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Comment by j1elo | Hacker News Reader

> I am going to try to schedule the testing done this Friday, October 24th.

So WHY didn't you open up your editor on the 25th and let us the World know about the results (or lack thereof)???

I hate so much the utter lack of discipline and follow-up of the average internet person :-( (of course in a tongue in cheek way)

This happens so many times... who hasn't found an interesting forum topic, sometimes describing exactly the same problem we're having, with a promising resolution, but which never actually arrived?

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The absolute worst is situations like this:

User: I have a problem I haven't been able to google. Whenever this very specific situation occurs, I am having this problem. Any advice?

Other Users: (Lots of ideas, no solution.)

User: Nevermind, I figured it out, thanks!

...WHAT DID YOU DO TO FIX IT?

> ...WHAT DID YOU DO TO FIX IT?

I think the general assumption when the reply lacks specificity is that it’s something embarrassingly routine like “I checked to make sure that the device was plugged in” or some variant thereof.

It’s not a 100% safe assumption, but I think this is the answer more often than not.

Even telling the world that can be useful because what is embarrassingly routine for you might be entirely unknown to someone else. Plus it is simply polite.

Honestly the best part of troubleshooting is when I find out I was just being a massive dumbass the entire time. I go tell my team, friends, wife, etc, “I fixed it, I was just a dumbass, all I had to do was [thing]” and I revel in it because that shit is funny.

The angrier I am while troubleshooting, the funnier that reveal is for everyone.

I regularly inform my coworkers of my dumbass status. It’s funny and keeps me humble

I like to pretend they entirely changed solutions, like switching from Java to PHP or the other way around.

The lies we tell ourselves…

Where I have encountered this, the path to a solution requires discovering that the problem is a generic error message that has an unbelievable number of different possible causes. And in the process of solving that, the specific problem was incredibly specific.

For example Django is very good at giving a small number of (useless) error messages for a wide variety of things that can keep it from starting up properly.

"I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of this, which this margin is too narrow to contain."

Great quote!!! Thanks for the reminder that the first case of such disrespect to the reader came way earlier than internet forums :)

> sometimes describing exactly the same problem we're having, with a promising resolution

Exactly!

I've been trying to perfect my tomacco grafts for 20 years at this point and was unable to find any information.

The nerve of the author!

https://xkcd.com/979

I really felt like shaking this person like the xkcd comic guy shakes the screen...

It's one thing to talk about something and just casually never following up. That's bad enough already.

But giving a precise date, and promising a follow-up, then never doing it... that's purely evil! Only valid excuse is a life-altering accident or something serious like that. Otherwise I'll hate you and will want to call you things

...shouting at my screen in my room's solitude.

i have this problem with posts that puport to answer "how-do-i-do this" questions on Windows and other desktops:

me: how do i do X?

them: just click on "find" and then...

me: but where is "find"??? i have quite heavily modified desktop.

if these people posted a screenshot instead of describing the gui interaction in text, i could almost certainly work it out.

Reason n to not customise anything.

me: I am trying to do this using that and that says this. What does this mean?

them: Why would you want to do that?

I’ve secured access to a Tomacco plant. I’ll let you know tomorrow what my findings are.

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