I have a question regarding the culture of this group. I noticed there are some beginners asking simple questions with only the desire to get pointed in the right direction to start their learning process. However, typically the response they get is rude, sarcastic and unhelpful. What is with this? How can we as engineers be anti-learning/teaching? Is this the legal profession? The attitude seems to be "if you don't know, leave it to the professionals." I don't get it. This isn't engineering as I know it...
Group Culture Question
Started by ●February 17, 2009
Reply by ●February 17, 20092009-02-17
There is an unwritten rule on comp.dsp that we do not do peoples' homework for them. Unfortunately, blatant homework questions are quite common here. For someone who has done their homework, or at least attempted it, and who still needs guidance, you'll find that the folks on comp.dsp are very accommodating.
Reply by ●February 17, 20092009-02-17
Reply by ●February 17, 20092009-02-17
joncox wrote:> I have a question regarding the culture of this group. I noticed there are > some beginners asking simple questions with only the desire to get pointed > in the right direction to start their learning process. However, typically > the response they get is rude, sarcastic and unhelpful. > What is with this? How can we as engineers be anti-learning/teaching? Is > this the legal profession? The attitude seems to be "if you don't know, > leave it to the professionals." I don't get it. This isn't engineering as I > know it... >1. Before asking a 2+2=4 question, check with google and wikipedia. Or better get a basic book such as "Scientist and Engineer guide.." or "Understanding DSP..." 2. Self appointed netcops are not welcome regardless of their posture and credentials. 3. Students do their homework themselves. 4. Learn the basics before talking about the complicated things. ...and everyone here will be eager to help. Vladimir Vassilevsky DSP and Mixed Signal Design Consultant http://www.abvolt.com
Reply by ●February 17, 20092009-02-17
On Tue, 17 Feb 2009 08:24:40 -0600, joncox wrote:> I have a question regarding the culture of this group. I noticed there > are some beginners asking simple questions with only the desire to get > pointed in the right direction to start their learning process. However, > typically the response they get is rude, sarcastic and unhelpful. > > What is with this? How can we as engineers be anti-learning/teaching? Is > this the legal profession? The attitude seems to be "if you don't know, > leave it to the professionals." I don't get it. This isn't engineering > as I know it...I hope it's not "typically", although it certainly happens. Citing some examples might help. If I'm to be faulted in this, its when someone asks an apparently simple question that would require a year's background to understand -- in those cases I suppose the answer would be that, plus pointers to books or titles of university courses. -- http://www.wescottdesign.com
Reply by ●February 17, 20092009-02-17
x-no-archive:> > I have a question regarding the culture of this group. I noticed there are > > some beginners asking simple questions with only the desire to get pointed > > in the right direction to start their learning process. However, typically > > the response they get is rude, sarcastic and unhelpful. > > What is with this? How can we as engineers be anti-learning/teaching? Is > > this the legal profession? The attitude seems to be "if you don't know, > > leave it to the professionals." I don't get it. This isn't engineering as I > > know it... >you think it is bad here? ,,,checkout alt.hvac sometime... Mark
Reply by ●February 17, 20092009-02-17
"joncox" <joncox@mit.edu> writes:> I have a question regarding the culture of this group. I noticed there are > some beginners asking simple questions with only the desire to get pointed > in the right direction to start their learning process. However, typically > the response they get is rude, sarcastic and unhelpful. > > What is with this? How can we as engineers be anti-learning/teaching? Is > this the legal profession? The attitude seems to be "if you don't know, > leave it to the professionals." I don't get it. This isn't engineering as I > know it...A civil response is always the appropriate response. I confess that I sometimes violate my own advice in this regard. However, what do you do when, e.g., a person lacking even algebra comes to the group and asks what the Fourier transform is, or the meaning of the Wiener-Khinchine theorem? Some questions are just so far beyond the asker's ability to understand that almost any attempt to answer them would be fruitless. In such cases I would hope that the folks here (including me) try to give a civil response with content indicating what knowledge should be gained if they really want to pursue the answer to their question. We all had to start somewhere, and none of us here should forget that. -- % Randy Yates % "My Shangri-la has gone away, fading like %% Fuquay-Varina, NC % the Beatles on 'Hey Jude'" %%% 919-577-9882 % %%%% <yates@ieee.org> % 'Shangri-La', *A New World Record*, ELO http://www.digitalsignallabs.com
Reply by ●February 17, 20092009-02-17
Randy Yates wrote:> "joncox" <joncox@mit.edu> writes: > >> I have a question regarding the culture of this group. I noticed there are >> some beginners asking simple questions with only the desire to get pointed >> in the right direction to start their learning process. However, typically >> the response they get is rude, sarcastic and unhelpful. >> >> What is with this? How can we as engineers be anti-learning/teaching? Is >> this the legal profession? The attitude seems to be "if you don't know, >> leave it to the professionals." I don't get it. This isn't engineering as I >> know it... > > A civil response is always the appropriate response. I confess that I > sometimes violate my own advice in this regard. > > However, what do you do when, e.g., a person lacking even algebra comes > to the group and asks what the Fourier transform is, or the meaning of > the Wiener-Khinchine theorem? Some questions are just so far beyond the > asker's ability to understand that almost any attempt to answer them > would be fruitless. > > In such cases I would hope that the folks here (including me) try to > give a civil response with content indicating what knowledge should be > gained if they really want to pursue the answer to their question. > > We all had to start somewhere, and none of us here should forget that.The fault for some of those questions lies with the questioner's teachers. Just today, we had this (paraphrasing: "I have been assigned to locate the source of a sound, angle and distance, using Matlab and two microphones. I don't know much about acoustics. Please help." The thread is " Sound Localization Matlab, Please Help!" I don't usually do homework, but I felt compelled to do some of the teacher's job in this instance. Jerry -- Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get. �����������������������������������������������������������������������
Reply by ●February 17, 20092009-02-17
On Feb 18, 3:24�am, "joncox" <jon...@mit.edu> wrote:> I have a question regarding the culture of this group. I noticed there are > some beginners asking simple questions with only the desire to get pointed > in the right direction to start their learning process. However, typically > the response they get is rude, sarcastic and unhelpful. > > What is with this? How can we as engineers be anti-learning/teaching? Is > this the legal profession? The attitude seems to be "if you don't know, > leave it to the professionals." I don't get it. This isn't engineering as I > know it...Piss off!
Reply by ●February 17, 20092009-02-17
On Tue, 17 Feb 2009 12:54:55 -0500, Jerry Avins wrote:> Randy Yates wrote: >> "joncox" <joncox@mit.edu> writes: >> >>> I have a question regarding the culture of this group. I noticed there >>> are some beginners asking simple questions with only the desire to get >>> pointed in the right direction to start their learning process. >>> However, typically the response they get is rude, sarcastic and >>> unhelpful. >>> >>> What is with this? How can we as engineers be anti-learning/teaching? >>> Is this the legal profession? The attitude seems to be "if you don't >>> know, leave it to the professionals." I don't get it. This isn't >>> engineering as I know it... >> >> A civil response is always the appropriate response. I confess that I >> sometimes violate my own advice in this regard. >> >> However, what do you do when, e.g., a person lacking even algebra comes >> to the group and asks what the Fourier transform is, or the meaning of >> the Wiener-Khinchine theorem? Some questions are just so far beyond the >> asker's ability to understand that almost any attempt to answer them >> would be fruitless. >> >> In such cases I would hope that the folks here (including me) try to >> give a civil response with content indicating what knowledge should be >> gained if they really want to pursue the answer to their question. >> >> We all had to start somewhere, and none of us here should forget that. > > The fault for some of those questions lies with the questioner's > teachers. Just today, we had this (paraphrasing: "I have been assigned > to locate the source of a sound, angle and distance, using Matlab and > two microphones. I don't know much about acoustics. Please help." > > The thread is " Sound Localization Matlab, Please Help!" > > I don't usually do homework, but I felt compelled to do some of the > teacher's job in this instance. > > JerryOTOH, the kid says it's for a thesis, which implies some independent research. I think I'll go say something (very mildly) snarky about engineering schools and libraries -- you know, those collections of odd information storage devices that involve changing the contrast ratio of very thin sheets of plant fiber in such a way that one can read them without recourse to a computer? -- http://www.wescottdesign.com
