Are the posted questions getting worse?

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Are the posted questions getting worse?

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Thomas Rushton SSC-Insane Points: 22649 More actions · Answer 1

Sean Lange - Tuesday, August 1, 2017 2:06 PM
And when I said "Oh I thought you would send me a link instead of screenshot" the response was "well how would I know what kind of link you wanted". Seriously??? I don't know...a link that is actually a link so I don't have to type it, you don't have to take a screenshot and makes it easy for...well...anybody who needs this information. Frustrating when the help desk can't tell the different between a cd player and a cup holder. I realize I am asking for a lot but perhaps a person in a technical position could have the very basic concepts of working with technology. Topped it off by sending me a picture and then calling to tell me they sent me an email...which of course hadn't made it to my inbox yet because it had a 4MB screenshot attached to it. :crazy:

At least they hadn't embedded the screenshot into a word document. I used to get those at a previous place. Not good. That place doesn't exist any more.

Thomas Rushton
blog: https://thelonedba.wordpress.com

Thomas Rushton SSC-Insane Points: 22649 More actions · Answer 2

Thom A - Wednesday, August 2, 2017 2:51 AM
GilaMonster - Monday, July 31, 2017 5:33 AM
Crystal ball to aisle 7 please. Crystal ball to aisle 7.
https://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/1889451/Should-I-Redesign-table
Got to give you kudos, your dedication to try and help that user is commendable; I certainly wouldn't have had the patience after the amount of pictures they've supplied. 😎

"Pictures are not useful" says Gail.

Next post from OP: more pictures.

Lather, rinse and repeat. It's not going well.

Thomas Rushton
blog: https://thelonedba.wordpress.com

Brandie Tarvin SSC Guru Points: 173080 More actions · Answer 3

Sean Lange - Tuesday, August 1, 2017 1:08 PM
So our person who is the lead person on the help desk is helping with some testing of one of our websites. This person ran into an issue with a page. I asked them for a link and they sent me a screenshot of the address bar. Since this is a CMS the links are user friendly but can get quite lengthy and extremely difficult to type. Shouldn't somebody running the help desk understand what a link is from a website?

One would think...

Brandie Tarvin, MCITP Database AdministratorLiveJournal Blog: http://brandietarvin.livejournal.com/[/url]On LinkedIn!, Google+, and Twitter.Freelance Writer: ShadowrunLatchkeys: Nevermore, Latchkeys: The Bootleg War, and Latchkeys: Roscoes in the Night are now available on Nook and Kindle.

Brandie Tarvin SSC Guru Points: 173080 More actions · Answer 4

So I'm trying to come up with a good metaphor for SQL Profiler to explain to certain users who think we can just turn it on and let it run without monitoring. This is what I've come up with. Tell me what you think:

Think of a dam with lots of sluice gates. That's Profiler. Turning on Profiler opens all the sluice gates. The trace file you get at the end of the process could be one faucet turned on, or an entire neighborhood's worth of faucets turned on, or even the entire town's water supply opened up and running depending on how you define the trace file. Once you turn on Profiler, though, the dam is open for business. It doesn't matter how well you filter the trace, even if you pick one database that has "no activity." You don't walk away from a dam with all the sluice gates running and hope nothing floods just because all the taps / faucets are turned off.

What do you think?

Brandie Tarvin, MCITP Database AdministratorLiveJournal Blog: http://brandietarvin.livejournal.com/[/url]On LinkedIn!, Google+, and Twitter.Freelance Writer: ShadowrunLatchkeys: Nevermore, Latchkeys: The Bootleg War, and Latchkeys: Roscoes in the Night are now available on Nook and Kindle.

Grant Fritchey SSC Guru Points: 398909 More actions · Answer 5

Brandie Tarvin - Wednesday, August 2, 2017 5:17 AM
So I'm trying to come up with a good metaphor for SQL Profiler to explain to certain users who think we can just turn it on and let it run without monitoring. This is what I've come up with. Tell me what you think:
Think of a dam with lots of sluice gates. That's Profiler. Turning on Profiler opens all the sluice gates. The trace file you get at the end of the process could be one faucet turned on, or an entire neighborhood's worth of faucets turned on, or even the entire town's water supply opened up and running depending on how you define the trace file. Once you turn on Profiler, though, the dam is open for business. It doesn't matter how well you filter the trace, even if you pick one database that has "no activity." You don't walk away from a dam with all the sluice gates running and hope nothing floods just because all the taps / faucets are turned off.
What do you think?

Not bad. It's actually a little worse than that though. Those filters, they don't really work as such. There are two damns at work with Profiler. The one that you're describing, and another within SQL Server. That second damn, it's killing all the down stream fish because it won't let ANY water flow. The way filtering works in Profiler is that every event that you've defined gets captured, using memory and CPU to perform the capture. Then, the filter is applied and some of the captured material gets thrown away. This second damn is why I'm such a strong advocate for Extended Events which works like a query, capturing only the events that match the filter rather than capturing everything, like a giant Hoover Dam inside of the pristine SQL Server river.

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt

Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

Brandie Tarvin SSC Guru Points: 173080 More actions · Answer 6

Grant Fritchey - Wednesday, August 2, 2017 5:28 AM
Brandie Tarvin - Wednesday, August 2, 2017 5:17 AM
So I'm trying to come up with a good metaphor for SQL Profiler to explain to certain users who think we can just turn it on and let it run without monitoring. This is what I've come up with. Tell me what you think:
Think of a dam with lots of sluice gates. That's Profiler. Turning on Profiler opens all the sluice gates. The trace file you get at the end of the process could be one faucet turned on, or an entire neighborhood's worth of faucets turned on, or even the entire town's water supply opened up and running depending on how you define the trace file. Once you turn on Profiler, though, the dam is open for business. It doesn't matter how well you filter the trace, even if you pick one database that has "no activity." You don't walk away from a dam with all the sluice gates running and hope nothing floods just because all the taps / faucets are turned off.
What do you think?
Not bad. It's actually a little worse than that though. Those filters, they don't really work as such. There are two damns at work with Profiler. The one that you're describing, and another within SQL Server. That second damn, it's killing all the down stream fish because it won't let ANY water flow. The way filtering works in Profiler is that every event that you've defined gets captured, using memory and CPU to perform the capture. Then, the filter is applied and some of the captured material gets thrown away. This second damn is why I'm such a strong advocate for Extended Events which works like a query, capturing only the events that match the filter rather than capturing everything, like a giant Hoover Dam inside of the pristine SQL Server river.

I'm trying to visualize the two dam metaphor in my head. Assuming the second dam is upstream, that means Profiler has no "water" to work with. If it's downstream, it would have to be between Profiler and the trace file...

I may be putting too much work into this, but I really need a non-technobabble version of this ready. A certain user can't quite get it into his head that even when filtered Profiler is dangerous.

Brandie Tarvin, MCITP Database AdministratorLiveJournal Blog: http://brandietarvin.livejournal.com/[/url]On LinkedIn!, Google+, and Twitter.Freelance Writer: ShadowrunLatchkeys: Nevermore, Latchkeys: The Bootleg War, and Latchkeys: Roscoes in the Night are now available on Nook and Kindle.

Luis Cazares SSC Guru Points: 183706 More actions · Answer 7

Sean Lange - Tuesday, August 1, 2017 1:08 PM
So our person who is the lead person on the help desk is helping with some testing of one of our websites. This person ran into an issue with a page. I asked them for a link and they sent me a screenshot of the address bar. Since this is a CMS the links are user friendly but can get quite lengthy and extremely difficult to type. Shouldn't somebody running the help desk understand what a link is from a website?

They do, but they're not paid to do your job which is to type. :hehe:

Luis C.
General Disclaimer:
Are you seriously taking the advice and code from someone from the internet without testing it? Do you at least understand it? Or can it easily kill your server?

How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help: Option 1 / Option 2

Luis Cazares SSC Guru Points: 183706 More actions · Answer 8

Sean Lange - Tuesday, August 1, 2017 2:06 PM
Ed Wagner - Tuesday, August 1, 2017 2:00 PM
Sean Lange - Tuesday, August 1, 2017 1:08 PM
So our person who is the lead person on the help desk is helping with some testing of one of our websites. This person ran into an issue with a page. I asked them for a link and they sent me a screenshot of the address bar. Since this is a CMS the links are user friendly but can get quite lengthy and extremely difficult to type. Shouldn't somebody running the help desk understand what a link is from a website?
I would hope so, but apparently you and I both expect too much. When people at work send me pictures of text instead of the text itself, I kick it back to them and ask for the actual text instead of a picture of it. I then let it go because it isn't worth typing some pile of text and running the risk of fat-fingering something that just isn't necessary.
And when I said "Oh I thought you would send me a link instead of screenshot" the response was "well how would I know what kind of link you wanted". Seriously??? I don't know...a link that is actually a link so I don't have to type it, you don't have to take a screenshot and makes it easy for...well...anybody who needs this information. Frustrating when the help desk can't tell the different between a cd player and a cup holder. I realize I am asking for a lot but perhaps a person in a technical position could have the very basic concepts of working with technology. Topped it off by sending me a picture and then calling to tell me they sent me an email...which of course hadn't made it to my inbox yet because it had a 4MB screenshot attached to it. :crazy:

Well, you need to specify what kind of link do you want. There are so many kinds of them, going from 8-bit to full-HD technologies. For example, here's a Link with a link to many Links.

Luis C.
General Disclaimer:
Are you seriously taking the advice and code from someone from the internet without testing it? Do you at least understand it? Or can it easily kill your server?

How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help: Option 1 / Option 2

jasona.work SSC Guru Points: 50118 More actions · Answer 9

And now, something just for Grant, because of his comment over here: https://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/FindPost1889937.aspx
I present the "Give Grant a fit table!"
create table #JustForGrant ( [ID] int primary key identity(0,1) , [OptionEnabled] nvarchar(1) , [OptionID] nvarchar(2) , constraint [chkOptionEnabled] check ([OptionEnabled] = 0 or [OptionEnabled] = 1) )

No, this isn't something I pulled out of a real system.
Yes, it's also the first time I threw a table together with a constraint, so I was playing a bit...
I'm a production DBA, I don't generally build tables for much more than capturing performance counters.

Gail Shaw SSC Guru Points: 1004504 More actions · Answer 10

jasona.work - Wednesday, August 2, 2017 6:25 AM
And now, something just for Grant, because of his comment over here: https://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/FindPost1889937.aspx
I present the "Give Grant a fit table!"
create table #JustForGrant ( [ID] int primary key identity(0,1) , [OptionEnabled] nvarchar(4000) , [OptionID] nvarchar(2) , constraint [chkOptionEnabled] check ([OptionEnabled] = 0 or [OptionEnabled] = 1) )

FTFY

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

Ed Wagner SSC Guru Points: 287026 More actions · Answer 11

GilaMonster - Wednesday, August 2, 2017 6:38 AM
jasona.work - Wednesday, August 2, 2017 6:25 AM
And now, something just for Grant, because of his comment over here: https://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/FindPost1889937.aspx
I present the "Give Grant a fit table!"
create table #JustForGrant ( [ID] int primary key identity(0,1) , [OptionEnabled] nvarchar(4000) , [OptionID] nvarchar(2) , constraint [chkOptionEnabled] check ([OptionEnabled] = 0 or [OptionEnabled] = 1) )
FTFY

LMAO. Are you sure he doesn't need an nvarchar(MAX) to store his bit?

Tally Tables - Performance Personified
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Best practices on how to ask questions

Gail Shaw SSC Guru Points: 1004504 More actions · Answer 12

Ed Wagner - Wednesday, August 2, 2017 7:03 AM
GilaMonster - Wednesday, August 2, 2017 6:38 AM
jasona.work - Wednesday, August 2, 2017 6:25 AM
And now, something just for Grant, because of his comment over here: https://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/FindPost1889937.aspx
I present the "Give Grant a fit table!"
create table #JustForGrant ( [ID] int primary key identity(0,1) , [OptionEnabled] nvarchar(4000) , [OptionID] nvarchar(2) , constraint [chkOptionEnabled] check ([OptionEnabled] = 0 or [OptionEnabled] = 1) )
FTFY
LMAO. Are you sure he doesn't need an nvarchar(MAX) to store his bit?

I would have, but then the constraint would have been more complex (LIKE and DATALENGTH, as iirc you can't do equality compares with a MAX data type column)

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

Grant Fritchey SSC Guru Points: 398909 More actions · Answer 13

jasona.work - Wednesday, August 2, 2017 6:25 AM
And now, something just for Grant, because of his comment over here: https://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/FindPost1889937.aspx
I present the "Give Grant a fit table!"
create table #JustForGrant ( [ID] int primary key identity(0,1) , [OptionEnabled] nvarchar(1) , [OptionID] nvarchar(2) , constraint [chkOptionEnabled] check ([OptionEnabled] = 0 or [OptionEnabled] = 1) )
No, this isn't something I pulled out of a real system.
Yes, it's also the first time I threw a table together with a constraint, so I was playing a bit...
I'm a production DBA, I don't generally build tables for much more than capturing performance counters.

HA!

I'm actively breaking out in hives. I hope you're happy.

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt

Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

jasona.work SSC Guru Points: 50118 More actions · Answer 14

Grant Fritchey - Wednesday, August 2, 2017 7:15 AM
jasona.work - Wednesday, August 2, 2017 6:25 AM
And now, something just for Grant, because of his comment over here: https://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/FindPost1889937.aspx
I present the "Give Grant a fit table!"
create table #JustForGrant ( [ID] int primary key identity(0,1) , [OptionEnabled] nvarchar(1) , [OptionID] nvarchar(2) , constraint [chkOptionEnabled] check ([OptionEnabled] = 0 or [OptionEnabled] = 1) )
No, this isn't something I pulled out of a real system.
Yes, it's also the first time I threw a table together with a constraint, so I was playing a bit...
I'm a production DBA, I don't generally build tables for much more than capturing performance counters.
HA!
I'm actively breaking out in hives. I hope you're happy.

My work here is done, now I must go tell Billy-Bob that Jimbo said "howdy"

Sean Lange SSC Guru Points: 286590 More actions · Answer 15

Luis Cazares - Wednesday, August 2, 2017 6:13 AM
Sean Lange - Tuesday, August 1, 2017 2:06 PM
Ed Wagner - Tuesday, August 1, 2017 2:00 PM
Sean Lange - Tuesday, August 1, 2017 1:08 PM
So our person who is the lead person on the help desk is helping with some testing of one of our websites. This person ran into an issue with a page. I asked them for a link and they sent me a screenshot of the address bar. Since this is a CMS the links are user friendly but can get quite lengthy and extremely difficult to type. Shouldn't somebody running the help desk understand what a link is from a website?
I would hope so, but apparently you and I both expect too much. When people at work send me pictures of text instead of the text itself, I kick it back to them and ask for the actual text instead of a picture of it. I then let it go because it isn't worth typing some pile of text and running the risk of fat-fingering something that just isn't necessary.
And when I said "Oh I thought you would send me a link instead of screenshot" the response was "well how would I know what kind of link you wanted". Seriously??? I don't know...a link that is actually a link so I don't have to type it, you don't have to take a screenshot and makes it easy for...well...anybody who needs this information. Frustrating when the help desk can't tell the different between a cd player and a cup holder. I realize I am asking for a lot but perhaps a person in a technical position could have the very basic concepts of working with technology. Topped it off by sending me a picture and then calling to tell me they sent me an email...which of course hadn't made it to my inbox yet because it had a 4MB screenshot attached to it. :crazy:
Well, you need to specify what kind of link do you want. There are so many kinds of them, going from 8-bit to full-HD technologies. For example, here's a Link with a link to many Links.

But at least it is a link, not a screenshot of the address bar. 🙂

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