How to get a good answer to your question

[Rob Wolfe]

One of the things that I have noticed on here is that there seems to
be a bit of an issue with folks clearly laying out what the actual
problem that they are having and what they would expect a solution to
allow them to do. So in the interests of keeping this place civilized
and as helpful to as many folks as possible here are a few things that
folks can bear in mind when they ask a question

1) Be succinct in your problem statement. Do not include a 200 line
select statement if you can demonstrate the issue in 5-10 lines.

2) Be complete in your problem statement. I know this sounds like it
runs counter to #1 but it doesnt. If you don't tell the entire problem
that you are trying to solve, the chances are very good that you will
get either a partial answer that will not apply to the whole situation
or a needlessly specific or needlessly generic answer.

3) If how your data is structured is imporant to the question at
hand .. include an example. You dont need to dump a 1000 row table but
it might be nice to see how a couple of typical scenarios play out.

4)Write in "normal english". Do not use txt-speak. Abbreviations are
fine but there are folks on here that are eager to help but hate to
wade through stuff that looks like it was typed on a phone We all have
full keyboards and it really doesnt take that long to write out a full
word. Honest!

5) We will not do your homework.

6) We will always assume that anyone posting on here is a professional
programmer/DBA (or at least studying towards becoming one) unless you
tell us otherwise. This means that you are going to be expected to
have some basic skills so if you ask a question that shows that you
dont have them for God's sake say something like "I am a brand new
programmer just starting out with Oracle". If you do not you will get
roasted.

7)Remember that most of us that answer regularly have many years
experience (I have 20 .. my first Oracle install was version 5ish on
an IBM mainframe) and it is unhelpful when you tell us that we just
dont understand how Oracle works and I can pretty much guarantee you
will not get much help after that.

8) If you like the answer that someone gives you and it helps you ..
come back and say thanks. We all LOVE it to know that we are
appreciated and they we really did help someone.

I am sure that one of the other regular "answerers" has a thought or
two to add.

[Harry Standley]

Rob,

 

Thanks for your post. I am one of those new Oracle users and I get a lot from just reading the questions posted and the replies. I too get turned off by the way some of the questions are asked but I get turned off even more when it becomes a debate over several replies over who knows what.

 

Again, thanks for taking the time to remind everyone how to get the answer we are looking for.

"When one teaches, two learn."
Robert Half

[fitzj...@cox.net]

I have nothing to add except a sincere 'Thank You'.


David Fitzjarrell

[Rob Wolfe]

You make a good point Harry...

One other thing to remember is that there is often more than one way
to get the result that you are looking for -- plus whatever XML stuff
Mike comes up with ;-)

So if you get an answer from someone that is "good enough" then use
it, say thanks and carry on.

Similarly, for those of us that like to engage in 'well i can do that
better or more elegantly' .. we will try our best to resist the
temptation but sometimes .. the urge is just too overwhelming .. it is
a sickness .. what can I say ....

Rob

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[Michael Moore]

I, for one, appreciate when somebody posts a solution that is more elegant than mine. ( Well, some day it's bound to happen ) ;

Unfortunately, the people who most need to read this thread are the least likely to read it.

The only thing I would add is that if  you can post your question in the form of a haiku, it would be very helpful.


questions posted
answers blossom
clear questions clear answers

[sonty]

Have you observed or not some people ask their questions in the
existing threads and those questions are not related to those thread's
topics.

so, my addition to this thread is that if you got a different
question, you should start a different thread.

-Sonty

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