Attn: Flash Forum

[Glaiel-Gamer]

I've been seeing a lot of threads lately where the inexperienced ask a reasonable question, and the inexperienced answer the question, most of the time wrong.

Whether this is a result of a lack of help coming from the experienced/regulars since we all tend to pool into reg lounge for a fun discussion rather than helping newbs, or simply people trying to be helpful doesn't matter.

If you don't know what you're talking about, don't answer the question! It's as simple as that! There's others out there that do know what they're talking about, who should be more than willing to help others.

How do I know if I know what I'm talking about?
If you learned how to code your first button 2 weeks ago from a tutorial, you do not know what you're talking about.

If you animated a stick figure fight and it was blammed last week, you most likely do not know what your talking about.

If you've never managed to pass a game / movie on newgrounds after trying multiple times, you do not know what you're talking about.

If you've encountered the specific problem being asked about, and solved it, you know what you're talking about.

If you've been coding or animating for a couple years now and manage to consistently make high scoring movies or games, you know what you're talking about.

If other people tell you you don't know what you're talking about, you don't know what you're talking about.

If people who know what they're talking about say you're good, you know what you're talking about.

If you don't know how good you are, you don't know what you're talking about.

Thanks.

On a second note, I've been noticing more and more lately people putting their questions in the req lounge instead of a thread. Maybe if the regulars helped out more and answered questions instead of just checking the reg lounge and leaving, that wouldn't happen as much. It's worth a shot at least.

[WhoknowsmeaUdiO]

Great idea. I'm sure this was because of the guys posting in the 16k frame limit thread?
"If you've never passed a game or movie to the portal, you don't know what you're talking about"

I feel offended. And sleepy.

[Wurmy]

My problem is that the exact same question is asked so often that I just get tired of answering it. Plus it's usually such a dumb problem, that I know that the person having a problem just copy and pasted code and hoped everything would work just fine (Which of course it didn't..) and really doesn't care to learn how to code (or just doesn't want to put time into learning how).

Plus, as far as I'm concerned the best way to learn how to code is to do it yourself. Experiment, try to make stuff happen, change some code here and there and see what happens. That's how I learned how to code.

If I ever had a problem I would Google it. And I wouldn't just go through the first page and say "O LUL CANT FEIND GO 2 FORUMZ NAU K". I searched for pages (and still do), I'll change keywords, I'll even read the help files (since they actually work)..

I just find it annoying that 9/10 people who post here with a code problem expects some experienced user to walk them through the problem, and maybe even their entire 'game' or whatever.

Meh, maybe I'm just an asshole :|

[WhoknowsmeaUdiO]

At 5/16/09 07:10 PM, Wurmy wrote: I just find it annoying that 9/10 people who post here with a code problem expects some experienced user to walk them through the problem, and maybe even their entire 'game' or whatever.

Meh, maybe I'm just an asshole :|

No, you're not. It'd help if people would read the "New to Flash? Read this first" page. And if they would use the search bar.

[BlindsightGames]

At 5/16/09 06:53 PM, Glaiel-Gamer wrote:

If other people tell you you don't know what you're talking about, you don't know what you're talking about.

Glaiel-Gamer, you don't know what you're talking about.

Actually I agree with you for the most part. There is, though, a problem of people posting so many of these newbie questions that if people who might know something about it doesn't answer, it will likely go unanswered and fall to page 3 pretty quickly. That just results in them posting it all over again. *sigh*

This happens in every sort of informational forums. The people who know get tired of answering the same ol questions. The longer it goes on the more it leands to RTFM answers. Unless you have a really active, and helpful, group of people who do know wht they are talking about I don't think there is a real solution to the issue.

[Glaiel-Gamer]

At 5/16/09 08:19 PM, BlindsightGames wrote: Glaiel-Gamer, you don't know what you're talking about.

haw haw

Actually I agree with you for the most part. There is, though, a problem of people posting so many of these newbie questions that if people who might know something about it doesn't answer, it will likely go unanswered and fall to page 3 pretty quickly. That just results in them posting it all over again. *sigh*

which is a whole lot better than giving them wrong information, causing them to either keep trying in the same thread or learning wrong then perpetually spreading the wrong information which leads to them not learning other stuff properly till it spirals out of control.

This happens in every sort of informational forums. The people who know get tired of answering the same ol questions. The longer it goes on the more it leands to RTFM answers. Unless you have a really active, and helpful, group of people who do know wht they are talking about I don't think there is a real solution to the issue.

send a link anyway, it doesn't take much time, and then those people can start helping others with RIGHT information.

[I-smel]

People allways tell me I don't know what I'm talking about.
Someone asked once how to do a camera shake, and I talked about what a sine wave does and how you basically start with that and decay it. Then I got some fool all up in my grill spittin NO THAT'S STUPID, THE CODE TO DO A CAMERA SHAKE IS _x+=random();

So I think the "If people tell you you don't know what you're talking about then you don't." rule doesn't work.

"If you've never passed a game or movie to the portal, you don't know what you're talking about"
Right, now you're just being silly.

[fluffkomix]

would you consider me experienced enough to know what i'm talking about?

[I-smel]

At 5/16/09 08:54 PM, fluffkomix wrote: would you consider me experienced enough to know what i'm talking about?

The last rule is If you don't know how good you are, you don't know what you're talking about- So no, niether of us are allowed to post because we don't know what we're talking about.

[Magical-Zorse]

At 5/16/09 09:05 PM, I-smel wrote:

At 5/16/09 08:54 PM, fluffkomix wrote: would you consider me experienced enough to know what i'm talking about?

The last rule is If you don't know how good you are, you don't know what you're talking about- So no, niether of us are allowed to post because we don't know what we're talking about.

fluffkomix is experienced enough to know what he's talking about.

[fluffkomix]

At 5/16/09 09:05 PM, I-smel wrote:

At 5/16/09 08:54 PM, fluffkomix wrote: would you consider me experienced enough to know what i'm talking about?

The last rule is If you don't know how good you are, you don't know what you're talking about- So no, niether of us are allowed to post because we don't know what we're talking about.

i realize my ability. i don't go around thinking i'm the best one out there, i just wanted to get your guys' opinions on it.

[diuqscirtic]

I think a better rule would be; "If you're not confident that the solution you're providing is the correct one and the efficient one, don't post it OR use the topic and input of others to understand further, post the idea for a solution you have with a question yourself upon how the solution could be improved, but do not put forward your solution as the correct one, make clear you're trying to understand further."

It's great to learn and a forum should be about that; as long as a user doesn't claim their solution to be the solution, why should they not post? Is there something wrong with a topic developing and becoming a learning resource for other people, besides the OP? A topic should work like a real conversation between a group of people, nobody knows where it'll end up and anybody can interject.

I can understand with obvious "how I mek btn open website???" type topics, but ones where people are trying to understand the best approach for handling movement, or physics, work best when anyone can have input and it develops into more than just "answer op plx.".

[knugen]

At 5/16/09 06:53 PM, Glaiel-Gamer wrote: Maybe if the regulars helped out more and answered questions instead of just checking the reg lounge and leaving, that wouldn't happen as much. It's worth a shot at least.

I would say that includes you as well? ;)

[Kwing]

Wow, I didn't think you'd have any brains left after I ate them. Great post, though, although some of the last lines make a couple generalizations. People do need to know their limitations.

[Glaiel-Gamer]

At 5/16/09 08:54 PM, I-smel wrote: "If you've never passed a game or movie to the portal, you don't know what you're talking about"
Right, now you're just being silly.

Notice I said "after trying multiple times"

since there are those few who are good but dont make anything

plus these are just general rules

[Glaiel-Gamer]

At 5/16/09 09:25 PM, knugen wrote:

At 5/16/09 06:53 PM, Glaiel-Gamer wrote: Maybe if the regulars helped out more and answered questions instead of just checking the reg lounge and leaving, that wouldn't happen as much. It's worth a shot at least.

I would say that includes you as well? ;)

i've been trying

[billowillo]

not a lot of very experienced scritpers hang out on the bbs, i know that im not the best but i also know that i normally know what im talking about so i always try to help, though as3 questions are rare since everyone still manages to stick with as2.

but i see where you are going with this gg.

[Wurmy]

At 5/17/09 12:04 PM, billowillo wrote: though as3 questions are rare since everyone still manages to stick with as2.

Part of the problem *cough*.

[Glaiel-Gamer]

At 5/17/09 12:44 PM, Wurmy wrote:

At 5/17/09 12:04 PM, billowillo wrote: though as3 questions are rare since everyone still manages to stick with as2.

Part of the problem *cough*.

people need to start encouraging people to switch, and if someone asks for help on how to start, they start with as3 first.

It is NOT easier to start on as2 then move to as3, it's a lot easier to just learn the right way first rather than having to unlearn bad habits.

[JordanD]

At 5/16/09 06:53 PM, Glaiel-Gamer wrote: Informations

This made me lol and is informative, right on man :D

This should be bumped up there with the forum rules XD

[Doomsday-One]

At 5/17/09 01:07 PM, Glaiel-Gamer wrote: people need to start encouraging people to switch, and if someone asks for help on how to start, they start with as3 first.

I do this, even though I only know AS2. Hence, by encouraging new people to take up AS3, I'm making myself obsolete.
Oh well; that will be the day I learn AS3 and do myself a favour.

[Glaiel-Gamer]

At 5/17/09 04:56 PM, Duchednier wrote:

At 5/16/09 06:53 PM, Glaiel-Gamer wrote: Informations

This made me lol and is informative, right on man :D

This should be bumped up there with the forum rules XD

haha i just realized they're almost like the "you might be a redneck if" jokes

[tcc85811]

from a programming perspective, you could have organized those conditions much more efficiently like so:

You don't know what your talking about if:
you learned how to code your first button 2 weeks ago from a tutorial.
you animated a stick figure fight and it was blammed last week.
you've never managed to pass a game / movie on newgrounds after trying multiple times.
other people tell you you don't know what you're talking about.
you don't know how good you are.

You know what you're talking about if:
you've encountered the specific problem being asked about, and solved it.
you've been coding or animating for a couple years now and manage to consistently make high scoring movies or games.
people who know what they're talking about say you're good.

just saying.

[doctormario]

You didn't mention my ultimate flash board pet peeve...

Not reading the NEW TO FLASH? sticky at the top of the bloody page, conveniently color coded in green, in big capital letters. How are people missing that? That would eliminate at least 50% of the super nooby questions.

[Zyphonee]

The only way to stop newbs from contaminating other newbs with their newb advice is to get them a clue. Glaiel, it's simple math, you should know this more than anyone!

[Glaiel-Gamer]

At 5/17/09 10:05 PM, Zyphonee wrote: is to get them a clue.

I have such a raging clue right now

and no shit this is why I suggest people try to help

[henke37]

I would like to add a rule:
If you where redirected from posting in the programing forum, you don't know what you are doing.

[Zyphonee]

At 5/18/09 01:18 AM, henke37 wrote: I would like to add a rule:
If you where redirected from posting in the programing forum, you don't know what you are doing.

Fuck - yes

[Kirk-Cocaine]

At 5/17/09 09:54 PM, doctormario wrote: That would eliminate at least 50% of the super nooby questions.

In in current state, the sticky sometimes does more harm than good. It mentions nothing of AS2 vs AS3, which is why there's so many "Current selection cannot have actions applied to it" threads. The sticky needs a MASSIVE overhaul.

Also, I'm sick of people asking legitimate questions only to be given links to "Let Me Google That For You". I'm going to start banning that shit. Provide actual help or a relevant link(s) or don't post at all.

[Zyphonee]

But the thing is, that sticky hasn't been updated in a long, long time.