Are the posted questions getting worse?

  • RBarryYoung (7/3/2009)


    I remember back in Q1 I had several weeks where I was really racking up the posts. But I eventually started to notice that it was having certain effects on me: like I was becoming really fed up that people never seemed to post the dang error message, or that it seemed like half of the posters could have answered their own question if they had just read the error message ("That's right, 'Permission Denied' means that you do not have permission.").

    I had much the same experience back in late April. I had no major projects, so I was bored and posting a lot. Side-effect of being bored was that I was frustrated and a little depressed. Net result of that and a lot of posting was that I was getting angry quickly, often for no real reason.

    Fortunately I noticed what was happening before any slaps were necessary.

    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
  • I really would have loved to see someone even trying to slap Gail when she is in that mood.... :hehe:

    That would be worth watching.... 😉

    -Roy

  • Jeff Moden (7/3/2009)


    Heh... ready Barry? Show 'em what you do with these... (remember? :-P)

    Uuurrrpp!

    Huh? Were you saying something Jeff?

    [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]

  • Heh... that's the one! I laughed 'till I had a major case of the "subsucks" when I first saw that. 😛

    --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)
    Intro to Tally Tables and Functions

  • Well, that's something I "like" to see:

    An OP who just throws in a request and stays focused on it. "Nice" one.

    What I really like is the Freudian slip "Guys, lets focus on permanent question." 😀

    But I'm not going to do so. 😉



    Lutz
    A pessimist is an optimist with experience.

    How to get fast answers to your question[/url]
    How to post performance related questions[/url]
    Links for Tally Table [/url] , Cross Tabs [/url] and Dynamic Cross Tabs [/url], Delimited Split Function[/url]

  • WayneS (7/3/2009)


    GilaMonster (7/3/2009)


    You laugh. I was speaking with someone recently and he said that he and his team do some SQL development, but nothing complex, no joins or anything.

    chuckle...

    Makes one wonder... So, what constitutes "complex" SQL?

    Edit: Yes, I want your individual opinion.

    Tough question. I don't think there's a hard line that divides complex and simple.

    I'd start considering queries complex when there's a couple derived tables, maybe a subquery, possibly some grouping, a few where clause predicates and some expressions in the select.

    Basically if it takes more than a minute or 2 to work out what it does.

    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
  • GilaMonster (7/3/2009)


    You laugh. I was speaking with someone recently and he said that he and his team do some SQL development, but nothing complex, no joins or anything.

    [font="Verdana"]That was a good laugh for my Monday morning![/font]

  • Florian Reischl (7/3/2009)


    @Paul: Congratulation to >1000, didn't see this before, now you can call your self a guru :-D. Your new avatar really made me laughing! First I saw Barry changed his, my first thought was the imbalance of the force... Two more clicks and everything was fine. 😛

    Thanks Flo. I do feel much more qualified to offer opinions now that I have passed 1000 :hehe:

  • GilaMonster (7/5/2009)


    WayneS (7/3/2009)


    GilaMonster (7/3/2009)


    You laugh. I was speaking with someone recently and he said that he and his team do some SQL development, but nothing complex, no joins or anything.

    chuckle...

    Makes one wonder... So, what constitutes "complex" SQL?

    Edit: Yes, I want your individual opinion.

    Tough question. I don't think there's a hard line that divides complex and simple.

    I'd start considering queries complex when there's a couple derived tables, maybe a subquery, possibly some grouping, a few where clause predicates and some expressions in the select.

    Basically if it takes more than a minute or 2 to work out what it does.

    Heh... my take on it is that it's all in the eyes of the beholder. I've seen some folks resort to a cursor because they don't know how to do a simple insert from one table to another.

    --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)
    Intro to Tally Tables and Functions

  • One of today's featured articles[/url] makes me want to cry or take up an alternative line of work, in equal measure.

    VAS utilization (especially, but not exclusively, in 32-bit editions) is an important, and widely misunderstood, subject - not helped by ***-backwards half-complete attempts like that article.

    If and when I get around to writing something for this site, will someone please let me know in blunt terms if I even come close to being so amateur? Thanks in advance.

    Grr.

    Paul

  • Can anyone with some Service Broker knowledge help out on this one

    Jack Corbett
    Consultant - Straight Path Solutions
    Check out these links on how to get faster and more accurate answers:
    Forum Etiquette: How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help
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  • Paul, I missed that one in the article, but as an FYI, when you write something, you do want to focus on the topic, and not get too distracted on other things. It's easy to think you want to be complete and then you end up writing 20 pages on other topics.

    That being said, I do try to get people not to mention something if they can't give a reference or a reasonable explanation.

  • BTW, it's good to be back, and I have no idea what happened in this thread, but it certainly has a lot more posts.

  • RBarryYoung (7/3/2009)


    RBarryYoung (7/3/2009)


    ...

    And most of all, that people would say, or describe themselves as doing, something obnoxious or offensive and when they got called on it instead of admitting it and apologizing, they would start equivocating and claim that "that wasn't what I meant" when it was pretty darn clear that that was exactly what they meant...

    Hmm, I missed a golden opportunity to try and get one past Gus here because the correct word isn't "equivocation", but rather one of my favorite words, the almost extinct "amphibology" (or sometimes "amphiboly"). But since amphibology has almost disappeared from the language, people use "equivocation" instead.

    But if Gus (or anybody else), knew what amphibology meant before I explained it (above) or without having to look it up, I'll definitely be impressed. 😀

    Haven't seen it used in years, but it's one of those that's so easy to figure out from the derivation that it doesn't take any effort.

    Doesn't mean the same thing as "equivocate". An amphibologous statement has ambiguous meaning, but not necessarily an intent to mislead, while equivocation includes that intent. Thus, actually, I think the use of "equivocating" in the first bit quoted above is more precise.

    The more common synonym for "amphibologous" is simply "ambiguous", but there isn't a single-word identity-meaning for "amphibology" that I'm aware of.

    - Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
    Property of The Thread

    "Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon

  • GSquared (7/6/2009)


    RBarryYoung (7/3/2009)


    RBarryYoung (7/3/2009)


    ...

    And most of all, that people would say, or describe themselves as doing, something obnoxious or offensive and when they got called on it instead of admitting it and apologizing, they would start equivocating and claim that "that wasn't what I meant" when it was pretty darn clear that that was exactly what they meant...

    Hmm, I missed a golden opportunity to try and get one past Gus here because the correct word isn't "equivocation", but rather one of my favorite words, the almost extinct "amphibology" (or sometimes "amphiboly"). But since amphibology has almost disappeared from the language, people use "equivocation" instead.

    But if Gus (or anybody else), knew what amphibology meant before I explained it (above) or without having to look it up, I'll definitely be impressed. 😀

    Haven't seen it used in years, but it's one of those that's so easy to figure out from the derivation that it doesn't take any effort.

    Doesn't mean the same thing as "equivocate". An amphibologous statement has ambiguous meaning, but not necessarily an intent to mislead, while equivocation includes that intent. Thus, actually, I think the use of "equivocating" in the first bit quoted above is more precise.

    The more common synonym for "amphibologous" is simply "ambiguous", but there isn't a single-word identity-meaning for "amphibology" that I'm aware of.

    Actually there is, but its slang: "fib". And amphibology was, indeed used just like equivocation is used today (to mean intentionally misdirection through ambiguous statements), that's where the word "fib" came from. The only difference is that, technically, "equivocation" only applies to single words, not whole statements, like amphibology.

    [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]

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