I think that when people come in to ask for off-board support for a project without permission of the mods, and someone lets the mods know that it is going on, they usually keep on top of the situation. Of course any examples where all this happened and they were inconsistent in ruling on the matter would be appreciated. My personal opinion on the matter is that it doesn’t further conversations on this board when posters are asked to go elsewhere to participate in some project or another.
Then any examples of possible inconsistency really aren’t all that useful, since the point of this line of dialogue is that the second clause of that rule isn’t all that helpful to the community at large. Someone should really suggest that the mods reconsider that portion of the rule. Oh wait, I did. And your “personal opinion” is that you agree.
Good talk, Russ.
No, it isn’t, but if pretending it is gets you through the day…
I see no problem with the rule as it now stands, for the reason I’ve already given in this thread.
If he has misunderstood you, it’s because you haven’t made an actual argument. You’ve stated a premise that I don’t quite understand, but you’ve not taken that to a conclusion.
I cannot tell if you believe that the rules are inaccurate, but that this doesn’t matter because the mods don’t enforce it, or if you think the rules are accurate and that Munch is just misinterpreting them. And, whichever argument you are making, you need to back that up.
Because Munch’s argument is pretty simple. The rules currently say “Please do not ask other members to do your homework or provide input for your article, paper, or other off-board project.” Munch argues that the actual rule in practice is “Please do not ask other members to do your homework for you.” He argues that the rule is inaccurate and so should be changed.
He does not need to provide evidence that the mods are banning asking for help with projects. Because his entire argument is based on the opposite. Your statement “My personal opinion on the matter is that it doesn’t further conversations on this board when posters are asked to go elsewhere to participate in some project or another,” only boosters his argument.
I mean, what is the point of mentioning your “personal” opinion if you do not believe it is at odds with the current rules? You may think you are arguing against him, but you actually made his point for him. You have stated that you think people should be able to ask for help with off-board projects.
My brother is useless and he’s been around for 50 years.
I’ve stated that?
Quote me.
As far as your problems in trying to understand me, and your need to tell me that, when I make a clear statement, I am “really” saying the exact opposite?
I just don’t know, dude.
You’re not alone.
I would draw a distinction between a task set as homework (i.e. a set of exercises) and a task which was not specifically set as an exercise, but must still be accomplished in order to complete a larger project.
I really don’t think anyone closed the thread because it was homework. It was closed because it was a thoughtless question about homework. I highly doubt it would have been closed if he had shown a thorough, reasoned attempt that wasn’t coming out correctly and asked “what the hell am I doing wrong?”
I’ve never had a HW thread get closed because I’m always upfront about it being homework, and I always show my best attempt and explain where I think it’s going wrong. In this case it was pretty obviously a question that the OP wanted done for him, not help on.
Even if the thread remained open, none of us would be able to give any useful answers without a clearer explanation of the problem.
Exactly. A focused, direct question about a misunderstood concept will garner helpful answers. An open demand that we do your work for you will be met with derision and contempt.
…and answers. Many, many answers, and none of them the same. 
I request that the thread be re-opened, sort of. Except I doubt that the OP will get an answer, though I might be wrong. I would re-direct him to a specialty message board, perhaps one having to do with econometrics, time series or statistical software. If he does that though, he should also reformulate the question. See this FAQ: Stata | FAQ: The Statalist FAQ
ETA:
Well… if the deadline is more than a month in the future, I’d say it’s something else, except in an overly narrow sense. I mean if the project is large enough, we are hardly doing his homework for him. We’d just be pointing him in the right direction.
Exactly.
The biggest problem with the “no homework” rule is not so much its intent, but the fact that it is trivially easy to circumvent simply by being savvy enough in the wording of the inquiry itself.
The whole issue is policed well enough by the board itself that the rule is pointless. If a question is clearly a homework question where the OP expects other people to answer his question for him, then no-one helps him out anyway. Or, at most, they’ll point him in the right direction so that he can do the research himself.
And if someone is clever, they can very easily work out a way to ask a question without making it obvious that the topic is a homework question. In those cases, people will join the discussion and probably help out, and the rule will be irrelevant because no-one will know it’s a homework question.
I can see the difference in homework and a Masters degree project. A Masters degree project is something that might be worked on for a couple years. Learning Python is just a skill needed to execute that project.
I wouldn’t mind answering specific questions to help someone learn a programming language. That thread wasn’t worded very well and then it got off track with the “homework” debate. It quickly train wrecked.
Exactly - there’s no indication that the OP had thought about the problem at all, so even if he had, we don’t know whether he’s a guy who’s been working at this and can’t get over the hump or if he’s just complaining about not having a cookbook.
Then please enlighten me - what did you mean by “My personal opinion on the matter is that it doesn’t further conversations on this board when posters are asked to go elsewhere to participate in some project or another.”? Because what it sounds like is that you don’t have a problem with posters asking others to assist them with various projects. Are you suggesting that you really do get a stick up your ass whenever someone asks for a little creative assistance on a work or side project?
Notice the part I bolded and italicized. There have been times in the past where somebody posted a link to some off-board project and, rather then talk about said project here, asked people to hit the link to participate in some project like a poll or some other sort of information gathering.
I quoted you directly in the very post you are responding to, with quotation marks and everything. I also specifically asked you to clarify your point.
You have not made a clear statement. The evidence is that there are people who didn’t understand you. A clear statement would not have multiple Dopers stating that you did not make any sense.
Stop insisting that what you said made sense. If you want people to understand you, repeat what you said in different words. OR just go on insulting us like that will make us suddenly understand what you are saying. See if that works.
I understand the ban on asking for homework answers, but the “don’t ask for input on your off-board project” rule seems to be violated daily. I can’t tell how many authors we have here asking for solutions of certain events and puzzles that sound a lot like fiction research.
Is it just okay if it sounds like a general question, even if you’re looking for an answer you can use in your novel/essay/project/declaration of war?