Are the posted questions getting worse?

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Are the posted questions getting worse?

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Jack Corbett SSC Guru Points: 184394 More actions · Answer 1

A, most definitely. There is nothing wrong with monetizing your blog, especially for advertising your own services and contributions. In fact, listing books you've written or contributed to adds validity to the content of your posts by making you look like even more of an authority.

Jack Corbett
Consultant - Straight Path Solutions
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Gail Shaw SSC Guru Points: 1004504 More actions · Answer 2

That's kinda been there for a long time. The reading list in the sidebar links through to Amazon with my associate ID so I get some credit from Amazon if anyone clicks through and buys a book. I think I've got somewhere around $8 in total out of that in the last 5 or so years.

Definitely not, I'm the only author of that site, no way anything (other than comments) could show up without my being aware.

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

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Sean Lange SSC Guru Points: 286590 More actions · Answer 3

Definitely A. You aren't talking about advertising, you are talking about making your own blog more of your own brand. I say it is long overdue.

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andrew gothard SSChampion Points: 12315 More actions · Answer 4

A unless I'm allowed to go for D) Providing links to other resources you've contributed to written or rate is something I personally would regard as an additional benefit.

Look at it this way, if you saw something on SQL Skills highlighting something Paul had contributed to you weren't aware of, you'd probably be quite pleased I'd guess?

I'm a DBA.
I'm not paid to solve problems. I'm paid to prevent them.

Ed Wagner SSC Guru Points: 287026 More actions · Answer 5

I personally don't see anything wrong with it, as long as it doesn't become what you described - here's a tiny scrap of info surrounded by so much advertising, flashing banner ads and junk that you can barely find the content of the page.

Here's something to think about, but you've probably considered it already. Why are people are reading your blog about SQL Server? There could be many reasons, but I'd bet the main ones fall into the following categories:

1. They want to learn something to expand their understanding of SQL Server because they're interested.

2. They want to learn something so they can solve a problem they're facing now.

3. They're looking for help.

For those seeking help and in over their heads, I think that knowing they can hire you to help them would be helpful to them.

For those looking to learn for whatever reason, knowing what books you've written on the subject would also be a help to them.

Advertising database stuff on your blog is very targeted to the audience. Advertising Kendo sticks, bicycle sales in Taiwan and the weather isn't pertinent. A lot of sites do it, but it serves to turn people off to the site. I honestly believe that, done right, advertising won't turn people off.

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Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004414 More actions · Answer 6

:blush: Gosh, folks. I'm totally humbled. I don't know how to respond except to say thank you for all that you do for this community.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

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WayneS SSC Guru Points: 95460 More actions · Answer 7

Advertising your services in a side bar, or plugging things that you've done? That would be a A.

Making it the main focus of your site? That would be a B. If it's completely about your services, or in your face, then even a C.

Have you thought of a page (or pages) that has links to:

1. Books that you have authored / co-authored

2. Books that you recommend

3. Books that you have reviewed (links to the reviews)

4. Articles that you recommend

Wayne
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008
Author - SQL Server T-SQL Recipes

If you can't explain to another person how the code that you're copying from the internet works, then DON'T USE IT on a production system! After all, you will be the one supporting it!

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SQLBill SSC Guru Points: 51440 More actions · Answer 8

Go for it....there's advertising and then there is 'advertising'. You aren't charging me to view your blog. You aren't 'harassing' me with advertisements for stuff I don't care about. You aren't throwing advertisements in my face (pop-ups...splashes, etc). You are just posting on YOUR blog the things that YOU do as a business person. I see absolutely nothing wrong with that. I also see nothing wrong with trying to make money from a blog by accepting advertisements....I just don't want them to interfere with my experience....don't have videos that auto-play, don't have pop-ups, splashes, etc...don't have advertisements that have no relation to what I'm viewing.

So that's my input.

-SQLBill

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 736494 More actions · Answer 9

a.

Do it. Easy to ignore. Good to have if someone wants to hire you.

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004414 More actions · Answer 10

I agree with what the others have said. Your community service and that blog have been well above and beyond the call of duty and you advertising yourself to possible paying customers would certainly not be a detractor for me or prevent me from continuing to provide links to your wonderful articles. Go for it.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Eirikur Eiriksson SSC Guru Points: 182916 More actions · Answer 11

A

😎

TomThomson SSC Guru Points: 104773 More actions · Answer 12

I'm 100% in agreement with that.

Tom

Alan Burstein SSC Guru Points: 61141 More actions · Answer 13

I love your blog, SSC articles and books Gail. The more people that know about them them better. Plug away.

"I cant stress enough the importance of switching from a sequential files mindset to set-based thinking. After you make the switch, you can spend your time tuning and optimizing your queries instead of maintaining lengthy, poor-performing code."

-- Itzik Ben-Gan 2001

Dwain Camps SSC Guru Points: 86978 More actions · Answer 14

Gail - of all the responses so far I'd have to say I'm most in agreement with Wayne's.

Avoid popups and pop unders. Those are like totally annoying.

My mantra: No loops! No CURSORs! No RBAR! Hoo-uh![/I]
My thought question: Have you ever been told that your query runs too fast?

My advice:
INDEXing a poor-performing query is like putting sugar on cat food. Yeah, it probably tastes better but are you sure you want to eat it?
The path of least resistance can be a slippery slope. Take care that fixing your fixes of fixes doesn't snowball and end up costing you more than fixing the root cause would have in the first place.

Need to UNPIVOT? Why not CROSS APPLY VALUES instead?[/url]
Since random numbers are too important to be left to chance, let's generate some![/url]
Learn to understand recursive CTEs by example.[/url]
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spaghettidba SSC Guru Points: 105732 More actions · Answer 15

+1

-- Gianluca Sartori