a large post number, whats that gonna get me a cookie or something, LOL 🙂

                                    Originally posted by matto
                                    Have you ever had the impression that someone is posting his/her homework?

                                    Yes, as in this thread here. At least he titled the thread "help with college work," so I guess he gets one less LART thrashing.

                                    -Elizabeth

                                      Originally posted by stolzyboy
                                      and jimson whats the anon thing for, ya think i am here just to get a large post number, whats that gonna get me a cookie or something, LOL 🙂

                                      lol... i got to follow you...

                                        you shouldn't follow me, i am a misguided soul, blindly following another misguided soul