No, I’m Still Not Going to Help You…

Published
by
Chris Meller
on February 5, 2007
in Commentary, Daily Grind, Follow Up and Gripes
.

Kirillz in #wordpress told me that my last post seemed to be cut off, and that I should give more details on why I get so frustrated with people when I’m trying to help them. So here are two that I could think of right off the top of my head. I’m sure I’ll be able to add to this list in the near future…

#1
When you’re having a problem and have come looking for help, don’t try and tell me that you don’t think something I’m suggesting will help. If you knew all the answers, you wouldn’t be having a problem in the first place. My suggestion may very well not have any real impact on the problem, but I still expect you to walk through the troubleshooting steps I give you anyway. It’s the way I work, and during troubleshooting I’m driving you by remote control. Shut up and do it and tell me what happens when you’re done…

#2
People like people who help themselves. That’s especially true in my case. If you haven’t checked the clearly published documentation and aren’t willing to at least try to help yourself (and that includes Googling competently for the answer), don’t bother coming to ask me for help.

This also includes not giving a detailed explanation of your problem. There are just some things I expect you to walk in the proverbial door with, and a clear description of what you expected to happen and what really happened is one of them.

2 Responses to “No, I’m Still Not Going to Help You…”

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  1. 1 Anna
    February 16, 2007 at 3:31 pm

    LOL. No, seriously, I’m sitting here chuckling.

    I understand 100% exactly how you feel because the same things have happened to me thousands of times. Okay, maybe not thousands but enough to where it makes me not want to help people that are too stupid or too lazy to try to help themselves first.

    I found your site from a Google search while looking for the downloadable Garland theme for WP and couldn’t resist leaving a comment to this post. Hope your days are going better. :)
    -Anna

  2. 2 Chris Meller
    February 17, 2007 at 11:49 am

    Thanks, Anna! They’re actually going a good deal better. I’ve moved over into a little hole at work where no one can come over and bother me with stupid questions, and I’ve stopped helping stupid people online, unless they’ve thoroughly read the documentation.

    It’s always nice to know I’m not the only one having these kinds of problems. Sometimes I wonder if I’m just going crazy… :D
    Thanks for stopping by, glad I could help you out with Garland! :)

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