A simple little rant

[jbcalg]

does anyone else find it a little bit annoying to be reading through posts and someone posts a link to a site, or to MS knowledge base

- but without any explanation at all

ie : here's a likely solution at http://www.too.lazy.to.write.anything.else.com

not asking for the whole enchilada, just a line or two that gives the gist of the article or solution

ie : it may be the wobbly.dll has been overwritten, applies to WinME, more info and a likely solution at http://www.too.lazy.to.write.anything.else.com

thanks, i feel so much better now LOL

 

[SavvyLady]

I didn't do you like that now did I??

LOL........... I hope not!!



Savvy

 

[Bryan]

I doubt it's got anything to do with laziness. If so, the person wouldn't have even taken the time to find the MS article to post in first place. That, in and of itself, is very time consuming in alot of instances. And most of the time, the less said the better, since most MS articles explain it in detail. Many times there's not really a need to say more. And when push comes to shove, if the article fixes the problem, what else really needs to be said anyway. I'm just not sure why someone posting a link to an article with an explanation would bother people. I do it quite often with posts like ......

See if <a href=http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q301/6/91.ASP?LN=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0&qry=active%20desktop&rnk=15&src=DHCS_MSPSS_gn_SRCH&SPR=W98> this</a> helps. Let us know what happens.

But if you feel better now after the rant, that's fine too.

 

[jbcalg]

bryan,

never said 'laziness' - directly LOL - i know some problems take effort, often lots, to find a solution, especially to some of the more unique probs people have
- and the lack of info that's initially provided sometimes doesn't help
(...oh, yeah and this also happened, but then i did this, well i should have mentioned that...LOL)

but a link with no reference to what it covers - like i said, just doesn't help me decide to follow the link or not - a little more info would narrow it down - and i could decide if it applies to what i'm looking for or not.

...and yes, i did feel better afterwards

and i won't even mention the problems that can easily be solved by looking in the software help files instead of posting in the forum - do people even read them anymore? LOL

 

[Bryan]

I still don't see the need to explain something that the article explains in detail. As far as encouraging you to click on a link, I don't understand what you'd want explained to encourage you. It's pretty black and white ....

The problem is stated in the posters topic and a responder provides a link that's a possible solution. What more do you need to be said to encourage you to click on it? It's a link to a possible fix for the problem stated in the Topic? Maybe I'm missing something ......

Anyway, I guess my point is, while I will agree sometimes there is a need to elaborate in addition to posting a link, that's not always the case in many instances.

But that aside, all that's important with a rant is that you feel much better afterwards. I've done that many times, too.

Have a nice weekend.

 

[~Candy~]

I guess since we're ranting, I'll throw in my two centavos.....

Google.com can be used to find solutions BEFORE someone asks a question...... not to mention the 'SEARCH' feature at the top of the forum.

Oh and BTW, your links didn't work

 

[Bryan]

But a good many people that come here aren't very knowledgeable yet with how to navigate on the net. That's part of what we're here to help with. I never mind answering a question that's been asked before though there are times that I will just refer them to the Search feature. But more frequently, I'll just answer it again. It use to bother me about 5,000 posts ago, but the bother seemed to go way after that since I realized it was a practice in futility. People will ask the same question over and over again no matter what you do so I decided to just answer their questions gracefully and just move on knowing I helped some who needed help.

 

[deuce]

If someone is helping you out and they post a link to something saying something like

See if <a href=http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q301/6/91.ASP?LN=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0&qry=active%20desktop&rnk=15&src=DHCS_MSPSS_gn_SRCH&SPR=W98> this</a> helps. Let us know what happens.

then that means that the person found it to be helpful and a possible solution to your problem... they won't just post something saying it will help when all it's just a link to a music sharing site or something. It doesn't take much effort to follow the link and see what it says, especially considering that the person that posted it took a lot of time away from their life to find the link, let alone try to help fix your problem. I sometimes post things that what you are talking about, but considering I spend about two hours a day here helping out I want to make sure I can get to all the posts I have helped in so I don't forget about somebody and leave them hanging, and so I like to speed things up when possible... (like not writing an explanation that someone is one click away from reading.) I still have other things that need to get done that aren't computer related, just as you do as well. It is redundant for other people and a inefficient use of my time.

Well I just read Bryan's post and that is true about the net thing, but all it consists of in this case is clicking a link that sometimes says "click here" and reading what immediately follows on the screen. If you want to talk to someone about given up a huge portion of their day to help others, talk to Bryan. Aren't you a moderator in a couple of other computer help sites as well? I know you don't look at your post count ever but after your 15 or so posts here, you still do it all over somewhere else and that is what I call volunteer work.

Sorry if I'm just ranting but I got it out now. I guess I should saunter on back to the "Rambling Discussion" thread while I wait for replies to my posts.

 

[~Candy~]

Bryan, I agree with you 200% --- that's why I'm here......as you and many others may have figured out, my patience level is VERY high

Just wanted to agree with the posting of links for jbcalg's original post...... and I post many links and feel like you do......most of the times they sufficiently answer the question at hand......instead of saying 'use the search button' --- well, I hope everyone gets my drift......I'm not really ranting

Hehe, and what am I doing spending so much time in the Random Discussion area to begin with?????

 

[Davey7549]

Candy
You like us here.

Bryan and Candy
I agree with you guys! Also I think it is important for the individual
to use the links such as MS KB's or Norton's. They provide many senerios and much more detail specific to the problem. I am positive there are time someone will leave out critical info and the article describes those details.
Just My two pennies!
Dave

 

[Max19]

What kind of explanation should be included with a link? If someone posts a problem, "I'm getting xxx error message," and someone replies with a link that says, "How to resolve xxx error message," what else is there to say?

 

[jbcalg]

well, the posters have spoken !

i probably didn't phrase my comments as well as i could/should have

but that's life

thanks all for your comments

 

[Gram123]

How do you insert a link on a word like here?
I've always just copied and pasted the whole threadID/website.

- and BTW, I don't mind if you reply to this with just a link to another page!

Gram

 

[LadyLisa]

Gram
when you reply and you hit the http:/ / button it gives you a script prompt 'enter the text to be displayed for the link',. after you put the text that you want displayed the you click 'ok' and then you put in the actual link.

 

[Davey7549]

Lisa
love "Then of the Internet link" HaHa Rofl......

Another way is:

Dave