No Longer an Addict

[transpower]

I finally crossed the 700 post threshold and am no longer an addict; I'm now an old hand. Of my first 700 posts, my favorite is my one word response to the poster who wanted to get out of a new record request: Revert. Accurate and parsimonious, if I say so myself.

Since this is the Developer forum, let me reiterate one thing to all newbies who are professional programmers: get Developer 7--it's well worth the additional cost. Just yesterday I used it to develop a custom function to find a social security number in a comment field.

[QuinTech]

I'm sure that was quite helpful to the poster. Congratulations.

[BrentHedden]

Oh wow - Is there some kind of special prize each time a poster reaches a certain threshold?? I wasn't aware of that. So my handle changes - BIG WHOOP

On the agreeing side, yes the developer version of 7 is well worth the extra price. The custom functions is just the beginning of neat things that one can do that the regular version can't.

[Ender]

We should strive for quality, not quantity.

[-Queue-]

I could not agree more, Mike.

[QuinTech]

David Brent.

Those who've seen "The Office" understand, those who haven't should watch the show on DVD.

[LaRetta]

You go guys!

The number of posts is absolutely no indication of the quality of the response or the knowledge of the person posting. Those that post their 3-word answers care little about helping others but are rather more concerned about chaulking up the numbers and impressing everyone. They are only legends in their own minds.

Me? I have um-teen posts but more have been questions than answers.

[transpower]

I think we should strive for accuracy, clarity, and conciseness in posts. Proper English is indispensable for these goals.

[QuinTech]

Don't start. Seriously, dude. It is not welcome here. If needs be, i will find several posts where you misspelled words.

[transpower]

QuinTech: They were probably typos, not misspellings!

[Reed]

Hold on a second... I have to go and get some marshmallows before it gets too hot in here.

[-Queue-]

Clarity and accuracy should far outweigh our concern for conciseness. If it takes three paragraphs to make an idea clear, then so be it. Rarely are three-word sentences detailed enough to be considered 'clear'. Even those of us who understand the answer often have to look between the lines to grasp what the heck those three words mean.

Don't even get me started on one-word 'answers'.

[Vaughan]

Ender wrote: "We should strive for quality, not quantity."

Some of us achieve both.

Queue wrote "Clarity and accuracy should far outweigh our concern for conciseness."

It all depends on the mood I'm in, and how busy I am. And whether the poster has ranted about their problem being another bug in FMP or not.

[-Queue-]

Vaughan, you're obviously an exception to the rule.

I understand there are other things to consider, but I think it should be similar to that old saying. If you can't post something helpful, don't post anything at all. Your terse posts often provide comic relief, and I haven't noticed others needing to clean up after them. Well, except for me, of course.

[Lee Smith]

I'll try to make this brief

To the Person asking the question, one or 2 word answer comes across as arrogant, and can be interrupted as, you don't have time for them. It can give the impression that you think that they are stupid, or should already know the answer. This is NOT the impression we what to send.

The Forum caters to all levels of FileMaker knowledge and abilities, and they have various language skills. One thing we do Not want to happen is to give the impression that we cater only to the Experts, or are elitist or something. If we are going to take the time read, and then answer the questions, then lets make sure they can understand the answer. Otherwise, all we are doing is feeding our own egos.

my 2