Knowledge can't be divided, only multiplied
It's the quality of the team that makes a Q&A site work
Monday 22 October 2007, 10:40 PM
Never fight a pissingskunk
A story about how experts can be treated by a collegue expert at Experts-Exchange:
1) An expert runs into a question that's using lots of VBA code to solve a problem.
2) At the bottom of the question there's a notice stating:
"Further discussion or comments related to this question may be posted to help clarify the solution, update the solution if the information is outdated, show alternate ways the solution worked for you, or other related comments."
3) Knowing an alternative short solution the expert posts:
Try:
Me.Listbox = ""
(Short and working as he did test it, like he does with all his proposed solutions...)
4) The "top expert" capricorn1 doesn't test this obviously, but posts:
"did you ever tried that before posting?"
5) The expert felt his expertise was questioned so posted:
"did you ever tried that before posting?"
6) Again the "top expert" didn't took the effort to test the working solution, but posts:
"how do you think that the code you posted will *unselect* selected items from a list box?"
7) The expert again tried to get the "top expert" to test his proposed solution by his comment:
"How do you think that it doesn't ?"
8) Now the "top expert" probably found out that the shortcut did work and .... silence ....
Imagine how you would feel when you run in this type of "welcome".
Moreover it's not "just an expert" abusing a newby this way, but the #1 Access expert of the site and even an MVP...
A question about this behaviour in the Community Support area is answered with "Thank you for sharing" and closing the discussion immediately.
A complaint is answered with a long winding story of an administrator about what this good willing expert did wrong and no syllable about the way the "top expert" did treat this expert, nor the fact that they valued the contribution of the knowledge.
When even the site administrator thinks it's OK when a "top expert" questions the expertise of another expert without checking the facts, then I'm sure the site won't attrack many new experts. This administrator obviously doesn't understand how to bind new experts to the site.
Bottomline:
Experts-Exchange isn't interested in quality of their answers, nor the behaviour of a "top expert".
Nic;o)
Hmm, forgot to explain the title.
It's the credo of the mentioned administrator :-)
1) An expert runs into a question that's using lots of VBA code to solve a problem.
2) At the bottom of the question there's a notice stating:
"Further discussion or comments related to this question may be posted to help clarify the solution, update the solution if the information is outdated, show alternate ways the solution worked for you, or other related comments."
3) Knowing an alternative short solution the expert posts:
Try:
Me.Listbox = ""
(Short and working as he did test it, like he does with all his proposed solutions...)
4) The "top expert" capricorn1 doesn't test this obviously, but posts:
"did you ever tried that before posting?"
5) The expert felt his expertise was questioned so posted:
"did you ever tried that before posting?"
6) Again the "top expert" didn't took the effort to test the working solution, but posts:
"how do you think that the code you posted will *unselect* selected items from a list box?"
7) The expert again tried to get the "top expert" to test his proposed solution by his comment:
"How do you think that it doesn't ?"
8) Now the "top expert" probably found out that the shortcut did work and .... silence ....
Imagine how you would feel when you run in this type of "welcome".
Moreover it's not "just an expert" abusing a newby this way, but the #1 Access expert of the site and even an MVP...
A question about this behaviour in the Community Support area is answered with "Thank you for sharing" and closing the discussion immediately.
A complaint is answered with a long winding story of an administrator about what this good willing expert did wrong and no syllable about the way the "top expert" did treat this expert, nor the fact that they valued the contribution of the knowledge.
When even the site administrator thinks it's OK when a "top expert" questions the expertise of another expert without checking the facts, then I'm sure the site won't attrack many new experts. This administrator obviously doesn't understand how to bind new experts to the site.
Bottomline:
Experts-Exchange isn't interested in quality of their answers, nor the behaviour of a "top expert".
Nic;o)
Hmm, forgot to explain the title.
It's the credo of the mentioned administrator :-)
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