Re:Friendliness towards "newbies" (gone OT)

[NotTheCHEAT]

I'm a newbie, so everyone be extra friendly to me ;D

It's hard to tell what to do. On the one hand, you feel sorry for newbies. On the other hand, they are sometimes just plain annoying, especially when they ask stupid questions (and yes, there IS a such thing as a stupid question, if they didn't read the FAQ or look down a few posts where some other newbie asked the same question). However, I always try to be friendly to newbies (in areas where I am not a newbie, unlike this area).

[Cjmovie]

Hmm, NotTheCheat, for some reason you IP shows up as 'local host' (127.0.0.1)

A little of topic, but......
Newbies don't annoy me. (well, not for being a newb)
The thing that kills me is when they (or anyone) come in and asks a question...with incorrect grammer.

If we're going to take the time to answer the question, couldn't you take the time to write a proper question???

Of course, people who learn English as a second etc. language I'm fine with, but the thing is, they usually have fine grammer......

[GLneo]

must have an IP security program(won't send valid ip in request header)

p.s. TheUnbeliever_Lazy what are you trying to say???

[Colonel Kernel]

The thing that kills me is when they (or anyone) come in and asks a question...with incorrect grammer.

Heh... not to mention incorrect spelling!! It's "grammar"

[NotTheCHEAT]

for some reason you IP shows up as 'local host' (127.0.0.1)

I have no idea why; I'm at school. I don't have one running, maybe admin does...

Yes, I hate incorrect grammar and spelling. Although everyone (including you, as ColonelKernel pointed out ) makes these mistakes. If they're purposely talking like this:

i want to mak a os how do u do that how to mak a window how to mak sound with speaker how to mak a start menu im going to mak it tomorow plese tel me how.

then that's annoying. If they are at least making an effort to speak properly (i.e., if English is not their first language) then we should try to be understanding and helpful, ignoring their mistakes (although pointing out/correcting a mistake in a non-inflammatory way might help them learn how to speak properly, faster).

I do get annoyed if someone asks a question that is on the FAQ, or that the guy before him asked, but I do try to be helpful anyways. It all depends on the stupidity of the question, of course.

what is a cpu. plese tel me so i can mak a os.

(And spelling/grammar attrocities make it more annoying, of course)

But overall, try to be nice.

[JoeKayzA]

If they are at least making an effort to speak properly (i.e., if English is not their first language) then we should try to be understanding and helpful, ignoring their mistakes (although pointing out/correcting a mistake in a non-inflammatory way might help them learn how to speak properly, faster).

I agree with you, although I hesitate to correct people's grammar or spelling errors because I don't wan't to appear as "the forum's english teacher".

I also try to be helpful whenever I think my experience or knowledge can be applied. But my time on the forum has shown me that I'm a bad teacher . When you have a look at the 'I need more about creating a task/process' thread by chaisu chase, where he asked whether he understood things right. I said 'You got that right! ' (<= even with the smily), and in the next post, Pype said 'NO'.
That was quite embarassing for me....

I do get annoyed if someone asks a question that is on the FAQ, or that the guy before him asked, but I do try to be helpful anyways. It all depends on the stupidity of the question, of course.

I tend to point people to the FAQ and the bonafide tutorials, hoping that many others will follow them. I wouldn't say that questions are stupid, many are rather 'unneccessary', because they have been answered already. It _is_ possible to learn these things just from the FAQ, tutorials and, of course, google. I made it (don't want to sound arrogant, but it's true), and many others too, but you don't hear much from them since they are not asking questions here .

Btw, how is my English? I'd be thankful for feedback from a native speaker!

cheers Joe

[AGI1122]

must have an IP security program(won't send valid ip in request header)

Actually that has nothing to do with it. YaBBSE has poor IP detection, it isn't checking the correct variable to get his ip. It's been fixed in SMF, but unfortunately this server runs an old version of php which means an upgrade from YaBBSE to SMF is impossible currently.

[TheUnbeliever]

TheUnbeliever_Lazy what are you trying to say???

Very little - just pointing out that IPs aren't everything, and it doesn't categorically prove who someone is.

Btw, how is my English? I'd be thankful for feedback from a native speaker!

Excellent.

[NotTheCHEAT]

@JoeKayzA: Your English is probably better than mine, and I'm a native speaker.

Proving that it is possible for a non-native speaker to speak proper English (though it could take a long time to learn).

No, I wouldn't want to be seen as the forums English teacher either, but if it's something simple, or having to do specifically with programming, that they aren't likely to learn elsewhere, such as misspelling "HTML" as "HTTML" or something like that, I do point it out. Or, I use the word correctly several times (without actually pointing out their mistake) so they know that that is the correct usage.