Repeated questions on forums

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Repeated questions on forums

M&M

SSC-Insane

Points: 21700
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February 16, 2010 at 4:26 pm

#215736

I have come across several cases where the questions are getting repeated very often on forums.
Is there anyway this could be avoided. Like if we can maintain an archive of popular questions on forums which can get voted by the users based on popularity.
Then, if we see a repeated question, one of the forum members can just post a link to that arhived query.
Is this possible or is it already done on SQLSERVERCENTRAL.
M&M

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RBarryYoung SSC Guru Points: 143329 More actions · Answer 1

You could make a list of 5 or 6 questions that get asked the most often here are SQLServerCentral.com and I believe that for all but one of them there is at least one good article and usually more than one. What most of us do is to keep our site Briefcase filled with these articles, and then try to point folks to them when it comes up.

[font="Times New Roman"]-- RBarryYoung[/font], [font="Times New Roman"] (302)375-0451[/font] blog: MovingSQL.com, Twitter: @RBarryYoung [font="Arial Black"]
Proactive Performance Solutions, Inc. [/font][font="Verdana"] "Performance is our middle name."[/font]

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004409 More actions · Answer 2

mohammed moinudheen (2/16/2010)
I have come across several cases where the questions are getting repeated very often on forums.
Is there anyway this could be avoided. Like if we can maintain an archive of popular questions on forums which can get voted by the users based on popularity.
Then, if we see a repeated question, one of the forum members can just post a link to that arhived query.
Is this possible or is it already done on SQLSERVERCENTRAL.

Heh... now where would the fun be in that? 😀

I agree with Barry... some of the heavy hitters have written some great articles that are, many times, simply referred to. The problem is that some folks need additional explanation or there's a twist to the problem. A lot of times, people will both answer the problem directly and then, to turn it into a learning experience, also reference one or more of those articles.

For the users, there's nothing like being able to get a quick answer. All we can hope they do is follow that up with a little reading and experimentation on their part.

--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)

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 736494 More actions · Answer 3

The ask.sqlservercentral.com is supposed to help here. Not sure if it is.

Not sure there's an easy solution for this. Most people just want to ask a question and get an answer, not search around for the question being asked previously.

RBarryYoung SSC Guru Points: 143329 More actions · Answer 4

Honestly I don't see this as a problem.

So we answer many of the same questions all the time, so what? Learning what these most common questions are and how to best answer them is one of the best things that I've gotten from SQLServerCentral. And if I get tired of answering them once in a while, that's just a chance for someone coming up to learn the same things.

And best of all, every once in a while, someone comes up with an even better answer (ex: Florian's incredible thread). That alone makes it all worthwhile for me.

[font="Times New Roman"]-- RBarryYoung[/font], [font="Times New Roman"] (302)375-0451[/font] blog: MovingSQL.com, Twitter: @RBarryYoung [font="Arial Black"]
Proactive Performance Solutions, Inc. [/font][font="Verdana"] "Performance is our middle name."[/font]

WayneS SSC Guru Points: 95460 More actions · Answer 5

From my perspective, answering the same basic question repeatedly just reinforces what I'm in the process of learning. For instance, I wouldn't have learned as much as I have about the quirky update if I hadn't jumped in to answer all those questions... even if as an alternative to a solution already provided. If I hadn't had the opportunity to have answered it, I wouldn't have learned it as quickly. (Though I still might need to reference the rules for it...) The same goes for anything else you're learning... the more you use it, the more it reinforces what your learning. So, bring on all those repeated questions! In the end, they help ME as well as the OP.

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!

Links:
For better assistance in answering your questions
Performance Problems
Common date/time routines
Understanding and Using APPLY Part 1 & Part 2

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 736494 More actions · Answer 6

One other thing is that "common answers" change over time. The T-SQL langauge has changed (index defrag v alter index) over time, and at the rate MS releases versions, I like seeing common questions answered over and over so that we can overwhlem Google with the new answers.