rad, grad, deg

[Bill (Smithville NJ)]

(09-07-2015 02:28 AM)rprosperi Wrote:  For those concerned with my reply:

Please take the time to read all the posts/threads tigger submitted over the past week and a half or so. I believe you will find:

I have. Only a few could be considered "read manual" type of question. The others were either general new person questions, or actually led to very interesting discussions that would not have occurred if the post had not been made.

Quote:a. There are a lot of questions; 10-15+ ?

What is your point? Very new person posts a lot of questions during their early excitement to learn how to use their new device. How many is excessive? The level of posting will usually fade over time as they either get more familiar with their device OR as they just give up all hope and just fade away. I just don't want to discourage them at this stage of their excitement.

Quote:b. Most (maybe all?) of the questions could have been answered by reading manuals before posting a question.

This may very well be true. But then other people here would have missed out on the sometimes very interesting discussions that occurred. Also, what seems obvious to an experienced user, may seem obscure to a new user. In the case of this thread, the answer was apparently in the Appendix G of the Advanced User's Reference Manual. For someone just becoming acquainted with the 50G, then the Appendix is NOT an obvious place to find an answer.

Quote:c. After a few initial rounds of Q & A, several other people also suggested reading manuals before posting basic questions, albeit generally using nicer, but perhaps less clear, language.

True, but that doesn't necessary mean that they should. What constitutes "basic questions"? What is Basic to an experienced person, may very well not be Basic to someone just getting started.

Quote:d. I took the time to answer more than one of his questions.

Very good, you get a gold star. Unfortunately, I do not own any of the 48-50 series and were not able to answer any of the questions. But I did notice that you did answer some of them.

Quote:While it was not my intent to speak for everyone, after years of participating, the trends of what is and isn’t well received and responded to is fairly clear; it was my goal to explain that to a new user to help guide his posting in a way that will result in useful replies.

As you say, you have had years of participating. Tigger has had a few weeks of participation. Why don't we just sit back and let him learn how the forum works. Why do we feel the urge to explain what he should be doing so that his posts are appropriate to us? Over time, he will learn what we all have learned by participating. Let's give him the same time that we all have had. Don't short-circuit the enthusiasm that he has.

Please note - what is not well received by one person may be well received by someone else. Over the years I have learned a great deal of information from a new person enquiring about an "in the manual" question, someone replying with the answer - with the result of my slapping my head as I realized that I never knew that.

Quote:Also, for a user new to a complex device like the 50g, IMHO, it is good to direct a user to do research in the manuals for 2 important reasons: of course to find an answer, but maybe even more importantly, to become familiar with the organization and contents of said manuals.

Agreed. But repeatedly telling someone to "read the manuals" just tells them to "bug off, kid - you're bothering me". It does nothing to encourage them. But maybe that's what we want to accomplish. Go away until you are smart enough to rise to our level of expertise. Then you might be welcomed back to participate at the "adult's table."

Quote:He has repeatedly said he has trouble finding information in the 50g manuals (which is something we ALL agree on);

I think you have hit the head on the nail - everyone agrees on the fact that the manuals can be difficult to find information in. This statement alone should be enough to be tolerant of new users who are seeking to find information out about their new calculator.

Quote:I believe the only way to overcome that is to spend more time trying, rather than seeking direct answers in the forum with no research.

I don't even know what to say about this statement. Reminds me of my mom telling me "You just don't try hard enough."

Quote:It was not my intention to offend anyone. If I did, I apologize.

It's not a matter of being offended. But I feel that the forum sometime displays a sort of elitism. This is not uncommon to a lot of forums. But I really wish and hope that we all strive to not fall into this trap.



One last comment: To Tigger and to all others silently reading this, please feel free to continue to post your questions. If they are on something I know about, I will attempt to to give an answer. If not, them I'm sure there are others here that will take the time to answer them.


I've had my say and will now sign off from this thread.

Bill
Smithville, NJ