An interesting hypothesis I've noticed about Newbies in this forum.

[ArdenDag]

In the first couple of pages here, I've noticed more than a couple newbies who decided it was no problem to post here, after waiting their 5 days, having not read the forum rules at all. Is it just me, or does it get frustrating when some of the questions can be answered in less than 5 minutes with a search, or doing some research taking less than 30 minutes, and reading a guide or 2? Do you really think that someone will answer your simple question within minutes if you post it?

*shrug*

Hopefully, when the FAQ and other stickies are organized and cleaned, we can have a more understanding group of newcomers to this forum.

[rustywater]

Looking at the number of unanswered posts from the "last few days" I'd get about a 1 in 4 chance you were referring to my post, as well as possibly others.

Given that's a pretty high likelihood, I feel the need to clarify my situation. There is no offence intended by any of the following - though it is most disappointing not to get any help for this particular problem given I had spent so much time on it - when the answer could have been as simple as "try this FAQ or read this guide" .. I have probably missed the one guide that would answer my problem.

I've been battling with this problem for around 4 months. I've read several FAQS, user guides; newbie and advanced; done many searches on 'noise' 'squeak, 'sound quality', and 'audio' just to name a few, across several sites. I posted here as a last resort in absolute desparation.

I summarised my ordeal as best I could, and had I posted the full details of everything I'd tried the post would have been *significantly* longer - and I certainly did not want to incur the wrath of the short-tempered.

I post on lots of forums (typically programming), and I must confess, this is not the friendliest of forums. Although, I centainly understand the monotony of posting the same answers repetatively having done that myself many times.

All in all, we live and learn, and I guess I'll figure this problem out myself (probably when I'm 50 at this rate - and that's a long way off).

I do agree that newbies should read faqs and guides. Stating that you have when you post generally gets you called a liar if you happened to miss something, as we all do from time to time - none of us are perfect.

Nuff said.

[ArdenDag]

Nope, I just read your thread, and it is very clear, with a very WELL worded subject, and clear explanation of things you have tried, so as to narrow down and help at finding a solution.

[hakko504]

@rustywater

I just read your post, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. You supply more or less all relevant facts, but you are just unlycky in that you have a very uncommon problem. I think you will have better sucess in the audio encoding forum here, and not post such a specific question here, where a lot of the more experienced users don't look, at least not too often. Arden posted while I was writing this but I still felt I wanted to say this


The sort of questions we 'expect' here is more of the kind: 'I don't understand this section of that guide/FAQ' and 'I followed the guide and it says something should happen but it doesn't/something else happens'. Maybe we are expecting too much. One thing that strikes me though is that a lot of people seems to come here without passing 'the front door', i.e. Doom9.org (http://www.doom9.org) the first time, and acts surprised when we tell them to look there.

[Jazz]

As a newbie who still needs to post his first question here, let me add my $0.002 on this one.

I understand where ArdenDag is coming from. I've noticed several questions where even I could tell they hadn't read or researched the slightest bit. I'd say these posts are usually taken care of pretty well here, with the right balance between a slap on the wrist and a patient old hand providing some minimal answer and a few pointers. It's one of the reasons I like this forum very much.

One thing I want to add though: sometimes it *is* possible to read and read and reread a lot of stuff, and still completely miss a very simple point that is in a FAQ or guide somewhere... if only you realized that it was the answer to the problem. You don't always know what you don't know, in other words.

Anyhow - usually expertly taken care of, as I said. Thanks to all the old guns here for bearing with us. We hope to start returning the favor in a decade or so. :)

[Guest]

Can I weigh in?

I think that it is good to have a Newbie forum where standards are somewhat relaxed. After all, a newbie is a ... newbie. She/he can read the guides and the FAQs and simply not understand, because the terminology is new, the technology is new, etc., etc. I suppose I'm just underlining Jazz's point; hopefully he'll appreciate the support. :)

I vote to cut some slack in here.

[Jazz]

Thanks, Jazz does indeed appreciate the support. ;)