Matt Gerrans
Posts: 1153
Nickname: matt
Registered: Feb, 2002
|
|
Re: Bill Please take Action on the laziness involved in Code Posting
|
Posted: Oct 19, 2005 9:31 AM
|
|
Hi Kondwani,
Settle down. :) I do understand your dissatisfaction with those posts that are of the "Plz hlp, thx..." genre that just have a simple homework assignment typed in verbatim (if badly) with the author trying to claim that it is something else, like work or "research." In such cases I think it is fine and good fun to offer silly answers. However, I don't think it is necessary to get too caustic and aggressive, or insulting in the answer.
There are cases where people simply don't notice the "Formatting Your Post" box. It is pretty easy to not notice the sidebars of a web page, since that is often where the ads are. It can be an automatic response. You really have to consciouly slow yourself down and explore sometimes. If someone doesn't notice it the first time, it isn't because they are lazy or stupid; it may be they are more focused on the problem they are trying to solve.
In answering questions with unformatted code, I think the best first step is to request someone to repost using the tags and good indentation, without being rude about it. It is pretty easy to save a little text blurb (or even a little collection of them) in a file, so you can just copy/paste it instead of retyping it. Something like this:
It is really hard to read unformated code. Please repost your question with the code indented normally, using the tags in the Formatting Your Post box. You see that box to the right when you are making the post. In particular the java tag will give your code nice syntax highlighting (even for code that isn't really Java, but is reasonably similar, like C++ or C#). You need to make sure the indenting is correct yourself (the tags won't do that). Finally, before clicking the Post Message button, try the Preview button to make sure it looks good. If you do this, your chances of getting good helpful answers are greatly increased.
And then, if they don't pay attention to that suggestion, you can just ignore the thread.
We are asking these (often first-time) question posters to be courteous. Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to show courtesy at the outset. If that doesn't work, then it is time to rip 'em apart. But even that should be done in a tongue-in-cheek fasion, as opposed to simply being vicious.
What do you think?
|
|
Previous Topic
