If you give a mouse a cookie...

[JacTise69]

I like to hang out in the help and advice forums here at TIF and answer any questions that people have. I try to refrain from answering if i genuinely don't know the answer or if I know that there's another poster who has more knowledge about it than me *looks at Quyneax, Grimy Bunyip* who post there often as well. What I've noticed though is that despite some legitimate questions being asked there are always the commonly asked

 

"Is Rapier really better than CLS?"

"Whats the lowest gp/exp for herby right now?"

 

or my personal favorite

 

"How does I get moar geepee's?"

 

My point is that often questions such as these literally could have been answered by the posters doing their own research faster than it took them to type up their post. So have we who lurk in the H&A section of these forums been conditioning people to be lazy and expect us to do their work for them? Or is it more that they wouldn't know where to research the answer their own questions?

[Blyaunte]

I like to hang out in the help and advice forums here at TIF and answer any questions that people have. I try to refrain from answering if i genuinely don't know the answer or if I know that there's another poster who has more knowledge about it than me *looks at Quyneax, Grimy Bunyip* who post there often as well. What I've noticed though is that despite some legitimate questions being asked there are always the commonly asked

 

"Is Rapier really better than CLS?"

"Whats the lowest gp/exp for herby right now?"

 

or my personal favorite

 

"How does I get moar geepee's?"

 

My point is that often questions such as these literally could have been answered by the posters doing their own research faster than it took them to type up their post. So have we who lurk in the H&A section of these forums been conditioning people to be lazy and expect us to do their work for them? Or is it more that they wouldn't know where to research the answer their own questions?

 

"If you give a man fish, he will eat for a day. If you teach a man to fish, he can get unemployment or disability cheques within 13 weeks ..."

 

:rolleyes:

 

I days of old, I used to hang out at the RSOF "Quest Help" section and the most common question asked there was "Ken Eye DUE DT?!?!?"

 

<.<

 

My patented response was "If you have to ask, then the answer is 'NO' ... "

 

Seriously the answer to your question is very simple. The Internet has made people intellectually lazy. They don't want to look anything up. They don't want any answers that involve them doing any more work than they need to do, either.

 

What they want is the cheap quick fix that will earn them big bucks and no whammies.

[Bladewing]

the most annoying one to me is "how many X do i need to get to level Y"

[Blyaunte]

the most annoying one to me is "how many X do i need to get to level Y"

 

:lol:

 

Which is one of the reasons why my clan chat was called "Look It Up" for the longest time ... :rolleyes:

[Golvellius]

What happens if you give a mouse a cookie?

I know they like cheese...

 

Questions like looking for "The best" way to do something annoy me.

There are many answers to most questions like that, yet your guaranteed to have some know it all post some garbage all over the thread.

Please don't ask for the best way to do something, ask for some ideas on how to do it, then figure out what works best for you through playing the game.

You'll enjoy it more than a spreadsheet and some bs....

[Grimy_Bunyip]

Google > All H&A answer-ers in 99% of scenarios tbh :)

 

ppl would be surprised as to how often they can get an answer by copying and pasting their question into google :D

[muggiwhplar]

I always do a search before I post a question there... usually it's already been answered several times within the past month.

[Thus]

I remember the old days before Runescape wiki where I had to look up info in guides, some of which were incomplete. I self taught almost everything I know in game. What we see is the laziness of people who want to get quick answers from people who actually took the time to learn them firsthand.

[Slayer_Jesse]

I like to hang out in the help and advice forums here at TIF and answer any questions that people have. I try to refrain from answering if i genuinely don't know the answer or if I know that there's another poster who has more knowledge about it than me *looks at Quyneax, Grimy Bunyip* who post there often as well. What I've noticed though is that despite some legitimate questions being asked there are always the commonly asked

 

"Is Rapier really better than CLS?"

"Whats the lowest gp/exp for herby right now?"

 

or my personal favorite

 

"How does I get moar geepee's?"

 

My point is that often questions such as these literally could have been answered by the posters doing their own research faster than it took them to type up their post. So have we who lurk in the H&A section of these forums been conditioning people to be lazy and expect us to do their work for them? Or is it more that they wouldn't know where to research the answer their own questions?

 

"If you give a man fish, he will eat for a day. If you teach a man to fish, he can get unemployment or disability cheques within 13 weeks ..."

 

:rolleyes:

 

I days of old, I used to hang out at the RSOF "Quest Help" section and the most common question asked there was "Ken Eye DUE DT?!?!?"

 

<.<

 

My patented response was "If you have to ask, then the answer is 'NO' ... "

 

Seriously the answer to your question is very simple. The Internet has made people intellectually lazy. They don't want to look anything up. They don't want any answers that involve them doing any more work than they need to do, either.

 

What they want is the cheap quick fix that will earn them big bucks and no whammies.

 

NO WHAMMIES! NO WHAMMIES! STOP!!!

 

dangit.

 

Ot: lazy people are lazy. answer the new questions and just give stock answers to the rest.

[Star.]

I always do a search before I post a question there... usually it's already been answered several times within the past month.

Yup same here. I always research but there is something reassuring about hearing someone tell you what to do.

 

Haha, this is why Kwineux copy and pastes her slayer answer everywhere xD

[Blyaunte]

I like to hang out in the help and advice forums here at TIF and answer any questions that people have. I try to refrain from answering if i genuinely don't know the answer or if I know that there's another poster who has more knowledge about it than me *looks at Quyneax, Grimy Bunyip* who post there often as well. What I've noticed though is that despite some legitimate questions being asked there are always the commonly asked

 

"Is Rapier really better than CLS?"

"Whats the lowest gp/exp for herby right now?"

 

or my personal favorite

 

"How does I get moar geepee's?"

 

My point is that often questions such as these literally could have been answered by the posters doing their own research faster than it took them to type up their post. So have we who lurk in the H&A section of these forums been conditioning people to be lazy and expect us to do their work for them? Or is it more that they wouldn't know where to research the answer their own questions?

 

"If you give a man fish, he will eat for a day. If you teach a man to fish, he can get unemployment or disability cheques within 13 weeks ..."

 

:rolleyes:

 

I days of old, I used to hang out at the RSOF "Quest Help" section and the most common question asked there was "Ken Eye DUE DT?!?!?"

 

<.<

 

My patented response was "If you have to ask, then the answer is 'NO' ... "

 

Seriously the answer to your question is very simple. The Internet has made people intellectually lazy. They don't want to look anything up. They don't want any answers that involve them doing any more work than they need to do, either.

 

What they want is the cheap quick fix that will earn them big bucks and no whammies.

 

NO WHAMMIES! NO WHAMMIES! STOP!!!

 

dangit.

 

Ot: lazy people are lazy. answer the new questions and just give stock answers to the rest.

 

Precisely, which is why my stock answer is: "Look it up ..." :lol:

[aspeeder]

Everyone seems to think their "CR vs. CLS" or "I'm low levelled and poor how do I make money" is unique because they do x boss more or haven't trained n skill or done z quest, but honestly if they'd just search the forums they'll probably find the same question and any differences between the two accounts/situations is usually negligible. People like personalized service, it's why people generally would rather talk to a person than a voice system even if they'll get the same results. On laziness, I agree but I don't think there's much we can do about it here, I'm just surprised people don't look up things more because I think it's amazing what I can find on google or a wiki.

[Goldenjkered]

I honestly don't mind answering questions in the help and advice forum, even if it is a simple question that could have been googled. I've been posting regularly since 2006 and I've seen many a thread about money-making, weapons and simple quest questions :lol:

[Quyneax]

I always do a search before I post a question there... usually it's already been answered several times within the past month.

Yup same here. I always research but there is something reassuring about hearing someone tell you what to do.

 

Haha, this is why Kwineux copy and pastes her slayer answer everywhere xD

I have not seen my name with that many mistakes before :shock:.

 

I wrote up my slayer post cause I felt like it at the time. I only started copying it as I noticed how many slayer questions H&A actually gets.

 

Many questions are the same and many questions could be answered by linking to previous threads. But as has been said, people like personal advice. I don't mind answering.

[Myweponsg00d]

So when you were in gradeschool and asked your teacher: "How do I divide 23 into 455?" he just looked at you and handed you a math textbook?

 

What questions ARE legitimate? Ultimately all questions could be answered on your own.

 

The factual information is out there, but sometimes people need help making sense of it from expert experience. The answer may seem obvious to you from looking at a guide, but from a newbie point of view it could be a very confusing question, due to some misunderstandings he may have about the game.

[aspeeder]

So when you were in gradeschool and asked your teacher: "How do I divide 23 into 455?" he just looked at you and handed you a math textbook?

 

What questions ARE legitimate? Ultimately all questions could be answered on your own.

 

The factual information is out there, but sometimes people need help making sense of it from expert experience. The answer may seem obvious to you from looking at a guide, but from a newbie point of view it could be a very confusing question, due to some misunderstandings he may have about the game.

Grade schoolers technically shouldn't be playing at any rate, and many of the questions come from people who should have a fairly decent background in the game (CR vs. CLS threads, 80+ dung takes some playing time). We are assuming that most of the people have had at least a passing familiarity with research methods and are not completely helpless, obviously I'm not going to tell a new player to just figure everything out right away, and I don't mind misunderstandings (Even just posting without getting a reply helps you organize your thoughts of what you have and haven't tried and may solve your problem). All I think the OP is asking is to do the best that you can to answer the question on your own, whatever the limit of your abilities is, and then come to us last (Like the ask 3 then me rule of teachers).

[xpx]

So when you were in gradeschool and asked your teacher: "How do I divide 23 into 455?" he just looked at you and handed you a math textbook?

 

What questions ARE legitimate? Ultimately all questions could be answered on your own.

 

The factual information is out there, but sometimes people need help making sense of it from expert experience. The answer may seem obvious to you from looking at a guide, but from a newbie point of view it could be a very confusing question, due to some misunderstandings he may have about the game.

Most of the easy questions are just reruns of old questions, thus people should atleast make an effort to look something up. There is no reason to ask the question as a first resort, and that's why this topic is here. Is it too much to ask if the people who ask the questions put atleast as much effort in looking something up as the people who answer those questions?

[TheAncient]

The common result is that if you habitually blow people off as dumb, they think youre elitist

 

I usually try to ignore the really dumb questions (how long until X). but for certain questions like rapier vs CLS i prefer to give some kind of input because otherwise you get idiots like golvellius dispensing terrible advice, and that simply cannot hold

[ajdimfv82459askdfjvkm]

Found the answer through a tipit search.

 

 

If You don't know what that is You Give a Mouse a cookie and he always wants more

 

 

Ty for wasting thread space on an already answered question :thumbup:.

 

Edit: Should obviously list my source.

 

"a good reason not to help noobs"

[Th e Doctor]

Where did I actually ask what happens if you give a mouse a cookie?

 

@the ancient, not saying we should blow people off as dumb, just wondering over how effective H&A really is when we continueally see the same sorts of questions over and over...

[mlskid]

Where did I actually ask what happens if you give a mouse a cookie?

 

@the ancient, not saying we should blow people off as dumb, just wondering over how effective H&A really is when we continueally see the same sorts of questions over and over...

 

I think it is immensely helpful, even in people are lazy, and refuse to go and look for their own answer, even if it's in the same forum.... *looks up at the search bar then shakes head*

However, too much of a good thing... I believe that in this case too much of a good thing, i.e. answers, is destructive to the game's integrity. People should do what they want to do, regardless of if it's the most efficient, or best way, but they should rather due it if they enjoy it. It's a game, and meant to be enjoyed firstly and foremost, then secondly it's a competitive game. Notice if you make that into a sentence and say, "Runescape is a competitve internet game." Then competitve is not the noun, rather the adjective describing the noun.

And so, babying people who ask simple questions or rather, repetitve ones is redundant. It's an unnecessary waste of peoples posts, time, and mathematics skills in some cases. :shades:

[ccesssu]

ITT this thread is your excuse to act snooty about helping a less informed player.

 

Yes everyone should know the most efficient herblore method because you do, yes everyone should know which is the best chaotic weapon for ever situation, and yes everyone should be a money making pro, but when someone is not why dont you get off your high horse and help even if it has been answered 50 times - chance are they are new players who wouldnt know to look - or situations may have changed since the question was answered previously.

 

 

This thread is rather obnoxious and reeks of the typical elitist jerks that this forum is gaining more of.

What do you mean...how to look? There are ALWAYS 3+ moneymaking / cr cls / herby xp threads on the front page..

And just because someone is new to the forum doesn't mean they don't know how to use a search bar >.>

[Myweponsg00d]

Where did I actually ask what happens if you give a mouse a cookie?

 

@the ancient, not saying we should blow people off as dumb, just wondering over how effective H&A really is when we continueally see the same sorts of questions over and over...

 

Anyone who has ever taught or tutored a subject knows that you get the same questions over and over. Why should learning how to play Runescape be any different than learning anything else?

[Bladewing]

Where did I actually ask what happens if you give a mouse a cookie?

 

@the ancient, not saying we should blow people off as dumb, just wondering over how effective H&A really is when we continueally see the same sorts of questions over and over...

 

Anyone who has ever taught or tutored a subject knows that you get the same questions over and over. Why should learning how to play Runescape be any different than learning anything else?

you don't get paid :thumbup:

 

but about the search bar point... 45s is WAY too long a cooldown. to prevent flooding my ass.

[muggiwhplar]

I think the help and advice form is better than ever at the moment, considering how knowledgeable the posters are currently.

 

I used to get annoyed by the tons of repeat threads (mostly the same old fight caves questions) but now I just ignore those and leave those to other people to answer. As far as the caves go, I feel like most people know they can do it, but they're just too afraid to risk 1-2 hours of their spare time w/o reassurance from other people. Honestly anyone with 70 ranged, 70 def, and 52 prayer will make it through without any serious trouble.

 

The staking posts are kind of frustrating me... mostly because I can only help people so much without giving away too much critical information. Sadly I feel like I'm shooting myself in the foot if I post all the ins and outs of staking for everyone to see on every staking thread. Similarly, most people who go staking and think they know what they're doing inevitably get cleaned because of their lack of understanding and reliance on luck. There's also a bunch of people giving bad advice for staking but I have to restrain myself from correcting them most of the time lol. I'd love to be able to help people with staking, just like any other RS topic, but when people ask for everything they need to know about staking, IMO it's like asking how/what/when to merchant which items. People will always provide general tips, but no one wants to spill all their secrets. Unfortunately as far as staking goes, if you try and stake knowing only the general principles, you're probably gonna get cleaned :\

 

Honestly, though, the only thing that really pisses me off in the help and advice forum is when people blatantly insult/patronize people asking for help. If you don't have anything nice to say, just ignore the topic and move on. I think the reason why some of the "elitists" around here have a bad rep is because they are known for being rude. I lost most of my respect for a few of the brilliant minds around these forums after witnessing their lack of emotional intelligence. Fortunately though, there are very few mean-spirited smart posters around here.