Totally frivolous...

[Forum Admin]

A long standing debate among members of mailing lists, forums, and newsgroups concerns making people search before posting a question that's been asked "a million times" already.

My own preference is I don't care. If a person doesn't know the right keywords, they won't find the answer and if they do, they often try solutions that are useless - at best, no harm, no foul, at worst, they'll lose customizations and possibly data. I'd rather see people get the answer sooner rather than spend hours trying a bunch of useless fixes.

Then I got to thinking (always a dangerous thing ) - how many in the diehard "search first" group would stop to ask directions when lost? How many of the "ask first" group would ask directions? Would the ask first group ask for driving directions more readily?

It's really impossible to create a poll to convey this... but until I get a government grant to study this , a poll will have to do.

Please respond based on your pre-GPS days.

The order is:

1. Always ask directions - Never (or avoid) asking for computer help
2. Always ask - Try first
3. Always ask - Always ask
4. Try first - Never ask
5. Try first - Try first
6. Try first - always ask
7. Never ask - Never ask
8. Never ask - try first
9. Never ask - Always ask

As always, voting does not require an account but if you want to post comments, you'll need to register. (This was formerly forums.slipstick.com, those accounts remain.)

[larry]

I'll search some but I know if it can't find useful information within an hour or so, I need to ask somewhere. The problem I have with users searching for solutions is they tend to pick the wrong one and I'm left to sort the mess out. If i had a dime for everyone who made a new profile when all they really needed was scanpst or one of the /clean or reset switches, I would be relaxing in the bahamas right now.

[daleeh]

Two responses are identical! Makes it hard to choose the correct one.

[Forum Admin]

Oops... I'll fix that.

They are supposed to be in the order of
Always ask - Always ask (1)
Always ask - Try first (2)
Always ask - Never ask (3)
Try first - always ask (4)
Try first - Try first (5)
Try first - Never ask (6)
Never ask - Always ask (7)
Never ask - try first (8)
Never ask - Never ask (9)

Dang.. .couldn't even get this right the first time... that's the order i wanted. but not the order they are in.

The real order is:

1. Always ask - Never ask
2. Always ask - Try first
3. Always ask - Always ask
4. Try first - Never ask
5. Try first - Try first
6. Try first - always ask
7. Never ask - Never ask
8. Never ask - try first
9. Never ask - Always ask

FWIW, I expect 3, 5, & 7 to get the most votes, figuring people will behave the same way in everything they do.