Grumpy Old Men

[tester001]

Why are there so many grumpy old men on these boards? You know, you have the right to remain silent, just not the will. How many of these guys with a lot of posts are simply stating the obvious, grouching, pointing out other posts from years ago that may or may not answet there question. If you have nothing positive to say, just don't answer. Feel free to respond, you know you will.

[Hornless.Rhino]

Who are you calling old?

As an aside, there are also females on this board 😉

Message Edited by Hornless.Rhino on 02-03-2010 11:02 AM

[tst]

Personally, I'm not old or grumpy (I did have a user account called "Old Grouch" in the past, but that wasn't my fault) and my manhood has been called into question in the past, so I assume you're not talking about me. 😉

I'm not sure which specific issue you're refering to. Personally, I see two classes of posters with a high post count:

1. Those who know what they're talking about. Usually you can count on these posts to be helpful.
2. Those who post a lot even if they don't understand the specific problem, simply because they're trying to help. They tend to have a lower SNR.

I'm not sure what you mean by "stating the obvious", but it should be pointed out that assuming what's obvious tends to prove to be a mistake. I've seen many cases where someone's problem is that they don't understand something that's "obvious".

Similarly, refering people to old posts is perfectly relevant. People should search before they post. Some don't search. Others search but don't find the answers. There's no point in spending your time typing up a new answer if you can easily find an old one.

This is your first post, but if I had to guess, I would have guessed you're refering to cases where veterans snap at people. This is quite rare here (although it's been more common than usual recently) and it tends to happen when the person asking the question has an attitude problem (usually it's someone asking for help with homework and hiding it or calling the people trying to help them stupid). Personally, I disagree with this style of treating people (I either use the "just don't answer" method you refered to or I use a simple explanation), but I can certainly understand why people are annoyed with such posters.

[Mathan]

Another thread hope to get lot of hot arguments this month

[Coq_Rouge]

Good questions will result in good answers. A problem in this forum is often very vague asked questions. And this will result in vague answers. Some of the posters are also very quick to give up. Instead of trying to use the help functions, and/or search in the example database. They find it more convenient to ask for help here.

[Norbert_B]

I was not in the impression that the National Instruments forums have many "grumpy old men" in stock..... at least not in comparison to other forums.

Contrarywise, i feel that the community is one of the best i've ever seen.

I concur with tst in nearly all points.

The only thing i want to add: If the question is posted in a bad way, and maybe it is a question which is coming up more than once a month, the active forums attendee will ask himself: WHY does the poster not search the forum before posting? It's sometimes very frustrating to know that this question has been answered not a month ago, maybe the subject of the post has even a very similar sounding......

And if the question does not follow the netiquette or is (ab)using abrevations and "leetspeach" a loot, i totally understand why people tend to answer in a grumpy way. Nevertheless, i am sure that those poster are not grumpy at all......

Norbert

[Guruthilak]

---

1. Those who know what they're talking about. Usually you can count on these posts to be helpful.
2. Those who post a lot even if they don't understand the specific problem, simply because they're trying to help. They tend to have a lower SNR.(Signal to Noise Ratio?

   ---

I just loved it...

[Ray.R]

Wow.. For someone who has a single post, you certainly started on the negative...

Or are you returning to this forum after changing your login name?  😉

It does not matter.

Over ther years, we have looked at how to improve the way people post their questions.  Recently, I needed support for a product called Aardvark from Total Phase.  I was impressed with the form that they provided in order to pinpoint the problem.  I think that is what is missing in this forum.

Often I read a post to discover that I had not understood what they meant with their question.  So I start by asking for clarification.  It is not to be grumpy or insinuate anything.  I want to know why they want to do what they are doing, because - from experience - what they ask for may not be the best way to solve the root cause of their problem.  So maybe because of that I also fall into the "stupid" category.  But it's better than ass-u-me what they intend to do.

As for calling everyone old.  Define old?  30yrs? 40? 50? 60? >70?  I think you'd be surprised at the average age of the participant in this forum 😉

If we do appear grumpy, there might be reasons for that too.  So stick around.  Become positive.  Don't start posting by insulting the people who try to help you.  And do get to know those grumpy old men or women on this forum.  You might find that they are not so bad and quite willing to help and share their knowledge for FREE.  You can't get that anywhere else.

Is it worth being positive?  You tell me..

[craigc]

Im not even going to bother to give my opinion, does that make me grumpy, lazy or I just have better things to do with my time!

🙂

What really makes me grumpy is the weather hasnt let me go flying for weeks now 😞

Message Edited by craigc on 02--03-2010 01:38 PM

[Coq_Rouge]

I am somewhat curious. Could you give us some links with examples of grumpy old men/women