Are the posted questions getting worse?

No real surprise there. I checked out the site quite some time ago and remarked to myself how miserable the questions were. I also saw that many times, the answers don't really answer the question. I've heard of long answers (say, to a complex question) are just deleted for some reason. For these reasons, the link above is the first time I've been there in well over a year. I like SSC better anyway...better people, better focus and better solutions.

Tally Tables - Performance Personified
String Splitting with True Performance
Best practices on how to ask questions

WayneS SSC Guru Points: 95405 More actions · Answer 4

Ed Wagner (5/8/2014)

No real surprise there. I checked out the site quite some time ago and remarked to myself how miserable the questions were. I also saw that many times, the answers don't really answer the question. I've heard of long answers (say, to a complex question) are just deleted for some reason. For these reasons, the link above is the first time I've been there in well over a year. I like SSC better anyway...better people, better focus and better solutions.

+~. I completely agree.

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

jcrawf02 SSC-Insane Points: 24198 More actions · Answer 5

WayneS (5/8/2014)

Ed Wagner (5/8/2014)

No real surprise there. I checked out the site quite some time ago and remarked to myself how miserable the questions were. I also saw that many times, the answers don't really answer the question. I've heard of long answers (say, to a complex question) are just deleted for some reason. For these reasons, the link above is the first time I've been there in well over a year. I like SSC better anyway...better people, better focus and better solutions.

+~. I completely agree.

Question is, is your comment positive, negative, or approxamate-ive (sorry Jason, "approxamateve")

---------------------------------------------------------
How best to post your question[/url]
How to post performance problems[/url]
Tally Table:What it is and how it replaces a loop[/url]

"stewsterl 80804 (10/16/2009)I guess when you stop and try to understand the solution provided you not only learn, but save yourself some headaches when you need to make any slight changes."

Luis Cazares SSC Guru Points: 183686 More actions · Answer 6

jcrawf02 (5/8/2014)

WayneS (5/8/2014)

Ed Wagner (5/8/2014)

No real surprise there. I checked out the site quite some time ago and remarked to myself how miserable the questions were. I also saw that many times, the answers don't really answer the question. I've heard of long answers (say, to a complex question) are just deleted for some reason. For these reasons, the link above is the first time I've been there in well over a year. I like SSC better anyway...better people, better focus and better solutions.

+~. I completely agree.

Question is, is your comment positive, negative, or approxamate-ive (sorry Jason, "approxamateve")

I'm sure he meant "+8"

I would agree as well if that was the intention.:-D

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

Sean Lange SSC Guru Points: 286562 More actions · Answer 7

Luis Cazares (5/8/2014)

jcrawf02 (5/8/2014)

WayneS (5/8/2014)

Ed Wagner (5/8/2014)

No real surprise there. I checked out the site quite some time ago and remarked to myself how miserable the questions were. I also saw that many times, the answers don't really answer the question. I've heard of long answers (say, to a complex question) are just deleted for some reason. For these reasons, the link above is the first time I've been there in well over a year. I like SSC better anyway...better people, better focus and better solutions.

+~. I completely agree.

Question is, is your comment positive, negative, or approxamate-ive (sorry Jason, "approxamateve")

I'm sure he meant "+8"

I would agree as well if that was the intention.:-D

That was how I read it.

_______________________________________________________________

Need help? Help us help you.

Read the article at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/ for best practices on asking questions.

Need to split a string? Try Jeff Modens splitter http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Tally+Table/72993/.

Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 1 – Converting Rows to Columns - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/T-SQL/63681/
Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 2 - Dynamic Cross Tabs - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Crosstab/65048/
Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 1) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69953/
Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 2) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69954/

x SSC-Insane Points: 23660 More actions · Answer 8

Ed Wagner (5/8/2014)

No real surprise there. I checked out the site quite some time ago and remarked to myself how miserable the questions were. I also saw that many times, the answers don't really answer the question. I've heard of long answers (say, to a complex question) are just deleted for some reason. For these reasons, the link above is the first time I've been there in well over a year. I like SSC better anyway...better people, better focus and better solutions.

I spend time reading over there because they do get the google hits to questions and obviously they cover a wider range of topics which suits me in many situations. As for "quality of people", I haven't seen any full on loony toons over there yet.

Gail Shaw SSC Guru Points: 1004494 More actions · Answer 9

Gail Shaw

SSC Guru

Points: 1004494

May 8, 2014 at 2:16 pm

#1712016

Lynn, could you please pm me your current email address?

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

WayneS SSC Guru Points: 95405 More actions · Answer 10

Sean Lange (5/8/2014)

Luis Cazares (5/8/2014)

jcrawf02 (5/8/2014)

WayneS (5/8/2014)

Ed Wagner (5/8/2014)

No real surprise there. I checked out the site quite some time ago and remarked to myself how miserable the questions were. I also saw that many times, the answers don't really answer the question. I've heard of long answers (say, to a complex question) are just deleted for some reason. For these reasons, the link above is the first time I've been there in well over a year. I like SSC better anyway...better people, better focus and better solutions.

+~. I completely agree.

Question is, is your comment positive, negative, or approxamate-ive (sorry Jason, "approxamateve")

I'm sure he meant "+8"

I would agree as well if that was the intention.:-D

That was how I read it.

Yep, that was what I meant. (Can never find that infinity keystroke when I need it)

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

paul.knibbs SSCoach Points: 15320 More actions · Answer 11

Problem is, there's no standard method for that which works world-wide. If you're using codepage 437 (which I believe US versions of Windows do) then holding Alt while typing 236 on the numeric keypad will give infinity, but that doesn't work for codepage 850 (UK). There's a way of using the same method to enter hexadecimal Unicode codes (in which case, +221E would work), but you have to hack the registry and reboot your machine to use it!

Gail Shaw SSC Guru Points: 1004494 More actions · Answer 12

Gail Shaw

SSC Guru

Points: 1004494

May 12, 2014 at 4:49 am

#1712597

*sigh* http://qa.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/FindPost1569693.aspx

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

Koen Verbeeck SSC Guru Points: 259015 More actions · Answer 13

GilaMonster (5/12/2014)

*sigh* http://qa.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/FindPost1569693.aspx

Why do some people bother to post "advice" (and apparently incorrect) on an almost 4 year old topic?

Need an answer? No, you need a question
My blog at https://sqlkover.com.
MCSE Business Intelligence - Microsoft Data Platform MVP

Gail Shaw SSC Guru Points: 1004494 More actions · Answer 14

Koen Verbeeck (5/12/2014)

GilaMonster (5/12/2014)

*sigh* http://qa.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/FindPost1569693.aspx

Why do some people bother to post "advice" (and apparently incorrect) on an almost 4 year old topic?

Advertisement for their database 'recovery' product. Look at where the www link goes. I suspect the posts (and the older ones from http://qa.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/UserInfo979672.aspx) are at least partially to generate links to the sites for better position in the search engines

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

Ville-Pekka Vahteala SSCrazy Points: 2438 More actions · Answer 15

Ville-Pekka Vahteala

SSCrazy

Points: 2438

May 12, 2014 at 5:13 am

#1712611

I remember reading blog post or article about calculating running total so that you needed to fetch only the last row. It involved some extra column for referential integrity. I have same need, but I just cannot remember where I read it.

Any ideas where this could have been.