Dallas,
I find your reply rather turgid and unclear. I don't understand why you're
dragging your .Net question into things. By "I'm sure that is germane to
thing" do you mean that you think your "framework question" has some bearing
on your difficulty in inserting a line in Word? Or that my not answering it
is in some way relevant to this thread?
"...if you're here to help, why not help me w/ the Framework query"
You seem to think that someone who replies to one of your posts should be
replying to *all* posts in this group. Or is it just to all of *yours*? "if
you're here to help, why not help me w/ the Framework query". Uh-uh. There
is no such obligation, nor should there be any such expectation on your
part. We can pick and choose - feel free to be grateful for the answers you
*do* get without describing people as rude and obnoxious and "crawling out
of the woodwork". If you don't want to read my posts, please killfile me and
then you won't have to.
If you really want to know why I didn't answer your post "MS Update fpor
..NET Framework" - I saw the question, "Not knowing I ask; how important is
this & did I read it correctly, it takes 12 hours ?" and my immediate
thoughts were:
a) "Not another question from Dallas with no indication of prior research."
You've been advised before now (and this wasn't from me), "You might want to
point out in any future questions you may post that you did some basic
research but are looking for clarification. Doesn't hurt to let people know
you've put some effort into it before posting."
b) "Not another off-topic question from Dallas."
Perhaps this one's more borderline OT than the Word question; but there *is*
an Updates group. It's been pointed out to you, both here and on another
forum (not an MS newsgroup) that appropriate posting is... well,
appropriate. In a previous Word question you asked in this group, when
someone (not I) redirected you to a Word newsgroup you had the temerity to
reply, "I know, but I'm sure someone here uses Word & I was in the middle of
something". Well, busy old you.
Looking back at your posting history, it seems to be your belief that
anything running on or attached to your computer is a fit subject to post
about here since your operating system is Windows XP. Not so. Nonetheless, I
advised you in outline how to do the text-in-columns-with-vertical-line
thing in Word, and you didn't reply as to how you got on or with your
version of Word. Was I supposed to give detailed directions for Word 2007
and 2003 and XP and 2000...? See (d) below.
c) "He doesn't even bother to read over what he's written in the *subject
line* for typos." [fpor]
d) "He's still not learned to provide detail with his initial question."
*Which* .NET Framework? Give us the full story, and as clearly as you can.
You didn't even say you were at Microsoft's Update site. For all we knew,
you could have been trying to download a file purporting to be a Microsoft
..NET update from some totally other site, and the download progress box was
estimating twelve hours; perhaps because it was massive, perhaps the server
was playing up, perhaps your connection had gone squiffy. Folks here could
guess at details you omit, and will usually be right - but we shouldn't have
to assume.
e) "Reply with, 'No you didn't read it correctly, it said 1.2 hours.'"
How are we supposed to know if you read it correctly? Why not do a quick bit
of maths and divide the size given of the update by your nominal download
speed (using the right units) and see if it makes any sort of sense. For all
we know, you're connecting with a 33.6kbps dial-up modem or while also
downloading a film and a Linux .iso and running a backup across your home
network.
f) "How important is it? I don't know..."
....but if I wanted to know I'd trot off to Google and look around various
forums. If I was going through Windows update and it said it was a high
priority update, I'd probably grab it, but do a bit of research on possible
issues arising before installing. If it was large, I'd hunt it down and
download it as a standalone file if possible.
Glad that JS has been giving you all the help he has on this one.
As for this group not being your personal helpdesk - well, please do read
through all of this page
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375/en-us
(summary below). We are not paid, not here to coax detail and answers out of
you, nor to make best guesses on sparse information. For someone with such
an aversion to sarcasm, you certainly seem to have something of a
masochistic streak about you. To come bowling in once more with a
poorly-phrased, off-topic question that you've not looked into properly for
yourself and then complain about the *way* people help you is a bit rich.
Just say thanks, advise the outcome, learn from the advice received and act
on it.
There was a chap on the XP Hardware group who contributed *nothing* except
to lurk, watching for posts that he deemed were off-topic. Then he would
pounce in with the same reply every time: "What does this have to do with
XP? Nothing. Post elsewhere." No-one here's doing that to you. But the thing
is, strictly speaking, he was actually often correct (albeit extremely
rude). But he never *helped*. A reply to you like "This isn't an XP problem.
Try the XYZ groups, you'll stand a better chance of finding out what you
need to know there" isn't directly an answer to your problem, but it IS
helpful advice.
Oh, and by the way, your referring to me as "the O person" or "the Poster w/
the O as the first letter of his username" - what's all that about?
I'm very sorry to hear about your medical situation. I can only guess what
you must be going through and wish you all the best for treatment you're
undergoing and for the future prognosis.
=================
Summary of the above-referenced *Microsoft* page, "How to ask a question" by
Daniel Petri (huge swathes of valuable text chopped):-
When posting questions to a professional forum or newsgroup it is vital to
format the question and its content in a proper way in order to greatly
increase the possibility for quickly receiving a good answer, and thus
saving you time and frustration.
Before asking
- Search the archives/FAQ before you post.
- Use online search engines ...Let us know what you found, especially if
your problem is identical or similar to your findings.
- Look for an answer in the manual, documentation or readme file and tell us
about it.
- Ask a skilled friend, but don't take their advice for granted.
Selecting a good title for the question/thread will be the one of the main
driving forces for others to want to actually read your item. now will
gladly enter because they would like to find what the answer is for their
own benefit.
Know how to ask the question and provide all the necessary information in
your initial post. Good examples of questions will include information from
most of the following categories:
- What are you trying to do?
- Why are you trying to do it?
- What did you try already, why, and what was the result of your actions?
- What was the exact error message that you received?
- How long have you been experiencing this problem?
- Have you searched the relevant forum/newsgroup archives?
- Have you searched for any tools or KB articles or any other resources?
- Have you recently installed or uninstalled any software or hardware?
- What changes were made to the system between the time everything last
worked and when you noticed the problem?
Don't let us assume, tell us right at the beginning.
Some technical information we need to have.
- Do not make us ask you clarification questions, and do not make us point
you back to the manual or readme file, or ask you to search the web by using
search engines such as Google, MSN Search or Yahoo!.
- Tell what you have done prior to asking your question.
- Write in a clear language, avoiding spelling mistakes or grammatical
errors.
Follow up with a brief note on the solution.
Also, saying "Thank you" and letting people understand that you care about
their time and effort is a good way of getting noticed.
=================
And I might add - have a sense of humour.
