[FrozenSnake]

Yes you read right! BUT...I am NOT going to do YOUR homework!
Instead I am going to write something that should be read by all new programmers and users of this or any type community/forum. This thread is to for new users to learn how to use a forum properly.
The name of the topic is to make new user to by instinct click on the topic and hopefully read it. This might even help older users and more experienced programmers how to answer a topic without flaming the newbie!

How can I get someone to make my homework?
What you are doing is cheating! This result in that you will not understand what you are doing and will not be able to modify the code for later use in different contexts. Plain and simple you will fail the course! How can you get a good result on the exam if you never did your homework? Your homework are there to make you see what you can and what you need to practice on!
Do not post a topic without including the source, this is to show the rest of the community/forum that you are doing your homework yourself, and are trying to figure it out yourself (Also known as LEARNING). Do not post privately to users where you shout for help just because the replied in a thread, they will not help you if they didn’t do it in the thread.

As Jack Klien said “If I do your home work, maybe you complete the course without learning to write a program like this. And later maybe you make the exam without learning to write a program like this. You might end up as a professional programmer without knowing how to write a program like this. One beautiful day maybe we work together on a project and you don’t know how to write a program like this. Then I must do you bodily harm.”

How should I reply when someone ask for help with doing their homework?
Don’t do their homework, instead give them tip on what to read to solve the problem at hand. If the user do not post any source code and only write something like Help me!!!! do not flame the person, instead ask for the source code the person has made so far, point out where there is flaws/errors and stuff like that but do not correct EVERYTHING.
If it’s something small you can help him with the entire problem like cut << hello world;. If everything is wrong give him some topics/links/books he should read to solve the problem.

How do I do if someone post a thread with a question that is already answered in another thread?
Do not start with “Use the search function!”. It can happen that you do not search yourself sometime and then it will come back and take a bite in your ass! Instead say something like “Have you tried the search function, if so what did you search on? I found this link”. This shows the user that it’s a friendly community and not one where there is a lot of non-helpful users. You can also recommend some words or terms the users should try when s/he search in the forum or on a search-engine (google for example). Do not link the answer to the question, which is like doing the homework for them. Teach them to use a search-engine/function is better! Give a man a fish and he is feed for a day, teach a man to fish and he is feed for the entire life.

What is a good topic?
A good topic describe the problem in a short way. Examples on bad topics are ”Help!”, “How do I do this?”, “Why doesn’t this work?”
As I said a good topic describe the problem really short so the reader knows what the problem is about. This makes it easier for the reader to help you and other users that can’t help you can faster find someone they can help. Don’t waste others time! It will only haunt you later when you need help! Do not forget to tell what compiler you use and what version you use. If you use a old compiler it might not follow the standard or might even been out of date for years!

How should I post a thread with source code that doesn’t give me the result I wanted?
The source can compile but the result is not the intended one sometimes, then the error is somewhere in the source, so you should post the entire source, the error can be in a line you didn’t show. Do not forget to show what header files are included. But don’t forget to do a little searching before posting a thread.

Do not ignore replies and do not bump your thread
If someone gave you a reply you didn’t like don’t ignore it, it’s rude and you asked for help and should be happy someone took the time to help you! Help includes directing you to the right path, this will in the end make you understand what you do and you can modify it later as well in other projects. Don’t your bump threads, if someone can help they will help. Bumping just make it harder for someone else, this will also come back and haunt you if you do it! When you need help your thread might fall down in the list due to bumpers! It might even end with that users that could help you ignore you because you didn’t appreciate the help you get.

Learn to use the internet!
This is the best way to find the answer to your questions. You should learn how to use the tools for searching you have access to. For example google!
Do you want to learn how to use Polymorphism in C++? What do you search on?

No no no! You do not google on ‘Cute indies in bikinis’ that will not teach you anything about Polymorphism in C++. Instead google on ‘Polymorphism +C++’. See it wasn’t so hard! This even applies to easy stuff like while. Do not make it harder than it needs to be!

Most important is
Read the rules before posting, this way you don’t end up annyoing the entire forum!

This thread might be updated if needed, if someone thinks I missed something make a post!

[EdwinNameless]

FrozenSnake, on 19 Nov, 2009 - 03:43 AM, said:

Read the rules before posting, this way you don’t end up annyoing the entire forum!

Yep. What about the one about "Signatures should not be excessive in length"?

[IngeniousHax]

So,you'll do m HW right? 'Cause I have this massive project coming up and, like, i need it to be done...

[ccubed]

EdwinNameless, on 19 Nov, 2009 - 06:25 AM, said:

FrozenSnake, on 19 Nov, 2009 - 03:43 AM, said:

Read the rules before posting, this way you don’t end up annyoing the entire forum!

Yep. What about the one about "Signatures should not be excessive in length"?

Pfft. You're on a forum, people don't read.

Even if they did, excessive is <insert own number here> userbars.

This post has been edited by ccubed: 19 November 2009 - 08:55 AM

[EdwinNameless]

ccubed, on 19 Nov, 2009 - 07:54 AM, said:

Pfft. You're on a forum, people don't read.

Even if they did, excessive is <insert own number here> userbars.

Nah. "Read the rules": they say "about 4 lines of 65 characters".

[ccubed]

EdwinNameless, on 19 Nov, 2009 - 08:29 AM, said:

ccubed, on 19 Nov, 2009 - 07:54 AM, said:

Pfft. You're on a forum, people don't read.

Even if they did, excessive is <insert own number here> userbars.

Nah. "Read the rules": they say "about 4 lines of 65 characters".

Obvious sarcastic CCubed is obvious.

[Bench]

I think
http://catb.org/~esr...-questions.html
Is another (more general) page along much the same lines, and I'd hope that every poster to every forum would have read it in full before contributing.

This post has been edited by Bench: 21 November 2009 - 09:09 AM

[Pwn]

IngeniousHax, on 19 Nov, 2009 - 09:27 AM, said:

So,you'll do m HW right? 'Cause I have this massive project coming up and, like, i need it to be done...

I believe the idea behind his title is this:
I CAN do your homework, but then he went on to say he WON'T do your homework.

[carltech]

I'm pretty sure IngeniousHax was kidding.

I knew they wouldn't sticky a thread about someone wanting to do your hw for u.

It is pretty annoying when people start a thread just thinking that someone will do their hw for them. I have no problem helping with their homework but it really doesn't help them to do it all for them.

[FrozenSnake]

Pwn, on 21 Nov, 2009 - 07:29 PM, said:

I believe the idea behind his title is this:
I CAN do your homework, but then he went on to say he WON'T do your homework.

The idea was "what will/can make 'do my homework' people to read this".
Hopefully a few of them read it and understand the value of understanding what they do.

Even if only 1 of 10 read all it is a victory for the person reading it. The users that think they can complete the course if they skip understanding parts of it, will most likely fail or get bad grades.

It has a few views so hopefully people are reading this not only jump away when they read the first line

[pluto1]

FrozenSnake, on 23 Nov, 2009 - 01:56 AM, said:

Pwn, on 21 Nov, 2009 - 07:29 PM, said:

I believe the idea behind his title is this:
I CAN do your homework, but then he went on to say he WON'T do your homework.

The idea was "what will/can make 'do my homework' people to read this".
Hopefully a few of them read it and understand the value of understanding what they do.

Even if only 1 of 10 read all it is a victory for the person reading it. The users that think they can complete the course if they skip understanding parts of it, will most likely fail or get bad grades.

It has a few views so hopefully people are reading this not only jump away when they read the first line

haha - i can say that while the code on here given to people looking for the answers to their homework has helped (rather, guided) me a lot, copy/pasting won't actually help them out at all. Our profs search for our code online, and kick out anyone whose assignment hold evidence of plagiarism. My C++ intro course started with 31 active students, now I think we're down to about 10.

I do completely agree with helping, not handing out answers... i like it a lot. I also understand how frustrating it must be to actually be trying to accomplish something on here, and get spammed by requests for people wanting answers.

[Emzee]

This was a very good read. More people (old and new users alike) need to check this out if they haven't already.

FrozenSnake, on 19 Nov, 2009 - 03:43 AM, said:

How do I do if someone post a thread with a question that is already answered in another thread?
Do not start with “Use the search function!”. It can happen that you do not search yourself sometime and then it will come back and take a bite in your ass! Instead say something like “Have you tried the search function, if so what did you search on? I found this link”. This shows the user that it’s a friendly community and not one where there is a lot of non-helpful users. You can also recommend some words or terms the users should try when s/he search in the forum or on a search-engine (google for example). Do not link the answer to the question, which is like doing the homework for them. Teach them to use a search-engine/function is better! Give a man a fish and he is feed for a day, teach a man to fish and he is feed for the entire life.

I would not object to this being the 8th "rule" (one-sentence version of course) on the reply page.

This post has been edited by Emzee: 19 December 2009 - 12:31 AM

[janotte]

Emzee, on 18 Dec, 2009 - 11:30 PM, said:

I would not object to this being the 8th "rule" (one-sentence version of course) on the reply page.

Please give an example of what you think the rule 8 sentence might be.

I'm really unclear what of the various ideas dicussed you are referring to.

[Emzee]

janotte, on 18 Dec, 2009 - 11:36 PM, said:

Emzee, on 18 Dec, 2009 - 11:30 PM, said:

I would not object to this being the 8th "rule" (one-sentence version of course) on the reply page.

Please give an example of what you think the rule 8 sentence might be.

I'm really unclear what of the various ideas dicussed you are referring to.

Something like "Be patient and provide help while maintaining a friendly community" or "Make your replies helpful, not derogatory" would work. Newbs are less likely to take advice from the guy who just backhanded them and more likely to listen to the guy who may say the exact same thing, but without the cutting remark. Granted, it's not one's problem whether newbs take their help or not, but the point of this place is to help people who are stuck, and I think people actually getting helped should be top priority.

This post has been edited by Emzee: 19 December 2009 - 01:01 AM

[janotte]

@Emzee

Nice idea.
And not at all what I thought you meant.

My only caveat would be that sometimes when one says or does something stupid the right thing to do is have it pointed out.

The lentil eating hippy dippy crowd who have been running education for a couple of decades have produced a crop of people who have never been told they failed or that they simply hadn't worked hard enough to get a reward. I encounter them at work and they are shocked beyond belief when their work is handed back to them as not good enough or, in the worst cases, they find out that the repeated warnings about their future employment were not empty and they get sacked. They have never actually been held accountable nor seen consequences play out their natural course and it is sad and sick to watch them. They genuinely assume they are exempt from criticism and consequences.

We don't want to pander to that rubbish.

I'm not saying that giving someone a serve is the right thing to do but I have to believe that sometimes people confronted by the lack of wisdom and thought in their actions have a sudden awakening and make a vow to themselves to try harder to not be a utter dropkick quite so often in their future life. It's an ongoing challenge. We all humiliate ourselves far more often than we'd like to but at least trying not to do so and not bursting into babyish tears when someone points out we have made a fool of ourselves is part of being a fully functional human being.

It's all about balance.

This post has been edited by janotte: 19 December 2009 - 07:05 AM