+118687 I would like answerers to think about why they are answering questions BEFORE they supply answers.
Are you seriously trying to help the asker to learn?
Are you mostly interested in showing your own cleverness or increasing your own points. (I have not great criticism here)
OR
Are you doing homework for students which is facilitating cheating and making it unlikely that they will attempt to learn anything?:
Personally, I do not think people who post multiple questions in close time proximity are attempting to learn anything.
This is especially when they are posted with minimal effort all in the same question post.
I think they are just posting their homework or assignment so that they can cheat and learn nothing.
Before you answer a question I urge you to consider WHY the question/s is asked and WHY you are providing an answer.
Do you really want to discourage people from learning and facilitate cheating?
Thanks,
Melody.
+221 I agree with everything here.
If the individual making the question needs a direct answer, I'll give them a direct answer ( Which isn't generally helping them, and it is what they want) but if they really need help I'll to do it step by step and do my best to help them.
+2446 This post challenges my overall mentality when I answer someone's question, but it definitely shifts it for the better.
"Are you seriously trying to help the asker to learn?"
For me, the answer is patently obvious: I am undoubtedly here for the sole purpose of aiding those who may struggle in a subject where I excel. I never answer a question without providing an accompanying solution that is both comprehensive and triple verified. If I have any doubt, then I always attempt to candidly communicate any presence of uncertainty beforehand. My track record proves this. My most recent answers to date prove this again and again.
For example, I think it might be important to dissect one of my answers and truly analyze the detail I put in. The horizontal lines enclose my analysis of the effectiveness of my answer compared to an unsatisfactory sample answer. Read it if you wish.
Sample Answer #1:
The sedan has a flat rate of $30.00 and a $0.50-per-mile charge, so the equation would be \(C(m)=30.00+0.5m\) . Plug in 130 for C(m) and solve for m.
Sample Answer #2:
Glace at the solution I provided for CarlsBolton.
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The difference is astounding. Let's analyze my answer and compare it to "Sample Answer #1" to see how I care.
In my answer, I read the question in its entirety and pointed out a somewhat common formatting error where the question does not specify which variable letter represents the total number of miles driven. I am intentionally forthright about this, and I cite the precise location of the error. I, then, state my assumption: The number of miles driven will be m since that seems to be an appropriate letter. Note how Sample Answer #1 does not acknowledge any of this in the slightest.
The following paragraph could be considered unnecessary, but I generally take this structured approach when answering word problems for others. I place, in a bulleted list, the tidbits of information that I will be taking into account. By doing this, I should be converting a potentially convoluted mishmash of English paraphernalia into simple phrases that are easier to handle and grasp. While Sample Answer #1 mentions the information given, it does not provide an explanation of the correlation between the information mentioned and the generated equation. This is something my answer does with the following paragraphs.
Paragraph #3 is one where I attempt to explain vocabulary (flat rate) because I realize it is key to figuring out the entire problem. I first provide the denotation, but I do not stop there. I go the extra step and explain how the vocabulary word relates to the given context of the problem. This is attention to detail.
In paragraph #4, I mostly repeat what I did for the third paragraph. I explain how the rate works. I use the same structure to convey the meaning of the $0.50-per-mile rate. I have probably spent an hour generating that response (because I try to be meticulous with the writing), and I still have not even begun to answer the question.
In paragraph #5, I finally introduce the final equation. However, I do not do so until I perform a final consolidation of all the information I have provided the reader. Afterward, I finally reveal the equation for the particular problem. I solve for m shortly after.
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If you read in between the horizontal lines, you will have seen what great lengths I had taken to provide CarlsBolton the answer. This is only one example of the 800 that I have answered thus far. I think the answer to Melody's question is so patently obvious.
"Are you mostly interested in showing your own cleverness or increasing your own points?"
Yes, I think I have been interested in demonstrating my great abilities at mathematics. Yes, I am interested in acquiring the 2000-point milestone, which is not too far off. Maybe I should not pay attention to it because those points show how much I have let others cheat.
"Are you doing homework for students which is facilitating cheating and making it unlikely that they will attempt to learn anything? "
Yes, I am doing homework for other students. The title for CarlsBolton's question is "Need help with math homework." Yes, it is facilitating cheating. As of the writing of this post, CarlsBolton has not replied in any way to my thorough response, so I will assume that I have just made it "unlikely that [he or she] will attempt to learn anything." Unfortunately, I am part of the problem.
"Personally, I do not think people who post multiple questions in close time proximity are attempting to learn anything.
This is especially when they are posted with minimal effort all in the same question post.
I think they are just posting their homework or assignment so that they can cheat and learn nothing."
I wholeheartedly agree.
"Before you answer a question I urge you to consider WHY the question/s is asked and WHY you are providing an answer.
Do you really want to discourage people from learning and facilitate cheating?"
I will. I really have to contemplate what I have been doing for the past year. I have been facilitating cheating. I have been blindsided by my own generosity. That hurts.
+118687 Hi X-squared,
My observations was not aimed at anyone in particular and certainly not at you. You have been providing great answers for a long time and I am very grateful to you. I do not contribute as much as I used to but I continue to be passionate about this forum and I know that some question askers learn a great deal from the fabulous answers that you and others give. It is these students that inspire us and make this whole site worthwhile.
CPhill has told me that if he teaches even just one student and helps to foster in them a great love of mathematics that that is all the reward he needs. (I hope you do not mind me paraphrasing Chris)
X-squared this is nothing wrong with you being pleased that your own score is increasing. I like seeing mine increase too. It is all a part of the 'game'. Do not criticize yourself for it. :) Also I do not intend to be critical of people who pick questions that they personally are interested in. There is nothing wrong with that either.
I just wanted answerers to think a little more before they answer. That is all.
For my own part I do not intend to answer questions if they are posted in multiples. But sometimes the question will interest me and I will answer anyway. I will also make more of an attempt to only half answer questions but like many of you, it is always very tempting to give whole answers, we are precise people, we like to finish what we start.
Plus sometimes I get frustrated because I give a half answer for a very good reason, and then someone else comes in and completes it. I do not mind if it is a child who is learning but it does frustrate me when it is someone with higher abilities.
I'd really like it if we could encourage the question askers to interact with us more It is great when question askers challenge or question my answers. It shows me that someone at the other end is really trying to learn!
I expect all you wonderful answerers feel the same way.
I will finish now with a huge thank you to all the wonderful people who put so much effort into teaching people here. And also a big thanks to those students who seriously learn from us and make our time here all worth while.
+2446 Hi, Melody
Thank you for the compliment. You deserve one, too, especially for being constantly online since 2013! The other answerers do not receive enough thanks for their generosity, so I am glad you acknowledge their abilities. If you were not passionate about this forum, then it probably would not survive. The students run the forum; we provide the amazing feedback with this amazing community of people. Without the students, the forum would die. Cphill has a similar mentality to me. If I help one, then I think I have achieved my goal.
The point system is a psychological yet social touch. It encourages me to return to this forum and watch it increase ever so slightly. It encourages me to return to this forum when I see a +5 next to my answer with a note from the questioner saying "Thank you!"
You have achieved your goal for me; I will think about the "why" question now.
I like the idea of "half answers" or some variation that enables the receiving end to think, learn, and interact more. Unfortunately, I do not know how to accomplish this. I can attempt to share ideas, but they are not guaranteed to be effective.
I will continue to be an asset to this forum. I am glad you are, too. I am sorry if I sounded offended. I was not. I am actually considering taking down the previous post I made.
+118687 Thanks x^2,
You do not need to take down your original post, you didn't say anything bad :)
+984 The root of the problem is not one who gives to answers, but the ones who take it.
I agree with x^2 that his answers include brilliant solutions to helped users not only get the answer, but understand it.
When supplying an answer, you should always include a solution. Whether or not they look at it, is completely up to them. Answering someone's math question is not cheating if you help them understand. It is them, who do not look at the solutions which is considered cheating.
+4622 I totally agree with you, Melody!
As I've been here for about 2 years now! (Wow!), I've seen homework questions been posted multiple times by users, but haven't seen the users type anything back after another user posts. They just read their answer, discarding their solution.
+4622 Also, FiestyGeco, a user posts multiple questions in 1 thread and just reads the user's answers, not solutions.
+118687 Yes the problem is with the askers not the answerers. I know the answerers are all very generous people who just want to help facilitate learning. All I have suggested is that you think first, answer second :)
Yes the problem is with the askers not the answerers.
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That’s bullshitt!! It is not just the askers. Several times you’ve reamed out the brats on here who have posted multiple questions. Your post is directed toward the answerers because the answerers enable this behavior, and there is one in particular who does this.
The reason there are so many uninterested homework moochers on here is that someone started feeding the bears. There is a reason for not feeding the bears. Once you feed a bear, it will return for more. The only way to get rid of it is to quit feeding it. If you keep feeding it, other bears join in the free food fest. They will eat everything you give them and one day they will eat you.
Beggars and panhandlers are the same kind of animal. Some might say please and thank you, but they don’t really mean it. They are just magic words learned as little children. Some could actually learn how to fish, but why should they, when they see their brothers and sisters get all the fish they want just by begging? “Pander to me, I’m entitled,” is their mantra.
If this irritates you, you could hide their questions or lock them. You’ve done that a few times, but it doesn’t stop the one person mainly responsible for all the bear shitt on the forum’s sidewalks, because he’s a moderator too, and just unhides or unlocks them.
CPhill’s obsession with answering the panhandler’s questions, and completing ones that are half finished, may irritate the shitt out of you, but I like reading his answers, and the answers of other competent mathematicians.
I don’t give a flyingdamn if the dumbshit kids learn anything or not. The option is there for them if they want to learn. if not, who should care? A lot of them are only a step or two from the retardos on here who obsessively make help posts. Trying to teach them math is a waste of time. But others can learn from these posts, even if the asker does not, so it’s not a total waste.
I have nothing better to do than tend to my garden, drink some booze, pissa few people off on Reddit, come here, pissa few people off and learn some math. This is a great place. It’s better than Reddit, anyway. They are so crude and vulgar, I feel like I need to take a bath in bleach after I log off.
To show my gratitude, I’ll tell you how you can reduce the bearshit on here. You are a moderator, so just send the posts and the bearshit “down the drain.......into the sewer” I’m sure you know what that means, the other moderators know too, unless they are idiots, and I doubt it. Well Asinus is, but whatever! CPhill can wake sleeping beauty, but he can’t raise the dead. If Sisyphus doesn’t have his boulder, he can’t push it up the hill. ROFLMFAO!
Don’t worry, CPhill, Melody doesn’t have the cojones or the stomach for it, anyway.
