Meaningful thread titles

[clusterfuq]

there should be rules like in the finished work gallery:

"newb: how do i make a glass teapot?"

[Namroth]

maybe someting like:
animation: "description"
modeling: "description"

[Signal2Noise]

Maybe there should be a rule to not answer any vague post.

It's hard for me to do, especially when "newbie"/"noob" is in the subject line (heehee!) but perhaps these folk will get the message to be more specific.

[Stroker]

I hate vague titles because it makes it hard to find that thread that I wanted to follow.

[Oktavian]

Yes, I don't like vague headlines too but I think some people won't learn it anymore.

[Marcel]

I think we should bitch-slap people who make vague thread titles! :surprised

And also the questions who can be found with one helpfile/Google search. Amazing how some people rather want to wait a couple of hours for somebody to answer their question on a forum, instead of looking for the answer themselves.

[Ian Jones]

"Amazing how some people rather want to wait a couple of hours for somebody to answer their question on a forum, instead of looking for the answer themselves."

I couldn't agree more. It certainly is beyond belief.

These ppl who don't take the initiative will probably never make it big. Learning cg, or learning anything for that matter is all about having a curious mind and above all an initiative to seek out information.

[clusterfuq]

i totally agree, the people who are best at things have always been 'self tought' to some extent. you need to be able to research and explore your medium and grow with it. if you just know what you've been told, you'll find it hard to be original.

[Dave Black]

Could not agree more....

But then, I can't seem to stop myself from at least pointing them in the right direction...

Perhaps if we respond to the threads that are REALLY manual/tutorial answerable, we could just respond with:

RTFM (Read the f**king Manual)

or

STFW (Search the f**king web)

hmmmm...

-3DZ

:D

[Dave Black]

After thinking about it, I think we should just have Signal to Noise greet these types of posts.

He/She is mean/evil enough(and I mean that it a nice way) to really scare the living poop out of anyone, let alone a noob.

Stroker, Namroth, and myself are a bit too nice for this task...

:D

-3DZ

:D

[mouj]

Well, i'm no expert, i consider myself a noob of all times : )
but i've been in the computer graphics business for around 5 years now, and i can tell you the first time i put my hands on a computer and openned Ps (v4 at that time !), i did know sh#t about anything (i was afraid that throwing a shortcut down the trash would kill the soft...) !!

But i've learned all by myself, took me a while (about a year playing with Ps before getting a slight glimpse of what it was all about). Then i worked in a studio, 2d animator, and i can tell you it always amazed me that even the very talented peeps out there were really the laziest guys you could think of ! i spent like 3 years between working and giving answers, most of them i had to look up for on the web (and we were all connected...).

Now as far as 3d goes, that's a far longer road to understanding than flash or illustrator could be, and i wasn't even aware of such forums as CGtalk for a while... so i know i'm not an expert (which might be why at times i don't provide the right answers !), but i also know that forums, manuals, tutorials and meeting other people is by far the best way to go... if you're at least motivated !

I mean, i completely understand you guys, even i feel quite ashame on behalf of people posting questions that have been answered on the very same page, a couple threads down !!

At a time i was thinking that maybe a "central noob" thread could be an idea as well, but in fact it would be like giving way to behave like the standard noob, which is not what people'd want if they're really into learning.

yeah well... :shrug:

mouj

[Stroker]

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way (http://www.linuxsilo.net/docs/smart-questions-en.html)
Should be required reading.

If I think about it over the next few days, I'll put together a quick canned response to vague titles and lack of information (lately, there seems to be a rash of 3DZ asking for more info).

[Signal2Noise]

Thanks for the compliment and suggestion 3DZealot!

I do glean a great deal of pleasure when responding to some of the noob/warezmonkeyloserpeeps, especially when the query and their 'max ownership' status is obvious.

But, alas, I am trying to contain myself. After all, I enjoy CgT and the majority of every other member's company. Last thing I want is to be kicked off myself for upsetting some punk-assed noob (you know who you are!).

Maybe Stroker's suggestion of a canned response will suffice. I look forward to seeing it. (Stroker: if you need any help in including some choice descriptive words just let me know- or do a search under my avatar name for some of what I consider to be classic previous responses;) )

[EricChadwick]

In my opinion, if a negative comment is all I can offer (RTFM, etc.), then it's best not to respond at all.

There will always be newbie posts. Can't stop that from happening. There's no driver's license to use the internet, no test to keep the inept off the roads. I'd love to see everyone reading How To Ask. Not gonna happen.

If you're upset by these posts, simply ignore them. Don't perpetuate negativity.

[Dave Black]

I agree, Posm.

My previous post was just a joke.

I really believe that helping out the newer users is important, and have a rather soft spot for 'em.

I don't like seeing negative replies, and I try not to give any in my responses, but sometimes a little nudge can really help.

I try to help as much as possible, but I don't think Stroker is not alone in being annoyed at so many of my responses. I'll try to back-off a bit on the replies.

-3DZ

:D

[Signal2Noise]

Me, too. I'm trying. Really I am trying!!!:)

[MFreywald]

Woah!..wait a minute Posm.. it was you that posted the beautifull 'How to ask smart questions' link. So I assume you've read it yourself. In it (and I'm not claiming it to be the bible of questions, but close), it even states the RTFM and the like arn't really negative posts. They're meant to be seen as 'The answer is obvious and easily found'. I love helping people with problems in max, but fundamental max questions really irritate me. Most the time I do like you say and just ignore it. But like Signal to Noise, there's those few questions that I just can't refrain from posting a semi-sarcastic help. And to keep in topic.. PLEASE people, PLEASE make your subjects at least semi-descriptive. I almost always fall into the problem of my subject line looking like the body cause I want to be as descriptive as I can. But then, most the people that post those lame subjects will probably never read this one.. such a shame. And can one of the mods please post Posm's link to a new thread and lock and sticky it? I believe it should be up there in the sticky's.

[Oktavian]

Wow, the hole problem seems to be very international because in a little German community we have this discussion in a periodical time.
All members agree with the fact that the anger is not the newbie himself or the questions but the lack of their own initiative (of course not all!). This strange behaviour (posted before) that an answer could be found easily but those members didn't make an affort.

[edit]:
I forget to mention that I'm a newbie to the hole 3d-stuff too. Most of the questions here I can't answer because I don't know. But I'm good in researching - that's the whole thing ;) .

[Knut]

Could not agree more with you all! I am sometimes shocked of how little effort people put in to solving problems. And by asking people that know the answer they are fooling themselves. They won't learn anything new other than where to click and they most likely annoy the people reading the questions. And the thread need to have a good title. I sometimes see that i myself make stupid thread titles, but i'll make an effort to be better on that in the future.

PS. Good questions are ofcourse to the benefit of the people so keep them coming.

[EricChadwick]

I don't disagree with HTAQTSW (how's that for an acronym?).

But I do think expletives are not helpful. Thus I prefer not using RTFM, rather RTM or similar.

Keeping discussions on a mature level helps to keep the thread positive, which keeps attitudes fresh and uncluttered by ego issues.

Slapping someone just makes them red in the face. They don't learn, they just learn to avoid, which is not the message a civil forum should promote.

Instead, through civility, we can teach someone new how to research for themselves. Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.

That's my 2 cents.

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.