While it may seem like "Use the search option" replies are redundant, you must also keep in mind that the original question that generates that response has often been asked a dozen times in the forum.

When someone posts a question that has been asked multiple times in the past and can be found with very little effort by using the search function it is obvious that the person hasn't made an effort to investigate the issue. Such questions will usually receive rather short responses; surely they don't expect someone to spend more time answering the question than they did researching it themselves. On the other hand, I've always been impressed at the amount of time people here at 8052.com are willing to spend writing quality answers to quality questions.

Believe me, it is very obvious to everyone who reads the forum how much time any given poster has spent trying to solve the problem himself.

I see an awful lot of messages asking "Where can I get a datasheet for XXX?" (try the company's website!). "How do I send a character to the serial port?" (read the tutorial and/or FAQ). "How do I do 16-bit math?" (check the tutorials and the code library). Such questions, in my opinion, show a lack of respect for the value of the time of others here in the forum. It is usually obvious where the answers can be found--but the person asking these questions is simply unwilling to spend a few minutes to find them. They'd rather post a message and come back in a few hours and have someone do the searching for them and spoonfeed them the results. That is unprofessional.

It is truly inappropriate to post a question when you haven't spent at least a minute or two searching the 8052.com forum and searching google.com. These are basic tools that should be everyone's first step in solving their problem.

I think everyone needs to understand that this is a free public forum. Everyone can ask questions and everyone can answer. Obviously the hope is that the messages posted are useful, but the usefulness will vary from message to message and may even depend on who reads it and where they read it. If someone takes the time to reply to your question it is not appropriate to complain that that person wasn't helpful. Heck, they gave you free advice which you were free to ignore. The professional reaction is to ask yourself, "Well, that didn't work. What can I try next?" It is not professional to come back to the forum and flame the person that tried to help you.

Rather than focusing on what any particular person perceives to be "useless" responses, I'm going to repeat something my mother told me numerous times when I was growing up: "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all."

Translation: Keep it friendly.

This thread is spiraling down quickly and I suspect it will end up being closed. If you can't post a friendly--or at least neutral--message, don't bother posting.

Craig Steiner
8052.com Webmaster