Ok - I'll bite - and if not for George (who has helped me more than once) - for any others who share his "rant"

Unlike many here (apparently) the demands of my job don't allow me to spend a lot of time casually conversing - thus the relative brevity of this post compared to what I'd like to write.

All I can say is that when I run across an issue/question/problem - it is my goal to get the answer/fix/workaraound/etc as fast as humanly possible. I pay my full PUTM and have no problem running parallel processing by posting a question - reading the VFP help - searching on the UT or the KB ALL AT THE SAME TIME - this is the most efficient use of my time and gets me the answer the fastest. I have answered my own question many times before the thread has and make no apologies for that. I have also asked many questions that have "stumped the UT" apparently.

If anyone deems that my question or post is not worthy to be answered - for whatever reason - they don't have to answer. If they want to point me to a document and criticize me for "not looking first" that is their prerogative too - I'm not proud - I'll have my answer and that is all I wanted to start with. I can ignore their rant and thank them for the help as I always try to do when I receive it from anyone.

In closing - I would simply say that even a "silly but legitimate question" that may have been answered a thousand times is of more value to this forum than 90% of the useless, never-ending threads and tangents that take up so much room here.

Cheers!
Ken

>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.