I don't know...I thought at first it was me. That I'd gotten out of the wrong side of the bed this month. Or perhaps that the heat and humidity here had finally gotten to me. Then someone expressed some similar thoughts to me, and I began to think, that maybe it's not me or the heat.

What follows is, for want of a better term, a rant. As such, it's important for me to lay out a couple of ground rules in advance. First, if you don't agree with me, fine, but if you post back to me expecting me to debate the merits of the rant, forget it. As a "rant" it's an expression of my opinions and feelings (logical or not) and, since I'm entitled to them, it's pointless to debate. Second, in what follows I'm not pointing any fingers at anyone. If you feel offended by what I write, sorry, but that's the way it goes and it's not my intention to single out any individual(s). Further, I may have been guilty myself in some instances (and I'm sure not going to be offended< g >).

SET RANT ON

I've noted that there seems to be an increasing reliance on the UT as the "first" source of reference. All too often it seems that folks post a question without having checked the docs or checked the FAQs here or previous threads. Now I realize that BUTMs don't have full fledged searching capability. Further, I realize that finding things in the docs isn't always fruitful (especially if the function is one of the SYS() ones). Another factor here is the sheer size of the language. However, it seems that far too often recently this has seemed to me to be the case. I can't recall how many times I've felt compelled to post RTFM as a response. In fact, I've even seen posts that, rather than saying that, have posted the documentation.

I've also seen folks respond negatively to the suggestion of "reading the docs". You know what I'd think if someone posted that to me? I'd think, "Whoops, I blew it. I'm not doing my job as well as I should be." In fact, I'd probably respond with a thanks for pointing out to me that I missed something. But negatively? C'mon, gimme a break. Someone has just taken time to point someone else in the right direction. It's help and that's what was asked for.

However, there's seems, among some, a feeling that if someone gives you a hand, that they should "get the whole arm", so to speak. It's one thing to post a snippet of code, but I'm sure not gonna write the whole thing. That's not my job, and my job description doesn't include writing something for someone who should be capable of doing it themselves.

Finally, while it's a bit flattering to receive an email or private asking for help with a problem, it's totally inappropriate. If you can't figure it out, post a message. Send a email or the like to me and that's what I'm going to tell you. I'm not answering the question.

Before anyone jumps me for this, I should explain. I check my emails once a day and sometimes not at all. So somone may not get a response in a timely manner. By constrast, the UT is open 24/7. Further, post a question, and it (and the answer) becomes part of the record and can be referenced by other members.

SET RANT OFF

There...I feel much better.