Re: MIDRANGE-L Digest, Vol 12, Issue 1138

On 5/24/2013 4:08 PM, TheBorg wrote:

I don't know about you, but time I spend here is time that I cannot bill
to my client - hence, advice which I supply is being provided at *my*
expense.

This is true enough even for those of us who are direct employees. If
the boss doesn't like the pace of my work, I'll definitely suffer for
the time I spend here.

The minimum that I would expect of someone who asks for assistance here
is that they first learn how to search for information on the internet
and/or on the IBM Information Center and at least try to figure out the
basics before asking very basic questions here...

It seems to me that some really basic knowledge of the platform is
lacking, and perhaps his employer should provide some additional
training on IBM i.

This is good advice no matter what one does in life. I can speak only
for myself when I say that I try to post answers that will be useful in
an archive search. Answers that will help someone with the same general
class of problem, and not only the single person asking at this moment.

BTW, I would encourage "Crystal Reports" to study the excellent advice
from Eric Raymond on requesting help from mailing lists/forums before
posting another request for help - How to Ask Questions the Smart Way:
http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Our hacker culture isn't quite the same as ESR's, but it is very helpful
for those who answer a question to know what the OP has tried and the
exact error message he got when it fell over. Having enough source code
to understand and maybe re-create the circumstances is very good as
well. A meaningful subject line (see above!) will garner better answers
than a vague one.
--buck