Okay, I want the official version...

WEBMASTER:

Is this a site meant to answer people's homework exercises?

Note: I did NOT say help people with homework problems, but [b]answer[/b] homework [b]exercises[/b].

Please give as comprehensive of a reply as you can.

- Darius
«1

Comments

  • Of course this site is not a homework solution site, that's cheating and people will not learn coding from that.

    Also, I think that its up to you if you want to reply or not to them or even delete them.

    We could add in the post rules box something like "Don't post your homework excercies here".

    What do you think?





    [blue][italic][b]/WEBMASTER[/b][/italic][/blue]

  • : Of course this site is not a homework solution site, that's cheating and people will not learn coding from that.
    :
    : Also, I think that its up to you if you want to reply or not to them or even delete them.
    :
    : We could add in the post rules box something like "Don't post your homework excercies here".
    :
    : What do you think?
    :
    :
    :
    :
    :
    : [blue][italic][b]/WEBMASTER[/b][/italic][/blue]
    :
    :

    Thank you for your prompt response. It would be quite nice if you were to add that someplace, and it would give authority to a belief that has been taken as the de facto standard to many repliers. I know that Eric Tetz feels quite strongly on this topic and he's the second place replier (at the time of this post) and quite knowledgable on programming.

    Another helpful administrative suggestion would be Posting Guidelines. These would necessarily be different from board to board, some questions being redundant or inapplicable to certain boards that would be appropriate for others. For example, providing the target OS would be very helpful for the x86 and C/C++ boards, but redundant in the Windows board, and meaningless in the XML board.

    I have my own idea for Posting Guidelines for the boards I frequent, however, I think that the final product would best be designed by the people who frequent the board, especially the repliers.

    The guidelines would only be suggestions to help the poster get a prompt and helpful reply and to keep the repliers sane.

    - Darius
  • The messageboard supports different posting rules for each board and if you or someone elese have something that should be added, then please let me know and I will add it!

    Is that OK?




    [blue][italic][b]/WEBMASTER[/b][/italic][/blue]

  • To say that noone can post their homework problems for answers is one thing, but to enforce it is another. How are you supposed to know if it is a homework problem? If they mention that, then it's one thing, but if they don't, it could be a project that they are doing on their own, or they are helping a friend, etc. etc.
    In general, though, if someone posts their problem for a solution, if it is clear that no attempt has been made by the poster to solve it, then it should either be deleted, or the reply should be general enough that they couldn't actually solve their problem (though it would help a normal programmer).
    Perhaps as a requirement for an answer you must either be asking for an algorithm, or show the algorithm and ask for the bit of code that does one section of your algorithm, or show the code itself, and if none of this is present, then the message should be deleted. (By the way, when messages are deleted, a short note should be sent to the poster explaining why, don't you think?)


    Later in life you will be more disappointed by the things you haven't done than by those you have. So cast off the bowlines and sail away into the seas of opportunity.

  • : How are you supposed to know if it is a homework problem?

    You don't always. Quite often though, it reads like it was taken straight from a textbook. Or several people ask word-for-word almost identical questions.

    Sometimes you don't have the code yet because you don't know where to start looking...
  • : Quite often though, it reads like it was taken straight from a textbook.
    Like this one:

    I am currently undertaking my first Visual Basic project using sequential files. I was required to set up a sequential file to hold details of clients for a dating agency. I was doing well until I had to add a button called Next Client. Below is my program so far (which works fine) but any help on coding the final button (Next Client), would be much appreciated.
    What i'm required to do:
    One additional command button is required:

    Next Client

    Next Client is similar to the command button Find Client in that they should display the full details of a client. However Next Client should display the client after the one displayed from the previous click of First Client or of Next Client whichever was the case.
  • While you are quite right that it looks as though it was taken straight from a textbook or homework assignment, you can't really know. My english is quite good, and when I post questions I try to phrase them as accurately as possible to get an appropriate reply, and some of these posts could be mistaken for questions from textbooks. However, as I said in my previous post, an easy way to tell whether the question is coming from a homework assignment would be to see what they are offering and what they want in return. In your example, the person posting the question offered nothing, and wanted a full solution in return, which is wrong. However, if he asked for a hint regarding the algorithm to use to solve the problem, then it would be perfectly OK to answer the question. Alternatively, if he posted the algorithm, and asked for a code snippet that performed a specific section of the algorithm, that would be OK too.

    Elie


    Later in life you will be more disappointed by the things you haven't done than by those you have. So cast off the bowlines and sail away into the seas of opportunity.

  • Seems we are almost in agreement here. Usually what I do when it looks like it's probably homework is to give them just enough to figure out the rest. Like a request for code to open a file in a textbox. I would normally tell them to look up Open in the help file.
  • I think that this site is mean't as a sort of club where hobby or professionals meet to discuss their problems. So I think the ones that visit this site only because they are too stupid to do their homework are "suckers" and I personally don't like this people but nobody can filter them from other users so I think there is nothing else to then accept them.
    Firestorm
    blue_surfer2000@yahoo.de
    ;-)

  • I don't really agree with you. This site can be used by anyone, even for homework problems. However, it is not meant to be used as a place to get free code for your homework. I occasionally post questions related to my homework, but I don't expect anyone to provide me with the full source code. The problem we are discussing is in regard to those people who do expect full solutions to their homework problems, and there are ways to filter out these people. If you have read through all of the previous posts in this thread, you would have noticed several methods of filtering out "homework posts".


    Later in life you will be more disappointed by the things you haven't done than by those you have. So cast off the bowlines and sail away into the seas of opportunity.

  • I read through all messages and I still think that it is impossible to recognize pupils from kind of expressions and anyway they can say the problem on their own words and then there is really no difference.
    Firestorm
    blue_surfer2000@yahoo.de
    ;-)

  • : I read through all messages and I still think that it is impossible to recognize pupils from kind of expressions and anyway they can say the problem on their own words and then there is really no difference.
    : Firestorm
    : blue_surfer2000@yahoo.de
    : ;-)
    :
    :

    We're not saying you can always tell, but when you can tell then you need to act accordingly. It's the honor system, which some people will always abuse...
  • Of course, if someone posted a question that looked like a homework problem and it was deleted, they would be annoyed (and rightfully so). That's why I recommended that when a post is deleted, a message should be sent to the user with a brief explanation of why it was deleted (homework problem, inappropriate language, etc) and the user would be able to ammend the message so that it won't get deleted. The moderators should be provided with a list of standard notes, and when deleting a message, just tick off all the approriate categories.



    Later in life you will be more disappointed by the things you haven't done than by those you have. So cast off the bowlines and sail away into the seas of opportunity.

  • Hi All!

    I've just read through the thread, and agree that this homework thing can be annoying. But what to do?

    I don't think deleting the post makes sense, since then someone becomes the "censor", which opens up the possibility that posts get deleted which really should not be deleted. And I must admit that there have been times when I haven't agreed with a moderator - not often, but often enough to warrant limiting the "power" to delete.

    Most times, I either post an abbreviated reply - aiming the person in the right direction, but not actually carrying them there. But sometimes, I feel that the poster is really trying. My personal philosophy is to help those that are helping themselves.

    I've gotten myself into situations where I just can't seem to get started and, while I wouldn't expect my post to sound like a homework request, it could leave the reader with the impression that I'm being lazy.

    So I sympathize with the person who posts because he just can't seem to get out of his own way. Sometimes that little push is all you need.

    Now, for these folks who expect us to do the homework assignement [b]for[/b] them? I'm not going to do it, though I will take KDL's approach and try to get them started. However, if somebody else want to do it for them - good luck to both of them!

    I think the basic problem is the medium - the "instant gratification" of the Internet is part of the problem. What did we do before? I know what I did - I worked it out! I tried things, played around and, yes - horror or horrors - read the manual!

    So, I suppose as far as I'm concerned, the answer is - no deletions, and answer the homework question in as much detail as you feel it warrants.



    [purple]Melissa[/purple]

  • We are discussing how you could recognize if .....
    I was at the "Basic" Board. There someone says sth. like "god dam college giving me this QB tasks......" And anyway I isn'`t deleted!! So I felt like I kind of fool coz what we are talking about seems really funny after this.
    Firestorm
    blue_surfer2000@yahoo.de
    ;-)

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