little question ive pondered..

John Crowe · 09-30-2004, 07:39 AM

ive been a member here for 2-3 weeks, and have found/seen some nice information on installs. however one thing from a outsiders point of view ive wondered is....

the purpose of a forum is to allow someone to post a question, and find a answer. also that forum is suppose to grow by postings. normally its a revolving process where as the ones who were once new and now educated on the subject help those that are new now with the same questions.

however on this forum it seems to be diferent. someone posts a question and all of sudden there is a barage of "search" and a onslaught of attacks and sarcastic remarks to this person. is that a way this forum will grow? i know it would actually make alot of people not even post. Attitudes like this really hurt the potential of this board

I know this post will get some of those sarcastic answers we are use to seeing....but it is a question ive been wondering....

lotta times the best thing is...IF YOU CANT SAY SOMETHING NICE OR CONSTRUCTIVE....DONT SAY ANYTHING AT ALL

hijinks21 · 09-30-2004, 07:45 AM

the newbie forum people shouldn't be saying search..

if you post in another forum then people will say.

Nic · 09-30-2004, 08:13 AM

Most of the other forums i'm on don't have exactly the same questions being asked day after day, and in comparison to the other forums i am a member of this is by far the nicest forum "community". There are very few flame wars/posts (dont take the sarcastic remarks too seriously), and there is little in the way of the i'm better/cooler/smarter mentality that seems to plague many people on the internet be it because they have a better degree, job or even a higher postcount, anyway i'm ranting but the point was if you stick around for long enough you'll find most people are genuinly here to help if you have shown some initative and common sense

DarquePervert · 09-30-2004, 08:28 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by John Crowe

lotta times the best thing is...IF YOU CANT SAY SOMETHING NICE OR CONSTRUCTIVE....DONT SAY ANYTHING AT ALL

By the same token, the people that post a question and bump their post up with crap like "nobody has an answer?!?!?"
Well, I'd think that's pretty obvious, since nobody replied.

My take is this:
Searching this forum, as well as others, yields a bounty of answers. Not everything, mind you, but a lot.
The same questions get asked over & over & over & over again. They don't need to be answered again just because someone asks them again. If someone had bothered to do a rudimentary search, they'd find the answer to these (and many more):

"How do I power my car PC?"
"Which is better, a lilliput or a Xenarc?"
"Which is better an inverter & ITPS or a DC-DC power supply?"
"How do I get music to the speakers without a head unit?"

And so on...

Frankly showing a n00b the tools that the rest of us know how & use frequently IS constructive. It saves them from asking questions that have been answered dozens of times, as well as limits the new posts to those that (hopefully) have new questions or solutions or challenges to tackle.

Nic · 09-30-2004, 08:44 AM

i'm gonna subscribe to this thread so that next time someone asks this i can post the link and go, GODDAM NEWB I WISH YOU HAD SEARCHED THIS HAS ALREADY BEEN COVERED

Ricky327 · 09-30-2004, 08:58 AM

If you been in the forum long enough and having to answer the same question with an obvious answer then it does get abit annoying.

Alot of newbies tend to ask question first without even looking at the FAQ or doing abit of research. Ok maybe the FAQ is not really that good but Im sure the answer can be found else where.

It sometimes remind me of when I used to get phone call all the time getting asked about where to find winzip, how do I zip up files and some other stuff. And thoses are asked by computer engineers who happened to not know winzip...Ok fair enough but they can work it out themselves rather than relying on asking poeple first.

What I do is not answer the phone deliberately and guess what? they then tell me "oh I tried to call you but you wasnt in the office, its ok now I found out where to download it." The point Im making is that they can help themselves and resolve the problem by doing alittle bit of research.

Heck its not possible to spoon feed newbies all the time.

The other things I hate is that some poeple will ask questions, the members in here will spend hours to find the answer, then write a page of answers and suggestions (yup some poeple are interested to spend that much time to give answers). What do you get after that? **** all...the original poster should atleast appreciate the help, better still give a feedback.

As you said the forum/thread will grow if poeple talk to each other and not just hang out to find answers or flame each other. A feedback is a good contributions, atleast it finalise the answers/suggestions if it does work or not. Dont want having to ask...hey did it work or not? what was the results?

jimmythecow · 09-30-2004, 09:24 AM

i have found it best to find an existing thread with some info that your looking for, then ask q's based on that thread. like i had a Q about a power issue. and instead of hooting and hollering about how n00bish i was, i asked a real Q. and even tho i am a new guy here i have yet to have a bad experiance with these people. if you show respect, you get respect. my .02

Zip-Lock · 09-30-2004, 10:04 AM

We've tried things like FAQ's in the past, but the information changes so fast it's hard to keep them up to date. If anyone has ideas of how to make this site more newbie friendly I'm open to ideas.

hijinks21 · 09-30-2004, 10:15 AM

zip, we could start like a mp3car wiki

techeros · 09-30-2004, 10:39 AM

I am a new guy to the board, but not to car computers. I have had a car computer for 5 years now and I feel like i have seen a lot. I don't know all the answers..thats for sure...I think most peoples gut instinct is to get an immediate answer now, then research later. I am guilty of such. It is apparent that we love this stuff; otherwise you wouldn't be reading this message. Frankly, I love to help answer questions whether it was posted somewhere else or not. It can get old answering a question that was already solved. If it bothers you, you don't have to respond. Just don't reply

We are here to help eachother.

John Crowe · 09-30-2004, 11:03 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by techeros

I think most peoples gut instinct is to get an immediate answer now, then research later. I am guilty of such. It is apparent that we love this stuff; otherwise you wouldn't be reading this message. Frankly, I love to help answer questions whether it was posted somewhere else or not. It can get old answering a question that was already solved. If it bothers you, you don't have to respond. Just don't reply

We are here to help eachother.

EXACTLY!....

brrman · 09-30-2004, 11:40 AM

If a n00blet posts one of the common questions, I look to see if someone has already told them to search. If so, then I don't even bother to reply.

The stupidest thread is when a n00b posts and about 12 people reply with "Use the search"

Quattro · 09-30-2004, 11:43 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by techeros

I am a new guy to the board, but not to car computers. I have had a car computer for 5 years now and I feel like i have seen a lot. I don't know all the answers..thats for sure...I think most peoples gut instinct is to get an immediate answer now, then research later. I am guilty of such. It is apparent that we love this stuff; otherwise you wouldn't be reading this message. Frankly, I love to help answer questions whether it was posted somewhere else or not. It can get old answering a question that was already solved. If it bothers you, you don't have to respond. Just don't reply

We are here to help eachother.

Can you feel the love!

I agree with techeros, even though I may be guilty of telling a newbie to use the search button on a couple of occasions, but I try to help when I can.

Enforcer · 09-30-2004, 11:46 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Nic

i'm gonna subscribe to this thread so that next time someone asks this i can post the link and go, GODDAM NEWB I WISH YOU HAD SEARCHED THIS HAS ALREADY BEEN COVERED

did you

because this has been covered before?

looks up at forum header. Damn newbie section, shouldn't have posted the

in here. But then again nic isn't a newb

Tidder · 09-30-2004, 12:13 PM

I'm guilty too. I always post first than research later. It's easier if someone is just like "Ya, here's the answer!" than "I know the answer, but search anyway you dumb noob" Not fair. I don't tell people to search when they ask questions I think I can help with, I'll do research for them and see what I can find. It's a good feeling to know that you've helped someone do something you've already done. I guess it depends on who you are. Microsoft personality, or Linux personality.