OSDev.org

Recently, of the threads below have engendered a certain amount of hostility (or at least brusqueness) towards some of the newbie members. It seems that certain questions are getting asked repeatedly even after they have been answered, and the way in which they are being asked is itself in some cases sloppy, petulant, or even belligerent. Several members (or worse, regular posters who have not joined officially, and thus cannot be contacted by private message) have shown difficulty with some basic programming skills (and communication skills as well), while others seem to have trouble formulating their questions cogently, or understanding the answers offered. Some have shown a distinct tendency to rely too much on the opinions and answers of others, often taking personal preferences as literally truth; other still have tried to force other members to give them fixed, simple answers for problems that have no one single solution, or which depend on too many unknowns, or which are essentially matters of taste or design philosophy. While this board has been better than most in regard to tolerance and patience, it is still clear that some of the older members are getting frustrated with these problems.

While in many cases, this can be partially attributed to the English Everywhere Effect (the problems that arise when people of wildly varying cultural backgrounds are required to communicate in an extremely clusmy but ubiquitous language which they may be only partially fluent in), that cannot be the whole explanation. Too many poorly considered or poorly written messages are being posted.

In the interest of keeping the peace and the general welfare of the forum, I am hereby recommending that all members - all - read How To Ask Questions The Smart Way by Eric S. Raymond. It is a basic explanation of question-asking etiquette for technical fora, and can serve to help both querents and respondents in writing better messages.

HTH.

Well I'll be the first to admit that I have been guitly of this.

However I also wanted to try and keep this thread on the front page a bit longer so that all who come here, including those that are not registered officially, will get a chance to see it before it is pushed off and hardly ever read.

I think this is good advice, and most of us need to read this stuff.

Good stuff Schol-R-LEA!

I think a search feature to search old post for information would also be very usefull and reduce much of that.

Mr_Spam wrote: I think a search feature to search old post for information would also be very usefull and reduce much of that.

that search feature exists ! and i use it often to find back old answers i gave ...

I agree with pype clicker. The forum search is a great tool. However, these "newbies" (just to call them some way), those who just like to post "please gimme code that does this" are not really interesting in learning or even understand what they are copy&past'ing into their code and then come back and ask "why it's not working, gimme some more code" again and again.

My point: These people hardly like to read any faq's or texts or search through the forum or even read this thread The are just not interested in that kind of "work" or "research".

So this is going to happen over and over until the end of the times. Discussing this is pointless, what I suggest is to educate all of the Internet users.

This is pointless and impossible too

Boot to the thread! Perhaps one of the moderators should make it sticky...

Do you think I have done this?...

Hope fully not...

I've only asked different questions I think....

However, these "newbies" (just to call them some way), those who just like to post "please gimme code that does this" are not really interesting in learning or even understand what they are copy&past'ing into their code and then come back and ask "why it's not working, gimme some more code" again and again.

well i dont know how u think but i think this is the best way to have some code infront of you and then read some documents about the topic and i havent seen anyone saying gimme code gimme code .. >:(

well most of the times it happens like this that we ask questions and most of u guys just dont have time to read the question and answer it and u just say
here is my code .. check it out and see what mistake u r doing ..

well what do u think about that

i would like to tell u that most of the time Tom answers my questions and usually he refers me to his code .. i m not saying that he is not right .. thats a really good way .. whatever i have learnt till now its mostly because of his code and other guys on this board..

so Schol R lea why dont u post something like

"How to answer questions "

The are just not interested in that kind of "work" or "research".

and dronkit u dont have any right to say like anything like this to any one on this board

adeelmahmood1 wrote: so Schol R lea why dont u post something like

"How to answer questions "

Actually, the essay in question does discuss the matter of how to answer questions politely (or at least not rudely).

At the risk of being rude myself, I would request that both of you review the essay again, and clean the bile off of your cursors before posting again.

Given what one of the moderators (Tom) just posted in another thread, it looks like it's time to dust this old chestnut off again. Boot

What do you mean?

I'm not a moderator...

I beg your pardon, that was a typo on my part. I was referring to Tim's comment in reply #15 of this thread. Sorry for any confusion this may have caused.

I am guilty too. :-[

I think there can be a certain amount of laziness when it comes to asking questions and doing research, after all we are all guilty of it at some point.

I think the main problem is lack of appreciation for answers, its not necessary to post a "Thankyou" message when somebody answers your question, in fact this would just cause unnecessary posting and promotion of dead threads.

What I mean is when somebody contributes there time and energy, if you are not happy with the answer ask another related question to be sure you understand, I am sure most people won't mind having thier brains racked for information, thats why we are all here after all. But when somebody just shows a complete lack of interest in actually using the information learnt to go and research further and instead wants the code given to them on a plate, that is annoying.

So in summary. What is the point of writing an OS if you don't intend to learn anything??

Daryl.

gosh, in advance sorry for beeing brusque and inpolite.

think for a solution.
If you do not find a solution by yourself:
first, research.
second, analyze the results.
third, understand the results.
fourth, use the results.

this is called something like engineering, isn't it?

and only if you can not find a solution by research nor by thinking and trying yourself, ask a polite, detailed question.

and don't forget: google is your best friend. bookstore is a good friend of yours.

bye folks

thomas

ps: before i have started thinking about os development, i have learned how to program. Then I had to do some research about assembly (which i still do not handle very good, but it is enough to understand, what goes on), and after that, I started reading: tanenbaum os development and implementation II(a must), burgess mmurtl(easier to read), indispensabe hardware book, internet pages ... as well as this phorum, where I have found many nifty trickses.

pps: English is not clumsy. Languages in general are not clumsy.