Hello ! I''m to stupid to find a good title for my forum post ! I also use a lot of exclamation marks to show you how important my post is ! I can''t use a search engine and I don''t know the URL of mircorsoft.com so I have to ask where I can download the D3D SDK ! I also can''t find any tutorials on BSP, I haven''t tried a search engine, but I''m sure it''s faster to post here !!! I don''t know C++ and I never programmed before, but I want to make a MMPORPG ! With at least 100000000 players. I think this is a very good idea because no newbie before had it, and I also think that I can finish it like anybody else that has finished his massive-multiplayer game ! Oh, before I forget it !!! Is D3D better than OpenGL ? Should I learn C++ or VB6 ? How many stupid questions can I ask before everybody thinks I am a lamer ? ;-))) Tim -------------------------- glvelocity.gamedev.net www.gamedev.net/hosted/glvelocity

The url of mircorsoft.com is microsoft.com

heh, and from a moderator at that!

How about a new forum room at the very top of the list called "NEWBIES PLEASE POST HERE"

I''ve been programming for about 20 years. During that time I''ve had to virtually start over from scratch many times. I''ve occasionally over the years forgotten what it is like to be a newbie, but then I get a refresher course. It takes knowledge to ask a knowledgable question. It takes knowledge to know how to find the answer to your own question. Everyone has to start somewhere. I don''t think it is nearly as lame to ask a question that shows your ignorance as it is to remain ignorant because you are affraid to ask the questions you need answered. I''ve seen far too many programmers that failed to live up to their potential because they got so caught up in trying to hide their ignorance. Usually they hide that ignorance with arrogance. They not only fail to ask the question, but they refuse to listen to the answer as well.

What you''ve said is true, Lil. But there is one thing that you might have missed out. I think the point tcs is trying to make is that most ''newbies'' come to this board to post, WITHOUT first thinking about what it is they really want to post about. Just looking at the questions that they ask, you''ll know immediately that they didn''t even bother looking up rudimentary sources of information.

NOTE: This isn''t a shot at all newbies. I was a newbie too. This is for those newbies who don''t bother about looking up information for themselves before posting.

Stupid questions don''t bother me a bit. They''re easy to answer, and help people just as much as hard to answer ones. Everybody has to start somewhere, and asking other people what to do is the easiest way to learn. What bothers me is when they act like idiots^^
And by that I mean ignoring all punctuation, leaving caps lock on, using single letters to replace words (U for you, R for are, etc. (not sure why that annoys me so much, maybe cause I did it too for a while^_^), using a million !s, stuff like that. Oh, and calling themselves stupid is bad too. I say you''re not stupid if you just don''t know something, but you are if you can''t use what you do know properly^^

---

-Deku-chan

DK Art (my site, which has little programming-related stuff on it, but you should go anyway^_^)

That is my point, newbies come here and use always this idiotic "Please help !" topic. And then they ask questions that they can answer themselves in 10 seconds. I mean everybody should be able to find the D3D SDK or a tutorial on OpenGL initialisation, this is a joke ;-)

Those guys simply don''t try to solve a problem before they asked, hey that''s thw whole point of programming, solving problems...

Tim

--------------------------
glvelocity.gamedev.net
www.gamedev.net/hosted/glvelocity

I think there is two ends to this issue. You have those newbies who ask questions without even thinking what they are asking, and there are those that quickly get offended by these sort of questions. I think i have personally been at both stages at some point. But over time this is what i have learnt:

If you have a problem, think, then search, then ask.

If you see a dumb question(which you could probably tell from the title) and it pisses you off, simply don''t answer. No need to flame anyone. Anyway sometimes ignorance is the best answer to a silly question

Then the forum gets flooded by more questions, since the newbie believes that somehow everyone missed his first post. So instead he uses even more !!!! and CAPS. Also some people seems to get very annoyed if their questions aren''t answered quick enough, remember one complaining about 2h had passed and no answer. I mean some people believe that the forum is solemnly for them and that they have the right to an answer. Well, they don''t, they should be happy and grateful if they get one....

Well, the question to all newbies should be: Do you want to always be dependent on someone else telling you how to do things, or do you want to be independent? The thing is simple, always ask and you''ll never learn to find and think up things for yourself, and therefor you will become dependent on having a better programmer around. You will NEVER be a new John Carmack, Tim Sweeney or whoever your big programmer-guru idol may be!
(Ok, I''m quite aware of the semantic error in the previous sentence, nobody will ever be a new anybody, but don''t take it so literally .)

Hi folks. This is your moderator speaking. *smile*

I know that this stuff can be annoying, and whenever I find it I do something about it. Rules I go by:

-If it''s help wanted, I boot it there, if I''m in a bad mood I delete it. If I''m in a really bad mood I boot it there after making a snide comment regarding the intelligence of the person making the post. If you aren''t studious enough to put a help wanted post in the right forum (which would be the one labelled, interestingly enough, "Help Wanted"), it''s your own fault if you can''t find it. Don''t bother asking me where it went, because I get so many I probably have no idea.

-If I can''t justify it as having something to do with "general and game programming", I will probably boot it to the lounge.

-If you multi-post I delete the extras without replies. If there are replies on multiples and I''m being industrious I''ll move them to one thread and delete the extras. People, if you hit edit you can delete your own multiposts. Try it. It''s spiffy(TM).

-If you type in all caps or use large amounts of punctuation or put some generic thing like "help me" as your topic, I will hit my edit button and fix it, usually with a mildly chiding humorous statement. I want there to be plenty of punctuation marks and capital letters for everyone. Don''t be greedy. *wry smile*

-If you keep saying the same thing over and over again with different topics, I will not be amused. I am not stupid. If nobody replies, it''s not because you didn''t ask enough times, and it''s not because you didn''t use enough capital letters and punctuation marks. It''s because people either don''t care (you asked a dumb question) or they don''t know. It''s up to you to figure out which.

These rules are pretty much not up for discussion. If you have done one of the above, I''m not vindictive and won''t hold it against you unless you do it constantly and on purpose, in which case I will be talking to you individually.

Thank you for visiting, and have a nice day.

-fel