[wp-forums] Finding Codex Articles and Help

[Les Bessant]

<puts on day job hat>

>From years of providing computer support (on things generally less
well-behaved than WordPress), I've found that some people will respond very
well to being gently steered in the right direction, and will learn for
themselves, and go on to do more than they might have believed possible.
However, some other people *will* need to have their hand held and have
every step explained to them. 

Then there are the ones who come back a week later and ask exactly the same
question again..... (or is that just in my job?)

It makes sense for some volunteers to focus on the Codex, which should make
it easier for the general question answerers to have a readily available
resource 


________________________________

Les Bessant les at lcb.me.uk
Losing it[1] - http://lcb.me.uk/

-----Original Message-----
From: wp-forums-bounces at lists.automattic.com
[mailto:wp-forums-bounces at lists.automattic.com] On Behalf Of Michael B
Sent: 02 July 2005 04:28
To: wp-forums at lists.automattic.com
Subject: Re: [wp-forums] Finding Codex Articles and Help

I get that, but I guess I simply have a different approach to teaching
someone to fish.  I rarely hand them a book and point them to the bay.
 I generally take them out the first time, show 'em how to tie a few
knots, a few different types of bait, and talk a little about the
tides and their effect on the flats.  But I digress.
Thanks for the perspective, and perhaps I will focus more effort into
the codex then and less on individual questions.

On 7/1/05, Scott Merrill <skippy at skippy.net> wrote:
> Michael B wrote:
> > So I guess I'd like some more feedback from those that have been doing
> > this longer as to the real "goal" of the forums.
> 
> My attitude is that I'd rather teach you how to fish than give you a
> fish dinner.
> 
> While many of the specifics of the questions in the forums are unique to
> the poster's problem, many of the problems themselves are generic enough
> to have been answered on the Codex.  It might take the poster a little
> effort to figure it out, but in almost all cases so far, the poster
> comes back to say "Oh!  I get it!"
> 
> That feeling of accomplishment is something very important to people
> struggling with WordPress.  They rightly feel proud of their work, and
> will be more likely (I think) to recommend WordPress to others as an
> easy-to-use and easy-to-understand system.
> 
> Sometimes a question won't have an easy answer on the Codex -- these
> usually involve plugins, or template coding beyond the examples provided
> (or maybe CSS -- I avoid those threads).  In these instances, I try to
> provide a reasonable starting point, without going so far as to entirely
> solve the person's problem.  Again, the "Aha!" moment is important for
> the poster.
> 
> Think of it this way: if I give you the specific answer to your problem,
> I help you.  If I help you understand how to solve your problem on your
> own, I help you help others.
> 
> --
> skippy at skippy.net | http://skippy.net/
> 
> gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-keys 9CFA4B35
> 506C F8BB 17AE 8A05 0B49  3544 476A 7DEC 9CFA 4B35
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-- 
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