Less People Here?
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Good morning,
nobody asked but I feel the urge to throw my bit into this particular conversation.I am not a mod/admin/whatever, just an ordinary user who six years ago gave up on one language and switched to C++, Qt C++ in particular. Out of pure interested, my day job is somewhat different.
I tried my luck on SO beforehand but I've been put off by "no forgiving", as it has been nicely put here before, petty attitude there. So I came here and sort of stayed. I am by and large no expert, I learn as I go, I sometimes lack basic C++ knowledge (and it shows sometimes). I develop tools in Qt but again, it is not the core of my work.
Like @fcarney - I learned a lot by just following the threads. Community here is build, as I see it and when you come down to those actively helping others, on mutual respect: respect for those who have knowledge and devote their time to solve problems encountered by the less experienced, respect for those who are learning and make mistakes - sometimes very silly mistakes - since we've all been learning those basics at some point. Unlike SO - it is OK in here to actually not know something simple.Of course, there is a margin of users who come here and expect everything to be handed over on a silver plate. Not presenting actual problems but "I want to write a program that does this and that, write it for me". But I think it is really a small margin, at least I don't see it often in the parts of the forum I track. But most of the users try to solve the problem by learning and present actual problem. I consider it my fair share to try to help them, if I can, as a form of giving back for what I've learned. I consider it only fair and that's purely my personal thing.
The attitude/communication problems are inevitable in a forum that welcomes people from many cultures (there also has been a thread on communication in English and forms of addressing other users in here). For some (or most? I don't have the numbers) the English is not their first language so slips will occur. And that brings us back to the attitude and expectations.
Like almost every forum this one has some rules. Those rules are meant to level the field, so to speak, to provide a common ground for communications channel that can be as comfortable to everyone involved as possible. Let's agree - comfort of having conversations here is crucial as I can't imagine anyone volunteering to help otherwise. Code formatting is one of the steps towards that - it is easier to read, you know that you're looking at the code (even if the code in question is of questionable quality), you don't need to guess what are you looking at. Well formatted post is a nice gesture towards others who will try to read it.
Same, I think, applies for the attitude towards people on the forum - one is meant to ask questions about particular problems they encounter. Throwing a random tantrum along the lines "this language is sooo stupid, I can't comprehend this" or, even worse, trying to blame other volunteers for a perceived language/tool imperfections (or trying to guilt-trip them into helping in a post full of said tantrums with little other content) is not only counter productive - it's plainly rude. I fully understand that language forms differ between the corners of the world and not everyone will use British figures of speech but basic manners are universal I think. Even if someone is using google translate. "I want and you are here to help me regardless of how I treat you", so American in its heart, simply does not fit. That's not a relation dynamics, that's sick.The above is purely my personal point of view of the forum, of curse. <rant />
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@fcarney Yes, I agree with you. At least compared to the same type of forum in our country, this forum is indeed more powerful, according to my personal feeling, I put forward the problem was solved here, thanks to those who helped me! I also sincerely hope that this forum will be more lively, go further!
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@sierdzio said in Less People Here?:
If the decline is true, I'd rather link it to the licensing practices of Qt Company.
Wow...I sure hope this isn't the case -- it would be a true shame if Qt's growth and acceptance were significantly curtailed by their licensing policy.
I for one find this forum invaluable. I suppose I could use SE, but asking questions on there just seems to instigate bored high school students to look for reasons to downvote the question.
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@mzimmers said in Less People Here?:
@artwaw said in Less People Here?:
"I want and you are here to help me regardless of how I treat you", so American in its heart,
Um...
Don't take it personally, I don't have anything against americans ... except the metric system that is ... ;)
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@kshegunov said in Less People Here?:
except the metric system that is ... ;)
Are we going down that rabbit hole again? :D
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@sierdzio said in Less People Here?:
Are we going down that rabbit hole again? :D
Not at all just having a little bit of fun at @mzimmers' nationality, harmless teasing, nothing more.
@mzimmers said in Less People Here?:
@artwaw said in Less People Here?:
"I want and you are here to help me regardless of how I treat you", so American in its heart,Just so we are clear I think this is a poor choice of words referring to the US being the proud flagman of consumerism (i.e. a reference to the "client's always right").
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@kshegunov said in Less People Here?:
except the metric system that is ... ;)
True story: back in the 1970s, the US made an attempt to convert to the metric system (to the exclusion of the Imperial system. It was a disaster, largely because of consumer pushback. One of the most bitter complaints was the move in the liquor industry to replace the "fifth" (one fifth of a gallon or 25.6 oz., a popular bottle size for spirits) with the 750 ml. or 25.4 oz. bottle.
"Those damn big companies are trying to steal 0.2 oz. from us!!"
Sigh...
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@kshegunov said in Less People Here?:
Just so we are clear I think this is a poor choice of words referring to the US being the proud flagman of consumerism (i.e. a reference to the "client's always right").
Interesting notion, though I'm not sure "consumerism" is the real issue -- if anything, it's "productionism" or "salesism." I'm fairly sure the saying "the customer's always right" was NOT invented by a customer.
Also, it would be interesting to know who is the anomaly in this regard. This sentiment seems to prevail throughout the New World, and the Far East at a minimum. I realize that the UK and western Europe don't embrace this philosophy, but perhaps it is they who are the exception...
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@mzimmers said in Less People Here?:
Interesting notion, though I'm not sure "consumerism" is the real issue -- if anything, it's "productionism" or "salesism."
Well, we can agree on any definition, but the idea that you need the new shiny thing and acquire more and more stuff is somewhat prevalent in the mind of the average person of the anglo-saxon world (or as you've put it - more correctly to say the new world).
I'm fairly sure the saying "the customer's always right" was NOT invented by a customer.
I'm fairly sure you're correct. Nevertheless socialist europe doesn't like that idea as much - the workers are also people and have dignity and rights being the main driving point against it.
Also, it would be interesting to know who is the anomaly in this regard. This sentiment seems to prevail throughout the New World, and the Far East at a minimum. I realize that the UK and western Europe don't embrace this philosophy, but perhaps it is they who are the exception...
Perhaps that's true, I really have no data to base any conclusion on it. But even if it were true, the old lady houses half a billion people, which I imagine is a bit more than (or at least on par with) the new world (or that specific part of the new world we are talking about.
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@mzimmers said in Less People Here?:
Um...
If you find that unfair - I apologise.
@kshegunov said in Less People Here?:
Just so we are clear I think this is a poor choice of words referring to the US being the proud flagman of consumerism (i.e. a reference to the "client's always right").
Yes and no. But I agree, I might have phrased that in a more precise way. I was indeed referring to the style that seems to be prevalent across the pond, not any particular person.
@mzimmers said in Less People Here?:
I'm fairly sure the saying "the customer's always right" was NOT invented by a customer.
I am with you on that one...
@mzimmers said in Less People Here?:
This sentiment seems to prevail throughout the New World, and the Far East at a minimum. I realize that the UK and western Europe don't embrace this philosophy, but perhaps it is they who are the exception...
...but I can speak only for myself and it is my experience: from all the people I've been working with or companies I cooperated with (as a client or contractor) that unwise approach is well rooted mostly there. Of course, it is only my impression and my experience, so probably is in some way biased.
@kshegunov said in Less People Here?:
the workers are also people and have dignity and rights being the main driving point against it.
YES.
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Since we've gone all light-hearted now....
@kshegunov said in Less People Here?:
except the metric system that is ... ;)
At least in my field everybody uses the metric
Anybody with any sense[TM] knows that the Imperial system relates better to the everyday real world than the Metric system. An inch, foot, yard, mile, pound, pint correspond much better to human experiences. We are not all nuclear scientists like your colleagues are, measuring in units which are abstract, plus have no soul....
:)
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@JonB said in Less People Here?:
Anybody with any sense[TM] knows that the Imperial system relates better to the everyday real world than the Metric system.
We absolutely agree on that, Matt sums it up beautifully here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7x-RGfd0Yk (notice it's related to your favourite TV - BBC)
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@JonB I'll just leave it here :)
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@kshegunov & @Chris-Kawa
Brilliant! I admit I didn't know about all those other measurements. They all seem to make real-world sense to me, and I'm even more impressed by the Imperial system than I was! :)Just for example. A pint is the natural size to drink beer in a pub. A litre means nothing, and is too big. I rest my case.
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@JonB said in Less People Here?:
They all seem to make real-world sense to me, and I'm even more impressed by the Imperial system than I was! :)
Like the one comment from matts video adequately put it:
Imperial Pile of measurement, not system :P
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@JonB said in Less People Here?:
A pint is the natural size to drink beer in a pub. A litre means nothing, and is too big. I rest my case.
Indeed, that's a good and logical reason. ... almost as as measuring people's weight in stone, because what's more natural than equating people with rocks ... ;)
But if you're into it, the litre works excellently for rakija, you drink either one, two or three, depending on how bulgarian you feel that day ;P -
Look you metricians: the definition of your centimetre is:
the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second
divided by 100. Nice one. Very everyday. Great for scientists. Meaningless for the hoi polloi. I'll take my inches any day.
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@JonB said in Less People Here?:
the definition of your centimetre is
What I find curious is whether you googled the definition of the inch? ;)
