NYCPHP Meetup

[David Krings]

Brian D. wrote:
> I saw this on programming.reddit.com and wondered if the NYPHP mailing
> list had any thoughts on the subject.
> 
> Particularly:
> "The mailing lists were never easy to read through but if a man put
> his mind to it and used the delete button swiftly enough you could
> actually get something out of them and maybe even find a reason to
> stay on. But ever since everybody in North America cheaped out and
> started sending all the work to India the mailing lists of every major
> product have been polluted with the Sanjays and Prashants of this
> world asking questions that make me wonder why the he[ck] we're
> sending out our prized projects to these seemingly incompetent
> people."
> 

You have to see that those who are experienced in a particular topic are 
an elite. Just think back when you or some of the other experts started 
off knowing nothing about the subject. Asking questions and asking many 
of them is just are smart thing to do.
On the outsourcing issue, I have encountered many incompetent people who 
were US based. Just see how many US citizens can't even master their own 
language or even two or more! Those who ask many questions just want to 
get to the goal as quick as possible. Although it may be annoying for 
some, it isn't really anything wrong with that.

> I know I myself have been slightly frustrated by the volume of mail on
> the NYPHP list that makes me wonder if the submitter even bothered to
> make a trip to Google before asking questions on the list.

In order to get something useful out of Google you need to know what you 
are looking for. I once needed something that rotates images using PHP. 
As soon as you google for something with PHP as keyword you get 
bazillion results back just because the URL ends in .php.
I asked the same question on this list and got the best answer possible 
in no time. That is why people like mailing lists and that is why many 
come back and ask more questions. Further, it is much easier to ask an 
expert than to figure stuff out on your own running into all the traps 
along the way. In my opinion that is sole and pure reason for having 
such an email list.

If you are really frustrated by the load of mails from people asking 
questions then stop helping out. People will eventually go away when you 
keep ignoring them.

David

David