Quote:
Originally posted by Sowulo:
<STRONG>I have my own ways of dealing with these kind of posts. I'm in this field for a living and have a great deal of respect for those others who also pay their bills by solving tech problems for others. As such, I use these general outlines when deciding where to help and how/how much.
1) If it's a quick easy problem that I would just give the help for free over the phone if someone calls my office then I will post a reply to their question.
2) If the question is posted by another tech who makes a living in this field as I do, I try to help as I might need their help on another day.
3) If the problem is in a specific area of interest or is otherwise intriguing to me in some intangible way, I try to help.
Most others that I choose to pass on helping fall into one or the other of these categories:
1) From how the question is posted I can tell that this person should not be trying to fix their own problem and should be paying one of us to fix it.
2) If a person is rude or demanding in any way they won't get my help (we've all seen, "gee, I posted this 30 seconds ago and nobody can help???"
3) Some areas are just not interesting to me away from necessity (Programming, Certs, Web Review, etc.) and you won't see me there very often.
Fortunately, there are thousands of members registered here. I do this for recreation and feel no responsibility to be all things to all people. What doesn't interest me or doesn't appeal to my "Pay it Forward" hopes to make some small difference in the world will certainly draw the attention of others of you who will help.</STRONG>
Wow! Very well said sowulo