[smohd]

Ok! may be I need to explain, for example your favorite forum is Java, now how do you feel if there is a post in there for some hours or days with no help reply? The post which im talking here are one which has not been posted by you? Do you feel any thing? What effort have you used to help that person who posted that?

for me, I feel sad when I see someone ask a question here and get no response. I would like that I know the answer of that question so that I can help. What about you?

[Raynes]

DISCLAIMER: This thread is pointless and has no meaning.

I feel fine. The only time I don't answer questions are when I don't have time or the questions are out of my pay grade.

[smohd]

OK if it is pointless, I ask moderators to please remove it.

[baavgai]

There are so many reasons for orphan requests.

One is simply that no one knows the answer. This can happen if it's a specific question about something rarefied, like using a particular library or system that no one else has ever heard of.

The question might be so broad in it's scope that it can't easily be answered. At this point, any respondent considers whether to enter a long response or hope the poster moves on to google.

Some questions are absurd: "I've never programmed before, but want to make a game like ( insert hugely successful, complex, epic offering here ). What do I need to know?"

Some offer code that betrays a such a profound lack of effort on the poster's part that it's better to avoid it entirely.

Simply, people want to help if possible. Sometimes, it simply doesn't seem possible given the nature of the request.

I click on all 0 responses in the forums I haunt. Usually, it's clear why they're still 0. If not, I'll answer them.

[modi123_1]

I would agree with Baavgai in most part. I skim all the zero posts and a majority of the one and two repliers.. If a question goes unanswered - well so it goes. If I didn't answer it - so it goes. No one should get all bum-hurt over it nor shed tears. To assume the poster is entitled to my volunteered time, or anyone elses for that matter, is silly.

End game I am not one to feel pseudo empathy for an orphaned post on the series of tubes.

[Ntwiles]

baavgai, on 09 April 2011 - 05:20 PM, said:

Some questions are absurd: "I've never programmed before, but want to make a game like ( insert hugely successful, complex, epic offering here ). What do I need to know?"

Since we're on the subject, I've always had a little bit of a problem with how these kind of questions are handled on DIC. Of course these kinds of questions are annoying, but I don't think they deserve the hostility they get. The person is just uneducated about programming and maybe little naive. But they're showing an interest, and for that I think they should at least get a link to a hello world tutorial and a wish of good luck. Some replies to 'gimme teh codez' or 'what language do i need' threads that I've seen are just very discouraging and not very helpful. A lack of reply isn't much better.

[modi123_1]

Sure the first one or two are okay. You invest time and patience... but after the hundredth or thousandth one it grinds your gears. I was so sick and tired of it in my day to day life (mothers of "tots brilliant little chips of the ol' block") I ended up making a three-thousand foot outline. Once they realized the work most wandered off. There's a fuzzy line of "neato idea" and "oh noez! I need to put time and effort into this?!".

The hostility is just pent up annoyance. If it isn't let loose in small doses bad things happen. Like tornadoes and junk.

Then again - I speak for myself on this one!

[macosxnerd101]

Quote

The person is just uneducated about programming and maybe little naive. But they're showing an interest

Usually, it's the exact opposite. These help vampires and Gimme Teh Codez people are in classes they either don't want to be in but are required to, find themselves way in over their heads and need us to do their homework to save their grades, or are just plain lazy.

For those who are willing to (or at least aren't blatant Gimme Teh Codez), I'll be happy to spend a good deal of time to help them in the right direction, which includes time I spend researching and debugging their code on my own in order to answer the questions. If someone isn't willing to invest any time themselves though, I'm not willing to invest a lot of my own.

[baavgai]

Ntwiles, on 09 April 2011 - 09:24 PM, said:

I've always had a little bit of a problem with how these kind of questions are handled on DIC.

You make it sound like the great DIC consortium has some policy on method of response.

Individuals respond as is their want, just as Raynes responded to this one. The same basic question can get drastically different responses depending on how it's phrased, when it's posted, general site traffic, and probably solar flares.

I have actually enumerated the technical challenges that various commercial products must overcome. Numerous times. In response to the "I'm a newb and wanna make X" type things. Most of us have responded to these at some point. Sometimes we point people to the prior conversations. Usually the torch is just taken up by those motivated to answer. After you answer enough of them, it's hard not to get a little snarky. Best to remain silent, at that point.

[NeoTifa]

Raynes, on 09 April 2011 - 07:47 PM, said:

I feel sorry for the OP and if it says 0 replies, I at least open it to look. The only time I don't answer questions are when I don't have time or the questions are out of my pay grade.

Fixed.

[Creecher]

This post has been edited by NeverPool: 09 April 2011 - 08:51 PM

[hookiethe1]

I always check them out, if I have nothing to offer then saying so in reply doesn't help anyone, I just hope that somebody else will come along who does know.

[Apokio]

I spend a lot of time lurking around these forums and I have noticed that the zero or few replies are either lacking in detail or someone posts asking for more detail to help and the OP never replies. Also, the Java forum seems to one the busiest forums so posts can get pushed down in a matter of hours because of all the new threads. I look and try to help but if I don't know or answer or the answer that I know how already been suggested then I really can't do anything. I don't really feel bad because if the OP found this forum they have the whole web to search for answers and help.

[BenignDesign]

I do not feel bad when a thread gets no response. We're not talking about starving children here....

The internet is a big place... there is a wealth of knowledge (and a wealth of useless junk) available with just the click of a mouse. I have posted threads that have gotten zero response. I don't get bitter and hate the site because no one answered my question. I move on to Google and try to find it myself. Many times, I post a question here, wait an hour or two with no response, hit Google for the millionth time... and find the answer I was looking for before any one here had time to respond.

That, I think, is the biggest reason for unanswered threads - these wonderful people are volunteers. They help out of the kindness of their own hearts, in their free time. When you're free time is 3 minutes before your next meeting, and the thread in question is going to take at good 45 minutes of response time... you have to pass on it. Often, it is passed on with the thought "I'll come back to that one later"... but life gets in the way and it gets forgotten. It happens. The world keeps spinning and life trudges forward... whether Billy Bob's question received a response or not.