Thank you. It still doesn’t clarify everything, but at least it’s a start. Because my interpretation of what you said was the exact opposite. At no point in the discussion had anyone brought up a project on another website. Off-board just means “not on the SDMB.” The literal interpretation of what you said is that you want people to be talking about off-board projects on the SDMB, rather than on another website. In other words, you think off-board projects should be allowed.
It still doesn’t explain everything, as you still haven’t actually rebutted any of Munch’s points, nor have you shown any understanding of Munch’s argument, but at least you and stopped blaming us for not understanding you.
As a general rule, if someone misunderstands you, it’s your fault, not theirs.
Violated or not, it’s a fucking stupid rule. What the hell qualifies as an “off-board project,” anyway?
What if my current “off-board project” is a personal website? I guess i shouldn’t ask for advice on which content management system to use, or which WordPress plugin might be best suited to my needs, or how to tweak the CSS and PHP to make the menus look better, or how to improve my search engine rankings.
Or say i’m into car repair, and i can’t find a part that i’ve been looking for? What if i’m having problems with the cylinder head and valve adjustments, or can’t seem to get my non-standard wheel and tire choices to play nice with my suspension?
Maybe, the next time i need a new computer, i’ll build my own instead of buying a pre-fab item from Dell or HP. Can i get advice about the best way to incorporate water cooling? What if i have problems seating the CPU, or getting the machine to post once it’s all set up?
What about more exclusively intellectual projects. Say, a decision to learn a language like Python, or even, for that matter, a language like Spanish. Or maybe a genealogical adventure into my family history? Is help with that stuff OK?
Nah, I can see the board getting overrun by people who find out that complicated physics, math and other questions will be answered fur freeeee in the guise of “participating” here - and no thanks. I support the ban.
I just wonder why some forms are let pass and others aren’t. I actually have some “off board project” questions I’d like to pose, and if I ever get to that point I might, asking all due permission… but I think we’ve filled out a helluva lotta midlist novels here with all the weird questions like “What would happen to a body if it was buried under an electrical transformer for five years?” and such.
It’s a sound rule, easily circumvented. Perfection. The point being is that you shouldn’t use the information on a message board or wikipedia for mission critical purposes. They are an excellent way to start your research though. IMHO.
Whose liability? Are you really trying to argue that the motivation for the rule is a concern about legal issues?
This is a board that, not very long ago, changed its own rules to allow requests for actual legal and medical advice, on the understanding that such advice should be considered opinion only, should be followed only with extreme caution, and should not be used as a substitute for an actual, real-life professional consultation.
Are you seriously suggesting that they have greater concern about liability regarding advice on book projects or building a computer than they do regarding medical and legal advice?
So you’d be ok with a master’s or PhD student asking for help on what is supposed to be an original thesis?
Would you be ok with a parent building the diorama or volcano for their kid that carried a quarter of the semester grade?
It’s still a student trying to take the easy way out.
What? “I need some help figuring out what I’m doing wrong on these math problems” is not a significant contribution to a thesis. It’s barely different from proofreading.
Now, again, the OP went overboard and wanted the problems solved for him, but asking the board for something that Mathematica can likely do if you know it well enough is not a significant or cheating way of advancing your work. Especially not when most of it would be, presumably, original research.
Medical and legal opinions go in IMHO, not GQ. Opinions, explicitly labelled, have a different status in first amendment law than claims of fact. I regret that this astonishes you. IANAL.
Incidentally here’s the OP:
It looks like a (poorly framed) factual question me. It says: I have the J matrix, is there a way of transforming it into the SS equations and then a T function? (Abbreviations added to lower confusion).
The answer is: yeah you can do it this way, here’s a link/reference or no you can’t: you also need X and/or Y, here’s a link/reference. That’s not doing somebody’s homework for them.
Yes,there should be a difference between homework and a major 1 year project.Its not like if someone is asking for some project then it is always a home work.
I think this all has happened due to misinterpretation.I wanted to say that its my project which may be a 1- day project given in your primary or secondary school but for me it is a 1 year project given to me as final project and the doubt which I have asked is a small part of it.I have my project on different theme then my subject so obviously the doubt will occur if anyone attempts to enter into a new field.
I hope now you must have understood.
If the only reason you joined this forum is to get help with your homework, I don’t care if its for a 1 day or 1 year piece of homework.
That, to me, is the biggest difference in these types of issues - folks that join only to get help like you did - vs those that are regular contributers that also ask for occasional assistance finding or understanding a topic.
I think you nailed it. The Powers That Be want to encourage this place to stay a community, and not to become another Yahoo Answers where people post a question, perhaps get an answer, and then dissappear. The are already lots of places that provide that kind of homework help. We strive for a longer term relationship, here, where you give as well as get. And yes, if we’re all perfectly honest, we are more likely to help a long time member with their homework, even if they don’t disguise the question very well. I agree that’s inconsistent, and probably very frustrating and feels unfair. But it’s human nature, too. What we have going for us here is our minds, and we’re tribal about sharing that resource.
Personally, I wouldn’t mind drastically amending the rule, if it were somehow worded to encourage helping people to find their answer, rather than providing it for them. But I think that would lead to even greater grey area debates. So realistically, I’d rather see homework/pet project advice allowed, and given its own forum if TPTB fear it will take over the board.
The issue is interesting, and like all interesting issues, gets interpreted.
Leo Bloom OP: Where are a rooster’s balls? Student in Avine Anatomy Class in Vet School OP: Where are a rooster’s balls?
See?
Similarly, in items of general interest, obviously in OPs like that (maybe it’s not obvious) generally it is not polite, or helpful to the spirit of SD, to say “Go Google,” or, worse, “Go Wiki.” (See sticky.) And sometimes it is better that the OP does enough research to frame his question. (Eg, “Shouldn’t they be near its asshole, where I’ve looked but didn’t find them.”) But again, it depends.
As to proper responses, I think initially posters should go easy. OP responded very graciously and sincerely to my sarcasm (about the recondite nature of the OP), even though he not missed the particular GQ norms of goofiness.
(FTR, I am about to post a GQ on something related to rooster balls. Betcha can’t wait…)
I think that’s misguided. If the forum is useful, posters are more likely to return. And interesting questions are welcome: GQ is far from full capacity.
When the research project is detailed, we’re not doing the poster’s homework for him, any more than any other reference is doing his homework for him. The poster was asking about how a mathematical technique works. It’s not like he was asking about a problem set. I seriously doubt whether his adviser expects him not to pursue outside advice. Quite the contrary.
That said, I hope the poster reformulates the question. Yes, it takes some time. And if he gets an answer on another forum or listserve, posting a link here might be nice.
Also: FYI RGNITKKR: This is a general interest message board. There are a couple of posters who might understand the underlying issue, but you have to work harder on presentation for them. Also, it would nice to give some background for the general reader: threads here are not primarily about assisting the first poster in the thread, generally speaking.
I didn’t realize that that rule applied to off-board projects. Over the years, I’ve occasionally run into a difficult situation (e.g., trying to solve a problem with a spreadsheet I’m doing for work), and I’ve posted questions here and gotten invaluable help. Does that violate the rules of the board? If so, I think those rules need to be changed.
The rule against homework help seems to me to be mostly useful because it prevents circumventing the board’s purpose: if someone uses the board as a way to avoid doing work that would fight their ignorance, absolutely stop them.
That was convoluted, so here’s an example: “Hey, everyone, I’m supposed to read The Scarlet Letter, but I wanna watch DWTS instead, so can someone tell me what the book’s theme is?” No: read it your own damn self.
But instead, if someone says, “So I’m writing about The Scarlet Letter, and I’m really interested in other works where adultery might occur but not be stigmatized, so I can talk about them–anyone have any ideas?” Sure: giving that person ideas helps them fight their ignorance, so I don’t see why that thread should be forbidden.