hi,
As always you have the option not to answer any request for help, you are under no obligation to reply, its that simple.
E
I am not talking about people who ask one or two questions. This is in reference to people who have been getting long term help and abuse our generosity. It is far from simple.
And we are not your slaves...
Maybe I should try to explain why people stop helping. Let me relate a few short examples of where helping people long term has worked well.
I recall one guy. He had graduated and found employment doing embedded system development. He was the only guy in the shop doing so and had nobody to turn to.
Over a period of months we worked on each item that was new to him and when the project was over he knew how it worked and was on the road to being a competent engineer. There is a good chance that the time I invested in him made a long term difference.
My very first high school student, non internet, earned his BS about a year ago. The local phone company was not hiring but found him impressive. They created a position, interviewed others, then hired the best qualified person for the job. My former student.
Members here may recall the help they received on this forum.
As a person who understands the need to pass along what we have been given there is a sense of accomplishment and even pride in each of the above cases.
But when we see that our help is doing little more then getting your work done be it a project or an assignment. That you are not learning or learning very little. It is a red flag. You are wasting our time and yours. Quite possibly your fathers money if you are in school
There is still another aspect to this. ETO is a community of friends unlike others where people only show off what they know or one up the next guy. This contributes to its success as a board. Sure there are people who drop in to have a question or two answered and that is OK and expected. But it seems lame for people to use ETO as a help source for months and years without spending any time to know us, or let us get to know you. Clearly nobody is required to join in but without a doubt, and due only to human nature, we will go the extra mile for the people who have befriended us. Our internet family.
Sometimes I get inspired to help people here. That is great.. I learn something new myself every time. But sometimes I get very frustrated. It is weird how so many of these lazy people come from same part of the world. I see it in our university also "in real life". People from same origin asking questions that are answered in handouts.. if they just would read them. They even miss deadlines and then complain that they did not know there was a deadline?!?
