Help us help you...

[the finger genius]

There is no such thing as a stupid question. Maybe. There is such thing as an ill-formed, or unanswerable question. I really enjoy this board, and I enjoy helping out people with questions. (Some might debate how much I'm helping, but that's for another thread.) I do not enjoy sifting through threads where users ask a question that couldn't possibly be answered with the information given.

Examples (not trying to pick on anyone, these are only a few examples):

How can I improve my room?
Which X should I buy?
How much should I charge for job X?

I've seen all of these question asked in the past couple of weeks with no supporting information. In all of these cases, some very basic information was lacking. For example:

what are your room dimensions and materials? What do you feel the problem areas are?
What are you looking for in a compressor / mic / interface that you don't feel like you're getting today?
What does the job entail? How long do you think the job will take you?

Sorry for the rant. I'll try to ignore these posts in the future, it just pisses me off that I have to. I'm a curmudgeon.

[TapeOpHillary]

don't be a curmudgeon... one thing that makes tape op great is the range of knowledge the people within our community have...

and remember we learn more by helping other people. so there may be someone out there that just recently went through building a room, for example, who wants to help someone who's never done it and has never helped anyone before...

see what i'm getting at...?

hillary

[Snarl 12/8]

How to Ask Questions the Smart Way


I've been tempted to post that link as a response to a few of the questions I've seen on this board. Maybe even as the second post in my own threads a couple of times. I certainly don't obey all those rules, but they make a lot of sense. It's written for coders/programmers/computer people, but I think 99% of it applies here if you read through the lines.

[the finger genius]

don't be a curmudgeon... one thing that makes tape op great is the range of knowledge the people within our community have...

and remember we learn more by helping other people. so there may be someone out there that just recently went through building a room, for example, who wants to help someone who's never done it and has never helped anyone before...

see what i'm getting at...?

hillary

I appreciate all who are out there with more patience than I. I just ask that people think about their questions before posting, and try to include some relevant information which will help in providing a helpful answer.

[TapeOpHillary]

How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

there is no way i would read that. no offense...
it's way too ugly and long and boring and text'y.

[Snarl 12/8]

How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

there is no way i would read that. no offense...
it's way too ugly and long and boring and text'y.

I agree that it's old-school, in a bad way. Too bad the medium is the message.