🚀 go-pugleaf

"Mike Collins" <its@TheBottomOfThePost> wrote:
>
> [...] i'm probably guilty of it myself to a degree,

How could that be? Perhaps because you're asking because you
don't understand something (duh)?

> [...] seems to be an ever increasing number of posts to
> newsgroups that have nothing to do with the subject

For complex issues, if one understands enough to ask in the
correct group the one understands enough to (in most cases)
google the answer without posting or posts a more specific
question to the correct group. For example, the VCL group
gets many questions about TComboBox. (probably) more than
half of the solutions are API related because TComboBox is
just a wrapper around an MS control.

OTOH, if all TComboBox questions were asked in the .api group,
I'd expect that the percentage of 'correcly gouped' questions
would increase but for that to happen requires a better
understanding by the user but that's a Catch22 ... if they
knew then they wouldn't have to ask.

However, there are those that need to be told and told again
and again.

I have always objected to a blunt 'You're posting in the wrong
group' (without a 'but since you're here' explaination). I
think that a reminder to post to the most appropriate group is
called for but ISTM that the guys who complain about it without
offering a solution (or saying that they have none) do not
demonstrate a patience that I'm quite sure that others
demonstrated to them in their earlier years.

> Please do no think for one minute that i'm some anal
> newsgroup'er,

Well ... that's the nature of the beast. If you ain't anal
then you ain't a programmer because that's a requirement.

> it just seems that people are not adhering to the posting
> rules.

I haven't been around that long either but my experiance
about the rules depends more on the OP's understanding;
not just of the rules but also on the OP's understand of
of the issue. If it's a TComboBox, should it be posted to
the VCL group or the api group? Odds say the api group
but because it's a 'T'ComboBox, that makes it VCL.

Get my point?

~ JD