Regulars are becoming Irregular

[lyle fairfield]

My observation is that over the past few months many of our regulars
seems to be drifting away, making fewer contributions or none at all.

Why?

I can speculate:

1. The quality of questions here in CDMA has been low;
2. The regulars are busy with paying work;
3. Contributing to the MS groups may result in recognition in the form
of MVP status;
4. Long held ideas and reputations are sometimes challenged here.

Is CDMA withering?

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

Re: Regulars are becoming Irregular

lyle fairfield <lyle.fairfield @gmail.comwrote :

>3. Contributing to the MS groups may result in recognition in the form
>of MVP status;

That won't make a difference. MS recognizes contributes due to mailing lists, online
forums such as utteraccess.com and other newsgroups. Even user group leaders are
now MVPs.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at

http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm

Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/

[Bob Alston]

Re: Regulars are becoming Irregular

Tony Toews [MVP] wrote:

lyle fairfield <lyle.fairfield @gmail.comwrote :
>

>3. Contributing to the MS groups may result in recognition in the form
>of MVP status;

>
That won't make a difference. MS recognizes contributes due to mailing lists, online
forums such as utteraccess.com and other newsgroups. Even user group leaders are
now MVPs.
>
Tony

I have always been irregular.

Bob

[Larry Linson]

Re: Regulars are becoming Irregular

"lyle fairfield" <lyle.fairfield @gmail.comwrote

My observation is that over the past few months many of our regulars
seems to be drifting away, making fewer contributions or none at all.

If our regulars are becoming irregular, do you think we should be taking up
a collection to buy them some Metamucil or psillium fibers?

Actually, I do not know for certain. DPM and others, at one time, made the
place so unpleasant that many of us who had not done so before began to
answer questions elsewhere. Arvin Meyer, back at that time, got out of the
habit of visiting here, and only occasionally drops in.

More recently, PCDatasheet was disruptive, but not enough to irritate anyone
into leaving, I suspect, and DPM seems to have drifted away.

A few other "old timers" are out of the Access business, at least for now,
but they'll likely show up again if they begin to work more with "our
favorite database".

Maybe some just got "burned out" -- it happens to me, from time to time.
Newsgroups are the last thing to suffer, in my case, but I'm "on hiatus"
with presentations for my user group from July until November.

In regards to Tony's comment, not long ago, someone here (not an MVP)
suggested that if one wants to be an MVP, they ought to move to Utter
Access. And, it is true that in the last couple of years, a lot of new
Access MVPs have come via Utter Access -- and, from personal knowledge, they
are very well qualified. Frankly, I think that's because someone at
Microsoft took a look at Utter Access, and thought, "Wow, these folks are
good! I think I'll recommend to the MVP program that they take a look."

I have two personal acquaintances who are MVPs (one in Access, one in
ASP.NET) who are very much involved in the "user community" (both lead at
least one user group) but who rarely, if ever, post to any newsgroups.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Office Access MVP

[The Frog]

Re: Regulars are becoming Irregular

Hi Guys,

This may seem a little trite, but perhaps the feeling of a lack of
contribution by others is because the volume of information that is
already put forward is so comprehensive that most everything someone
can think of is already done and solved. Perhaps the saturation limit
is being reached?

The Frog

[Chuck]

Re: Regulars are becoming Irregular

On Mon, 2 Jun 2008 00:26:41 -0700 (PDT), The Frog
<Mr.Frog.to.you @googlemail.com wrote:

>Hi Guys,
>
>This may seem a little trite, but perhaps the feeling of a lack of
>contribution by others is because the volume of information that is
>already put forward is so comprehensive that most everything someone
>can think of is already done and solved. Perhaps the saturation limit
>is being reached?
>
>The Frog

It's not so much the quantity of posts as it is the quality.
Many of the posted questions have been asked and answered may times before.
But the questioners' time is so valuable they can't afford to do any checking.
This news group is too convenient. "I have a problem. How to fix it? Thank
you. Goodby until my next problem." I'm amazed at the patience of the
knowledgable responders.

As for the answers to questions, the responders must be Houdinis. How in the
world they can decipher the meaning of some of the questions is beyond me. And
I make allowances for all the posters for whom English is obviously not their
primary language.

Chuck
--

[Keith Wilby]

Re: Regulars are becoming Irregular

"Chuck" <libbeyc@school link.netwrote in message
news:bso744the0 u9qs3arlbh537gg 3mem2ksb8@4ax.c om...

>
"I have a problem. How to fix it? Thank
you. Goodby until my next problem." I'm amazed at the patience of the
knowledgable responders.
>

I'm amazed at how many useful answers don't even receive a "thank you".

Keith.

[lyle fairfield]

Re: Regulars are becoming Irregular

And I thought I was the only one who had this problem!

On Jun 2, 8:52 am, Chuck <libb...@school link.netwrote:

As for the answers to questions, the responders must be Houdinis.  How in the
world they can decipher the meaning of some of the questions is beyond me.

[Michiel Rapati-Kekkonen]

Re: Regulars are becoming Irregular

>

It's not so much the quantity of posts as it is the quality.
Many of the posted questions have been asked and answered may times
before.
But the questioners' time is so valuable they can't afford to do any
checking.

Sure, time is valuable, but I find it sometimes difficult or apparently
impossible to find the right searchwords.
If you know the answer to your problem, ha , it is easy to find the words...
but if you're just puzzled or stunned, then it can be hard.
And then I'm most happy (and grateful) that there's a newsgroup where
patient people are willing to help.

[Arno R]

Re: Regulars are becoming Irregular


"lyle fairfield" <lyle.fairfield @gmail.comschre ef in bericht news:4d436a06-8dd7-4db0-a58c-9f6340935bca@m3 g2000hsc.google groups.com...

My observation is that over the past few months many of our regulars
seems to be drifting away, making fewer contributions or none at all.

Why?

I can speculate:

1. The quality of questions here in CDMA has been low;
2. The regulars are busy with paying work;
3. Contributing to the MS groups may result in recognition in the form
of MVP status;
4. Long held ideas and reputations are sometimes challenged here.

Is CDMA withering?

Are you referring to some regulars here specifically ??
(I don't know if I am/was considered a regular ??)

For me, the 'PCD-annoyance' last year made me 'drift away' at least for some time.
After he was gone I was very tired indeed, but still a regular (daily) reader ...

I am very 'irregular' these days in answering questions.
I guess the quality of questions is a factor indeed (for me).
Once I thought this was a place merely for developers...
But lots of questions are really 'newbee' or just plain 'lazy' questions.

BTW: Good question Lyle ! ;-)

Arno R

[rkc]

Re: Regulars are becoming Irregular

lyle fairfield wrote:

And I thought I was the only one who had this problem!
>
On Jun 2, 8:52 am, Chuck <libb...@school link.netwrote:
>

>As for the answers to questions, the responders must be Houdinis. How in the
>world they can decipher the meaning of some of the questions is beyond me.

Thank you for years of enlightenment and entertainment.

[Larry Linson]

Re: Regulars are becoming Irregular

Lyle, I think you have come up with some excellent responses, over the
years, to posts which summarized to: "Something went wrong somewhere. How do
I fix it?"

Larry

"lyle fairfield" <lyle.fairfield @gmail.comwrote in message
news:fddc06d8-51c5-4826-82eb-4b6b7e886437@a1 g2000hsb.google groups.com...
And I thought I was the only one who had this problem!

On Jun 2, 8:52 am, Chuck <libb...@school link.netwrote:

As for the answers to questions, the responders must be Houdinis. How in
the
world they can decipher the meaning of some of the questions is beyond me.

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

Re: Regulars are becoming Irregular

"Michiel Rapati-Kekkonen" <nn@nonsense.zz wrote:

>Sure, time is valuable, but I find it sometimes difficult or apparently
>impossible to find the right searchwords.

That's a lot of what we do. We also add the helpful tips though. As in "You should
also consider ..."

I'm the same way when using a different product. For example I was trying to open a
second form from within VB 6.0. Simple you say. Hah! Couldn't find anything in VB
6.0 help. Finally did a groups google search and found the answer in 15 seconds.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at

http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm

Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/

[Chuck]

Re: Regulars are becoming Irregular

On Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:56:38 GMT, "Michiel Rapati-Kekkonen" <nn@nonsense.zz >
wrote:

>Sure, time is valuable, but I find it sometimes difficult or apparently
>impossible to find the right searchwords.
>If you know the answer to your problem, ha , it is easy to find the words...
>but if you're just puzzled or stunned, then it can be hard.
>And then I'm most happy (and grateful) that there's a newsgroup where
>patient people are willing to help.
>

Amen. Been there many times. You can't ask the right questions if you don't
know the answers. The Access help files are bad, but not the worse offender.

Chuck
--

[Neil]

Re: Regulars are becoming Irregular

You know, Keith, that's a great point. But, for me, the protocol's not
clear. I usually try to say "Thank you" when someone helps me. But
oftentimes I've asked myself, "Am I being annoying by posting a message with
just a 'thank you' in it? Am I clogging up the board needlessly? I don't see
a lot of other "thank you" posts out there." So it hasn't been clear to me
at least what the appropriate action would be -- to follow the natural
instinct (for me anyway) to say thanks; or to be mindful of lack of "thank
you" posts out there and say nothing. I'd actually appreciate feedback from
you or others re. this.

Neil


"Keith Wilby" <here@there.com wrote in message
news:4843fb58$1 _1@glkas0286.gr eenlnk.net...

"Chuck" <libbeyc@school link.netwrote in message
news:bso744the0 u9qs3arlbh537gg 3mem2ksb8@4ax.c om...

>>
>"I have a problem. How to fix it? Thank
>you. Goodby until my next problem." I'm amazed at the patience of the
>knowledgable responders.
>>

>
I'm amazed at how many useful answers don't even receive a "thank you".
>
Keith.