Please point out one thread wherein someone has "thrown their opinion around" at you, in a "hurtful fashion." I don't see it happening.


You need to remember that nobody else has spent as much time with their head buried in your project as you have. You know your requirements, you know what you've tried, what you need to explore, and what you're specifically having trouble with. The burden is on you to explain these things.

Nobody is doing this to get up your skirt.

People ask you clarifying questions to get a better idea of how to help you. It's part and parcel of working with other human beings. You need to learn to deal with that, frankly.

I think the line break makes the response a bit more clear.

indeed

[...] if people only see this as inciting drama, then I'm wasting my time.

I'm going to be totally honest and have no intentions of insulting: yeah, I think you're just being dramatic.

Please point out one thread wherein someone has "thrown their opinion around" at you, in a "hurtful fashion." I don't see it happening.

You're missing the point, and it doesn't seem like this is reconcileable. I know you don't see it happening; this is why we are still debating it. Imagine if you work hard on a science fair project, and it is so near completion, and you ask your teacher how to achieve a certain effect to finish it, and he asks, "How is this useful? What purpose does this serve?" Chances are, you won't be able to convince him, because if he cannot see how your project is of any use, he's probably going to be set in this idea. Not only will you not get help from him, but that hurts. It just does.

You need to remember that nobody else has spent as much time with their head buried in your project as you have. You know your requirements, you know what you've tried, what you need to explore, and what you're specifically having trouble with. The burden is on you to explain these things.

This isn't about missing details. How something is useful is irrelevant. It just is, because it isn't about what the most useful method is. It was never about me forgetting to mention something; sometimes things are left out because no one in their right mind would expect to need to provide this information. If I have to sell my project to you before I can get any help, then I'm in the wrong place.

Nobody is doing this to get up your skirt.

Now even the mods stoop to insults? Where I come from, Ectara is a male name. Offense aside, I know people don't realize they are having this effect when they as do it. If I thought that people were out to hurt me, I wouldn't be posting this. I'm posting this to make people aware.

People ask you clarifying questions to get a better idea of how to help you. It's part and parcel of working with other human beings. You need to learn to deal with that, frankly.

If I say that the project has no use whatsoever, how does this change the advice you give me? If I say it is for cloning humans, or for farming crops, how does this change the advice? The question's irrelevant. Clarifying on this issue provides no help.

I'm going to be totally honest and have no intentions of insulting: yeah, I think you're just being dramatic.

I knew in the back of my mind that if I posted this, people would just berate me for this opinion, but I've put up with it for enough time. People can think of this as the greatest community around, but I have never seen a lot of people that oppose me in this thread ask a question in their own thread. A lot of them are only ever on the side that gives their opinions, never on the side that has to take them before they ever get any help.

Ectara: chill.

[quote name='ApochPiQ' timestamp='1345766639' post='4972807']
Please point out one thread wherein someone has "thrown their opinion around" at you, in a "hurtful fashion." I don't see it happening.

You're missing the point, and it doesn't seem like this is reconcileable. I know you don't see it happening; this is why we are still debating it.
[/quote]
Perhaps, just perhaps, if you're the only one seeing the problem, and numerous other people think there is no problem, or that the problem is with you, just perhaps the other people are actually right? Don't completely throw that idea out.

[quote name='ApochPiQ' timestamp='1345766639' post='4972807']
Nobody is doing this to get up your skirt.

Now even the mods stoop to insults? Where I come from, Ectara is a male name. Offense aside, I know people don't realize they are having this effect when they as do it. If I thought that people were out to hurt me, I wouldn't be posting this. I'm posting this to make people aware.
[/quote]
Relax, dude. What ApochPiQ said wasn't an insult. It's a common expression. He wasn't calling you a female. It basically means that people aren't trying to violate you, which is basically what you're claiming.

[quote name='ApochPiQ' timestamp='1345766639' post='4972807']
People ask you clarifying questions to get a better idea of how to help you. It's part and parcel of working with other human beings. You need to learn to deal with that, frankly.

If I say that the project has no use whatsoever, how does this change the advice you give me? If I say it is for cloning humans, or for farming crops, how does this change the advice? The question's irrelevant. Clarifying on this issue provides no help.
[/quote]
??? Clarifying provides TONS of help. If you say it's "for farming crops" someone can respond "I've farmed crops before, this is what worked well and why I think it's a better method..." Clarifying gives people context. If you don't clarify, you're asking people to be psychics, which is a bad idea.

??? Clarifying provides TONS of help. If you say it's "for farming crops" someone can respond "I've farmed crops before, this is what worked well and why I think it's a better method..." Clarifying gives people context. If you don't clarify, you're asking people to be psychics, which is a bad idea.

I see I need to preface my posts with "I picked this method for a reason, do not attempt to convince me to abort the project" to the list of disclaimers.

Let's calm down and focus on something concrete. You're working on a parser generator that... isn't a parser generator. This is (to my knowledge) a unique piece of software.

Most parser generators take in grammar and output C code. A few output Java and/or C#. boost::spirit, parsec and my little library (and likely many others) assemble parsers in code. Yours reads a grammar and... I don't really know what it does with it. Just work with it in memory?

Honestly, I cannot see any use for this. Why don't you explain to me what problem you're looking to solve? Or at least some use cases? I don't mean this as a slight on you or your project. I mean this as a slight against myself. I don't have the imagination to see a really solid use for it. This doesn't mean that sweet niche doesn't exist. What it does mean though is that I cannot give you good advice, because I have no idea how your project is structured. I can just throw things out there, but they might go specifically against what you're trying to do, or be invalid because of some assumptions that are obvious to someone working with the system. And until we understand how it's not the same thing as other parser generators, the best advice is 'look at existing parser generators'.

That is seriously all people are asking for. Help us understand.

[quote name='Cornstalks' timestamp='1345771521' post='4972838']
??? Clarifying provides TONS of help. If you say it's "for farming crops" someone can respond "I've farmed crops before, this is what worked well and why I think it's a better method..." Clarifying gives people context. If you don't clarify, you're asking people to be psychics, which is a bad idea.

I see I need to preface my posts with "I picked this method for a reason, do not attempt to convince me to abort the project" to the list of disclaimers.
[/quote]
That's... not clarifying. Telastyn's post is a great because it shows why clarification is important and what needs to be clarified.

This has already been covered, but here's a few rules of the Internet:
* Per PA's GIFT, there will be trolls. There will also be a counter in Mods.
* Discussion forums are by necessity "advice by committee", and as with anything "by committee", it will be inefficient.
* Bikeshedding is a thing. Simple questions will be heavily bikesheded. Vague questions will be asked for clarification until they can be bikeshedded. Any question that's worded well enough to be immune to bikeshedding, won't receive many answers.
* Advice will be given in as broad a scope as possible. The onus is on the poster to carefully define the problem scope.
* Vague or unscoped problems will be questioned for clarification. This is not an attempt to halt progress in answering the question; quite the opposite!
* Valid questions will be misinterpreted. Valid answers will be misinterpreted. Human communication may and will break down at any point.
* People will act without tact. It's up to you to stay on topic and pretend they did use tact.
* The only person's attitude that you can control is your own. It's up to every individual to assume good faith behind every interaction, to interpret those interactions in the most helpful way, and to avoid projecting bad intentions onto said interactions.

Regarding the parser thread, can't you just give a one sentance answer as to why dynamic grammar is a key part of your problem?
Fully understanding any problem scope is important, so while your responder could have been much more tactful, it is valid to ask this question.