Oh yes, I just remembered this one. It's my personal favorite.
I get a pm or email or some-such where someone will ask one question, but it soon turns into a million questions. Question after question. Goes something like this:
How do you do this, and how did you do that? What about that, and what if this happens? What do you recommend about this, and EXACTLY how should I do that? Could you give me a little more info on this, and could you spell out all the steps for that? Ad infinitum...
OK, sounds like a real newbie in need of some guidance. So, wanting to help the lad along, I spell out the details.
(A little aside: Remember that assignment you had in grade school, where you had to spell-out all the steps to make a PBJ sandwich-- and you realized it takes two full pages of explanation, starting with, "First, open the fridge..."? Well, that's the sort of exhaustively drawn-out, detailed explanation I'm talking about here.)
After spelling out EVERY last little detail, I don't hear back from our 'author of a million questions'. Hmmmm... what gives? So, after a couple weeks go by, I send off an email/pm/whatever inquiring about our newbie's success with the much-discussed technique. And surprisingly often, this is what I would get:
Quote:
|
Oh hey, thanks for your help. I just decided to do it my own way."
|
Whaaaaaaaaaaa??? Well heck, I coulda given him that advice in the first place! Unless you've been through that mill a few times, you may fail to understand the wisdom behind the reply,
"Give it a try, and
then let me know if you have any questions.
"
