Bill,
You are right in many aspects. However, I think newbies and the rest
of us too would be more willing to look for answers if we had a single
place to go to where we could search across the resources.
There will be a never ending source of newbies, so just saying to go
to this resource and then that resource, then another resource until
you discover that either the question has not been answered in the way
that you can understand it, or more likely you don't know the right
vocabulary and concepts to find what you are looking for. Then they
come to this list and ask after wasting several frustrating hours or
days, and if the answer is that you can't do such a thing anyway it
really turns one away from even trying next time! When I first
started, I did not know what to call things, so most of my searches
failed.
I try to make sure that I have at least made some kind of effort
myself before asking on this list. As I have learned more, I come to
the list less often and with more difficult technical questions and
only occasionally get a satisfactory answer unless Tomasz answers.
I am amazed at how helpful people are to the extent that they write
out a complete solution from the first hint of a question.
Unfortunately that makes others dependent on the list for free coding
services instead of a resource to learn how to do it themselves. I
try to give the basic idea about how to solve the problem without
coding it up --as if I had time to do that for others while I am
always struggling to find enough time to do my own coding anyway.
It is encouraging to me to see newbies bring a chunk of AFL that they
wrote and ask why it will not do what they were trying to do. I shows
initiative and that means they will learn from the answer.
Sometimes it is appropriate to code an example for something out of
the ordinary --which becomes something to be referred to later.
I think it is appropriate for a newbie to ask basic questions on the
list like, can X be done in AFL and what do I search for to find out
how?
Then a pointer to the single search page with a nice keyword gets them
started on the right path. To paraphrase:
Give a person a fish and he will eat it and come back for another.
Teach a person to fish and he can feed himself.
From the developers point of view, this list is valuable in one sense
in that it provides a window into what are the stumbling blocks to
understanding AB/AFL. The common themes point to a need for some
additional ways of explaining, organizing, or presenting those problem
areas in a new way.
Best regards,
Dennis
On Aug 27, 2008, at 10:41 PM, wavemechanic wrote:
The problem, imo, is not the format but rather that too many are
willing to provide answers to elementary questions over and over
again instead of simply directing the person to the Users Guide or
UKB or past messages (use Yahoo search). The individual is
responsible for extracting the information needed from the available
documentation/messages and only resort to this forum when they hit a
wall. Instead, many of the new users use this forum in lieu of
doing their homework. If they were forced to find the answers, I
suspect the number of messages would drop by at least 50% and more
interesting discussions would take place.
Bill
----- Original Message -----
From: James
To: [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 8:24 PM
Subject: Re: [amibroker] Re: 'Rule Based' versus 'Discretionary'
trading...
IMO, this is the main problem with our format. First thing I asked
on this forum was about Plot Shapes. Just couldn't wait to get
started or read anything. Since that time, I bet similar plot
questions have come around 100 times. It is very hard and time
consuming to search this list. If we had a forum/board format where
all threads relating to plot were in a certain section, I think it
would help people study more and get frustrated less. This has been
discussed before and I know most people want emails and don't want
to browse a board, but there is a lot of redundancy on this list.
