Are the posted questions getting worse?

  • ChrisM@Work (5/22/2013)


    Is it just me or is there really a hike in hideously BS answers this week? Not on this thread of course, the "worker threads"

    Yes. Very much so.

    Gail Shaw
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
    SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

    We walk in the dark places no others will enter
    We stand on the bridge and no one may pass
  • GilaMonster (5/22/2013)


    ChrisM@Work (5/22/2013)


    Is it just me or is there really a hike in hideously BS answers this week? Not on this thread of course, the "worker threads"

    Yes. Very much so.

    I know a "house policy" of dealing with misleading posts has been mooted - was it ever set? There's a case today (which I know you've seen, Gail) where the OP has - in my opinion - been lead on a wild goose chase; creating an indexed view in response to a perceived query performance issue with virtually no information to go on. No plan, no ddl, just a query.

    If I sought help from a forum, accepted a suggestion in good faith and wasted a few hours pursuing it, I'd be really cross. If OTOH someone posted "Don't do this yet, there's insufficient evidence to support it and it will cost you three hours to find out", I'd be pretty darned grateful.

    I've just looked up the word "tact" in the dictionary. It's complicated isn't it?

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  • Steve Jones - SSC Editor (5/21/2013)


    Grant has a Surface RT. However Sean said "For the Touch I do not have the newer version of the OS. I have the older and much less expensive version."

    I am curious if I'm forgetting some older MS product.

    No it is my brain that is the issue. 😉 I was referring to the Surface.

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  • Grant Fritchey (5/22/2013)


    Hey Steve, which apps. I'm just curious. I moved to a WP last fall and with one exception, I've found it better than my Droid. The exception is the Swype data entry. God that was nice on a phone.

    I use KeePass which does not have a WP version yet. Also FrontFlip is in use at a lot of lunch spots which has given me a number of free lunches.

    I agree with you Grant that I like my WP far better than my Droid.

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  • ChrisM@Work (5/22/2013)


    Is it just me or is there really a hike in hideously BS answers this week? Not on this thread of course, the "worker threads" (ahem).

    Brandie, I read your account of edutaining the kids and it was...inspired is the best word I can think of. Inspired. You and Stefan could teach Montessori a thing or two.

    I went to Montessori lo those many years ago. Still have fond memories of it 40 many years later. As with most school, so much depends on the teacher.

    --------------------------------------
    When you encounter a problem, if the solution isn't readily evident go back to the start and check your assumptions.
    --------------------------------------
    It’s unpleasantly like being drunk.
    What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?
    You ask a glass of water. -- Douglas Adams

  • patrickmcginnis59 10839 (5/22/2013)


    Brandie Tarvin (5/22/2013)


    patrickmcginnis59 10839 (5/21/2013)


    L' Eomot Inversé (5/21/2013)


    In response to Patrick, it would have better phrased something like "There is a lot of discussion of this on the web. Have you not seen anything that indicates what the problems are?" which seems very much less like a snide remark.

    ,,, after typing in this very thread ...

    Now can someone tell me what all the fuss is about? Please? I just don't understand what the difficulties are, in fact I suspect they were unreal problems dreamt up by bone-headed old dinosaurs who have forgotten how to adapt to new things.

    Seriously?

    The difference being that his dinosaurs comment came across as a generic reference and was not directed specificially at anyone in this thread. Whereas your comment was specifically directed at him and made about him.

    What you're saying is that I was perfectly welcome to avoid mentioning my disapproval of the product so as to avoid his wide sweeping and exaggerated characterization of anybody who deems to have a complaint, right?

    I didn't read Tom's post that way you did, but I did read your post the same way Brandie did.

    There is nothing wrong with you expressing your disapproval of the product, but put it that way and don't personally attack someone else while doing it.

  • Lynn Pettis (5/22/2013)


    patrickmcginnis59 10839 (5/22/2013)


    Brandie Tarvin (5/22/2013)


    patrickmcginnis59 10839 (5/21/2013)


    L' Eomot Inversé (5/21/2013)


    In response to Patrick, it would have better phrased something like "There is a lot of discussion of this on the web. Have you not seen anything that indicates what the problems are?" which seems very much less like a snide remark.

    ,,, after typing in this very thread ...

    Now can someone tell me what all the fuss is about? Please? I just don't understand what the difficulties are, in fact I suspect they were unreal problems dreamt up by bone-headed old dinosaurs who have forgotten how to adapt to new things.

    Seriously?

    The difference being that his dinosaurs comment came across as a generic reference and was not directed specificially at anyone in this thread. Whereas your comment was specifically directed at him and made about him.

    What you're saying is that I was perfectly welcome to avoid mentioning my disapproval of the product so as to avoid his wide sweeping and exaggerated characterization of anybody who deems to have a complaint, right?

    I didn't read Tom's post that way you did, but I did read your post the same way Brandie did.

    There is nothing wrong with you expressing your disapproval of the product, but put it that way and don't personally attack someone else while doing it.

    And maybe give some examples to support what you think is wrong with it.

    For example, the much maligned Surface RT.

    There has been a lot of buzz that you can't hook it to AD.

    Not true.

    But read most of what is on the internet.

  • patrickmcginnis59 10839 (5/22/2013)


    Brandie Tarvin (5/22/2013)


    patrickmcginnis59 10839 (5/21/2013)


    L' Eomot Inversé (5/21/2013)


    In response to Patrick, it would have better phrased something like "There is a lot of discussion of this on the web. Have you not seen anything that indicates what the problems are?" which seems very much less like a snide remark.

    ,,, after typing in this very thread ...

    Now can someone tell me what all the fuss is about? Please? I just don't understand what the difficulties are, in fact I suspect they were unreal problems dreamt up by bone-headed old dinosaurs who have forgotten how to adapt to new things.

    Seriously?

    The difference being that his dinosaurs comment came across as a generic reference and was not directed specificially at anyone in this thread. Whereas your comment was specifically directed at him and made about him.

    What you're saying is that I was perfectly welcome to avoid mentioning my disapproval of the product so as to avoid his wide sweeping and exaggerated characterization of anybody who deems to have a complaint, right?

    I believe that what she's saying is that had you given specifics of the problems you had and avoided your own wide-sweeping and exaggerated characterizations in your response, things would have gone more smoothly. It is much harder for someone saying they don't see any problems to give specifics as there's no real specifics to detail. When you start out with "Its not like people haven't been discussing this to death." That's pretty wide sweeping and general in itself.

    What I've seen you saying, and I may have missed things, is that Win 8's touch isn't well suited for a desktop, little in the way of why. Since he was looking for specifics, combined with the earlier dismissive statement of "not much of a web user, are you", the lack of specifics also comes off as dismissive. I'm just trying to explain perceptions of the conversation here in the hopes that blowups can be avoided in the future.

    --------------------------------------
    When you encounter a problem, if the solution isn't readily evident go back to the start and check your assumptions.
    --------------------------------------
    It’s unpleasantly like being drunk.
    What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?
    You ask a glass of water. -- Douglas Adams

  • While I understand Microsoft's need to enter the pad market with the Surface, I still think it was weird to repurpose the name of an existing product for it. That said, I'd also still love to have the original product of theirs called the Surface. It might even make meetings more enjoyable! Oh, and the tabletop gaming that could be done!

    I'm also really excited to see (only in a Japanese language video so far) that flexible electronic ink devices that can handle pen inputs are being shown in tradeshows now. I hear they're working on color ink versions. This is so much closer to paper than a pad, I think it really could replace notepads.

    --------------------------------------
    When you encounter a problem, if the solution isn't readily evident go back to the start and check your assumptions.
    --------------------------------------
    It’s unpleasantly like being drunk.
    What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?
    You ask a glass of water. -- Douglas Adams

  • ChrisM@Work (5/22/2013)


    If OTOH someone posted "Don't do this yet, there's insufficient evidence to support it and it will cost you three hours to find out", I'd be pretty darned grateful.

    Apologies, I though about doing that but was fighting with Win 7 SP1 (Which doesn't $#%%$%^ install) and didn't get to it.

    Gail Shaw
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
    SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

    We walk in the dark places no others will enter
    We stand on the bridge and no one may pass
  • Case in point.

    Q: I'm seeing multiple plans in cache for the same procedure

    A: It might be due to parameter sniffing. Add WITH RECOMPILE to the procedure.

    Gail Shaw
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
    SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

    We walk in the dark places no others will enter
    We stand on the bridge and no one may pass
  • Quite annoying when you're trying to get things to a state where the customer can test while you're on vacation (ideally without having to pester the backup guy too much) and you find your checklist wasn't as complete as you thought...

    Case in point: Setting up DTS run-time support in SQL2008R2 for the customer (who *IS* migrating their old DTS packages, but slowly.) Thought everything was good, but when the customer was trying to run a test package, they kept getting "couldn't find the file" in the job history. No information as to what file, etc.

    Thought it was a permissions issue. Nope...

    Thought it was a problem in the package. Nope...

    Wrong proxy account user. Nope...

    FINALLY figured out, that I hadn't actually installed the SQL2005 Backward Compatibility components...

    D'OH!

    reely eye r smaurt!

    :hehe:

    Jason

    (now hoping when I get back from vacation, I've got an e-mail from the customer stating: offline our old production system, we're ready to go live!)

  • jasona.work (5/22/2013)


    Quite annoying when you're trying to get things to a state where the customer can test while you're on vacation (ideally without having to pester the backup guy too much) and you find your checklist wasn't as complete as you thought...

    Case in point: Setting up DTS run-time support in SQL2008R2 for the customer (who *IS* migrating their old DTS packages, but slowly.) Thought everything was good, but when the customer was trying to run a test package, they kept getting "couldn't find the file" in the job history. No information as to what file, etc.

    Thought it was a permissions issue. Nope...

    Thought it was a problem in the package. Nope...

    Wrong proxy account user. Nope...

    FINALLY figured out, that I hadn't actually installed the SQL2005 Backward Compatibility components...

    D'OH!

    reely eye r smaurt!

    :hehe:

    Jason

    (now hoping when I get back from vacation, I've got an e-mail from the customer stating: offline our old production system, we're ready to go live!)

    I have a theory about things like that: everyone who is worth anything will do it now and again unless they are working on life-or-death determining systems so have far more thorough checks that most of us can afford, or are operating under a degree of supervision that ensures they can't do it. the amount of pressure that there is on good R&D professionals ensures that they spend quite a bit of time working at the very limits of their capacity (the less good guys tend to work beyond their limits and screw up much more often as a result) and this means that errors will happen sometimes. Something I used to want to know when interviewing people other than very junior ones was what big screw-ups had they committed and how did they cope with them. I've screwed up often enough myself to know that it will happen to anyone who is trying to push the limits - or at least it will if they are in R&D rather than just in D, so that the ability to cope with a screw-up, accept responsibility, and dig out as necessary is pretty important. I like your "now hoping" - that's the right attitude.

    edit: I mean that's the right attitude if you are trying to ensure it happens - not if you are just hoping it will happen of its own accord.

    Tom

  • Brandie Tarvin (5/22/2013)


    ..... because Tom is an older gentleman ......

    Oh Brandie, how grateful I am that you said "an" instead of "a much". :-P:hehe:

    (Now where's that "kiss" emoticon? I wanted to use it!)

    Tom

  • ChrisM@Work (5/22/2013)


    Is it just me or is there really a hike in hideously BS answers this week? Not on this thread of course, the "worker threads" (ahem).

    Well, I've been around a little more so that may have upped the bs levels a bit. 😀

    Though I admit a lot of my time has been spent trying to box with a pillow. The gentleman is an excellent debater when he sets his feet in, and he's convinced he's correct. I'm not however, and I fear for anyone coming down the pike who doesn't have his apparent significant coding skills will end up getting burned at the stake.


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