Other Forum Etiquette

[BillMeyer]

Hello Fellow BefourExers,

It is with interest that I have watched this forum this past weekend and have come to the conclusion that Etiquette Rules need to be revisited.

1. Before Posting - make sure you have exhausted all possible searches and then only ask your question. No question is stupid - all are valid and the more descriptive your "Heading" the more interest you are going to attract - like a moth to a candle.

2. When asking your question or seeking help, please try to state clearly what you require and what your desired outcome should be. If your outcome is secret to give you a competitive advantage - then your answer is also most likely going to be a kept secret by other members.

3. Tell us the steps you have followed and then post your code - that way we can help you correct a problem or suggest an alternative.

4. Post code between code tags - it makes it so much easier to read, looks much neater and creates acceptance by other members by providing a familiar interface.

5. Please don't answer your self or leave comments like "Never Mind - I have found the Solution" - Doing this is selfish. There are others who might also be looking for this answer to a problem and it is highly frustrating to find a post that ends in this way. Rather post the solution and mark the post as "SOLVED" - in this way you help others who have helped you at some time as well.

6. Please don't post the same question twice or thrice by just having re-phrased it or asking it differently - rather use the edit button and state on the bottom of your post "EDITED" - There are (19 Sept 2018) currently 592 487 messages on the forum - It becomes frustrating to see the same question 3 times over and the third post ends with "Never Mind - I have solved it" - You also have the danger of being placed on an Expert members "Ignore" list and you have lost access to all that knowledge.

7. Being polite and posting a "Thank you" is very nice and shows good manners, but please follow it up with a click on the "like" button. This is almost worth more than a "Thank you"

8. The main language here is English - if you have a problem with English (it might not be your mother tongue) then look at one of the other language forums or use Google Translate - we who speak and write English will not laugh at you or disrespect you for trying.

9. If you rant - you will be ignored like a child that throws a tantrum in a busy supermarket.....

and finally,

Please do not dis (speak disrespectfully to or criticize) the product in any of it's forms (B4X, B4A, B4i, B4J or B4R) or it's creator (Erel) because you are frustrated or your problem is not being solved immediately. If you don't like the product - go and try Xamarin - I guarantee you will be back and then you will have to swallow your previous words.

Keep in mind that this is an international community with several different languages, time zones, customs and markets. Your problem might be a priority to you but is not necessarily the priority of someone else.

If I give you a fish - you eat for a day - If I teach you to fish......

Enjoy !!

 

[Erel]

Good points.

Please do not dis (speak disrespectfully to or criticize) the product in any of it's forms

Constructive feedback is important and is appreciated.

Forum guidelines: https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/threads/forum-guidelines.55632/

 

[Mahares]

There are (19 Sept 2018) currently 592 487 messages on the forum

We have not reached that date yet.
Spell checking before posting on the big stuff, not minor stuff, particularly thread titles is essential to a successful forum. It helps others with searching for answers. Excessive mistakes cheapen the forum and may discourage potential new users. For most of us including myself, English is not the native tongue, but making the effort can make the difference between getting the correct answer or not.

 

[BillMeyer]

We have not reached that date yet.

Got me - Sorry - should have been 17 Sept - prophetic maybe ?

 

[jimmyF]

Got me - Sorry - should have been 17 Sept - prophetic maybe ?

Or...we are ALL in different time zones

 

[Andrew J. Brehm]

"Hello Fellow BefourExers,"

'BefourExers' is good. I feel right at home here.

 

[KMatle]

My favourite comment:

"B4x is used by a lot of users. Many of them are power-users with huge and complex apps. Assume that these guys would report an issue FIRST. If there is no report, assume that there is no issue."

 

[asales]

Very good!

This thread needs to be stick in the top of the questions forum.

 

[JordiCP]

Hope that the following will be read in a positive way and nobody will jump to bite my neck (or he/she will die poisoned )

I agree with most of the points above. I am also aware that many members in this forum help, help really a lot, and do it really well, just because they like to help others (I try to do it from time to time, but less often than what I would like). That's what makes this forum so great.

But theory must always be compared against reality. I talk to different forum members that I have known along the years, some of them have even become good 'virtual' friends and we chat regularly just to say 'Hi' or send some funny things...Believe it or not, I have heard more than twice, 3,4 or 5 times, that the responses received condition very much their presence in the forum.

Theory can't always be put totally into practice. At some (specially the first) stages of the learning process, it is even difficult to describe the problem. If English is not you mother language but you know 'enough' (what's enough? difficult to say) of it, people will prefer the english forum, just because foreign languages Forums are good, but also much slower due to the lesser members. Education is necessary: if you have replied to 20 questions in a rush, you are 'on fire' and the 21st is not as clear as you would like it to be, sometimes it is better to just jump over it.

As said, this is not a criticism, just a thought so that things can be even better if possible

 

[Computersmith64]

My favourite comment:

"B4x is used by a lot of users. Many of them are power-users with huge and complex apps. Assume that these guys would report an issue FIRST. If there is no report, assume that there is no issue."

I'm not sure whether you're being facetious, or whether you agree with this comment (I also saw it but can't remember where / when) - but I respectfully disagree with it.

I sometimes encounter issues that I don't post in the forum about for one reason or another. Sometimes it's a weird state that B4A gets into when I'm running a large amount of debug cycles & strange things start happening that make no sense. Usually, I'll try to isolate the issue then when I run out of ideas I'll shut B4A down & restart & find that the issue has resolved itself. In cases like this I don't bother posting to the forum because it's impossible to reproduce the issue.

There are other times I haven't posted to the forum as well - but I can't think of any off the top of my head right now.

Anyway, my point is that every issue / bug / whatever has to be discovered first by someone & we shouldn't assume that just because it hasn't already been reported doesn't mean there is no issue. Huge & complex doesn't necessarily mean pushing the envelope.

- Colin.

 

[Computersmith64]

Believe it or not, I have heard more than twice, 3,4 or 5 times, that the responses received condition very much their presence in the forum.

I absolutely agree with this - from both sides of the fence. If you're trying to help someone & they are ignoring your responses or dismissing suggestions off-hand without even trying them, you are less likely to spend time helping further.

Similarly, if you feel like you'll get bagged for posting in the forum or the person responding to your posts is being aggressive / critical / frustrated you'll be less likely to ask for help.

- Colin.

 

[Erel]

I've made it a sticky thread.

 

[Jmu5667]

Well put @BillMeyer

I believe that most members are here to help each other and there is a general good vibe on the forums, and a genuine interest in helping other members of the community. Glad to see this thread is sticky.

Regards

John.

 

[Jmu5667]

Also, when a post is resolved or closed etc, the author of the post should really edit the title to reflect his, make it easier to find solutions to problems without creating a post yourself. @Erel maybe there is a new status selection for post that could be add at some stage in the future ?

Regards

John.

 

[Cableguy]

I took a 2s pause just to think out wether I should post here or not…

As most of those who have come across my postings know, I "live" here for about 13 years now, and although my profile status présents me as an expert, I often say that I am an expert at posting newbie questions. In some rare ocasions, I get to help someone with a good response, and I strongly dislike not getting even a like for the time I took to answer… There are too many posts/questions still without a [solved] tag, even after a last answer with a possible solution to the presented problem… did it work? we just don't know, and the OP seems to just Don't care too much to do the update of the posting. I remember one situation where I posted in the jobs forum and was completly trashed/trolled… luckly there were other members that came to my rescue and stood by me, even encouraged me to try it my self and we created a collaborative solution to my problem… As I like to often say… mostly I just make "noise" in this forum… Hopefully a good noise, (judging from the feedback at least) and I still keep asking for help, posting NOOB questions, and at times even answering my self. ALl this just to say that, yes, at times one can feel intimidated by some les polite responses, but we should not let those take the best of us, and prevent us from striving, and KEEP POSTING NOOB QUESTIONS EVEN IF WE ARE EXPERTS!... (oops, sorry for the Caps, didn't see they were locked!)
Good maners exist, and come mostly from good common sense… but we are not born with those skills, we learn them!

 

[Jmu5667]

I took a 2s pause just to think out wether I should post here or not…

As most of those who have come across my postings know, I "live" here for about 13 years now, and although my profile status présents me as an expert, I often say that I am an expert at posting newbie questions. In some rare ocasions, I get to help someone with a good response, and I strongly dislike not getting even a like for the time I took to answer… There are too many posts/questions still without a [solved] tag, even after a last answer with a possible solution to the presented problem… did it work? we just don't know, and the OP seems to just Don't care too much to do the update of the posting. I remember one situation where I posted in the jobs forum and was completly trashed/trolled… luckly there were other members that came to my rescue and stood by me, even encouraged me to try it my self and we created a collaborative solution to my problem… As I like to often say… mostly I just make "noise" in this forum… Hopefully a good noise, (judging from the feedback at least) and I still keep asking for help, posting NOOB questions, and at times even answering my self. ALl this just to say that, yes, at times one can feel intimidated by some les polite responses, but we should not let those take the best of us, and prevent us from striving, and KEEP POSTING NOOB QUESTIONS EVEN IF WE ARE EXPERTS!... (oops, sorry for the Caps, didn't see they were locked!)
Good maners exist, and come mostly from good common sense… but we are not born with those skills, we learn them!

+1

 

[Erel]

@Erel maybe there is a new status selection for post that could be add at some stage in the future ?

1. I've looked for a Q & A plug-in to add to the forum. I haven't found anything that met my requirements.
2. I don't want to add too many "forum rules". There is no doubt that it is good that members add [solved] to the thread title. For now it is not something that will be enforced.

 

[Jmu5667]

1. I've looked for a Q & A plug-in to add to the forum. I haven't found anything that met my requirements.
2. I don't want to add too many "forum rules". There is no doubt that it is good that members add [solved] to the thread title. For now it is not something that will be enforced.

No worries

 

[Sandman]

There is no doubt that it is good that members add [solved] to the thread title.

After hanging here in the forum for some time I realized I hadn't edit my posts to show that they were solved. I've thought about going back to do that, but I've decided against it because that would bump lots of posts, effectively putting a wet blanket over new and fresh threads for a period. Nobody would appreciate that.

Can I get an advice on what I should do? Should I edit the titles or not?

 

[JordiCP]

I think that editing the titles does not bring the posts back to top