Too big for your britches

How can some know when you’re too big for your britches?

  1. When a beginning AppleScripter asks a question and you reply with something that is way above his/her head instead of walking in their shoes.

Edited: I’m just thinking about how I can better myself.

Edited: I have another one. Instead of talking in terms that people can understand, you start talking like Einstein.

Why I was thinking this? If you use some kind of ratio or something. You should at least explain what that number means. Nobody wants to seem unknowing. So, they won’t ask questions most of the time. When you start talking like Einstein it doesn’t help the questioner at all. Well maybe only in the solution. They did not learn anything at all.

Did I mention that I am the exemption to the rule that nobody wants to seem unknowledgable. Personally, I don’t care. :smiley: The main objective is your mission. But, some people don’t think that way.

Hi everybody,

Sorry for this post. I’ve just been dealing with a personal problem. In the anger stage maybe.

Again sorry,
kel

ps. You people are a bunch af great people. Helping people with all their problems. I have great respect for you all.
Thnk I’m out of it. Love you all and may God bless.

Well I don’t understand to whom you were talking but this is my difference in explaining:

Teaching someone AppleScript or explaining something to another developer requires two different vocabularies.

In other words when someone asks me to explain something I regularly use practical examples, this week someone was in my office asking about encryptions. Then I explain how they did it thousands of years ago, the person walked out of my office understanding how certificates etc… all works without using any programming terms. But when someone asks my how to implement something in code or why his code doesn’t work it’s important to stick with the programmer’s vocabulary to avoid a growth in meaningless words around the forum.

There were a few times that a questioner asked me to explain the code, well then I try to get back to practical examples but on MS it’s most of the time “Thank you” which lets me believe that the code speaks for itself. But honestly, whose fault is that? It’s an understatement to say that there are no dumb questions. The intelligence of the question is not defined by the person who will answer, it’s defined by the person who asks the question. Also the person that answers the question isn’t by any definition more intelligent than the person who asked the question either.

At least you know my side of the story. So if there is any code or explanation you don’t understand from me. The next time tell me, and if you prefer you can always send a personal message. Which so happens from time to time on MS as well, but you won’t see.

Hi Kel.

One should always try to explain things in a way the OP might understand, although it’s often difficult to gauge what their current understanding is. I suppose one excuse for not bothering to do so might be when the OP’s obviously just fishing for a free script and isn’t at all interested in how it works. :wink:

I don’t know if you’re referring to the “golden ratio” mentioned by McUsrII and myself in a thread yesterday. We had to infer for ourselves that that was understood from the OP’s poorly-phrased (and misleadingly titled) query, which mentioned a “golden section”.

I myself find it hard enough to understand some of the questions on this board nowadays. I must be getting old. :wink:

Hello.

First of all, let me say that I agree fully with Nigel Garvey’s post.

If this is about the golden ratio script, then I’ll say, that I didn’t tell how I made up the new ratio. I had just a little time, so I just solved the problem. I thought that to be a better approach, than not to create a solution.
Now, if someone had asked me, then I would have answered where I got that 1.9 number from. Thing is, I ask, when I wonder about something, and I do get answers. Though I admit that sometimes :slight_smile: I don’t, for fear of looking stupid. But, as DJ Bazzie Wazzie stated, it is possible to send a private message.

I will try to explain better for the future what my code does, or how results are inferred.

Edit

And just for the record, the short side of the triangle (b) had the length of 1.618 times the long side (a).

So, I could eliminate a from pythagoras, setting that the diagonal (d) is equal to the square root of ((1.618 b)^2 + b^2 )
summing up the innards of the parenthesis left me with 3.617b^2, taking the square root, left me with d = 1.902b
which makes b = d/1.902, and a = 1.618d/1.902, or 1.618b

Hey Folks,

I find it quite frustrating when people fail to ask well considered questions and make me guess what they’re up to.

Sometimes it’s understandable, because they don’t really understand the scope of their task. But my willingness to help drops as the number of questions I have to ask rises - especially when I ask for more info and they dole it out in dribbles.

It’s wild when someone asks “How can I do this and that?” and doesn’t even mention what app(s) they’re working with…

In my experience the better questions I ask the better answers I get.

After 20 years online helping others and receiving help, I still strive to give better answers and to ask better questions.