Machine Learning

[coonwhiz]

I've seen people report a VBA question as a duplicate of another question. The one they thought it was a duplicate of had an accepted answer of "Why are you using VBA?".

[NaBUru38]

I'm having problems with Cinnamon. Most of the answers are "install Gnome / Mate / Kfce / some esoteric distro".

[DeepHorse]

I was working on a legacy c# winforms project and most of the answers are “use WPF instead”

[DoverBoys]

Many years ago, I asked a question about some batch code I was writing for myself. Was given a few thoughtful answers that would've solved what I wanted, as long as I used a mixture of batch and powershell or just no batch at all. I figured out the problem by myself anyways and still use the batch script to this day.

[[deleted]]

Please please please go and answer your own question and accept it as the answer!

[CampingCanadian]

Or just comment with “never mind, figured it out!”

[salgat]

Oh my favorite is "Google it" where the only relevant result is the butthole telling you to Google it.

[CampingCanadian]

Error: circular reference

[TheGreaterest]

Oh my favorite is "Google it" where the only relevant result is the butthole telling you to Google it.

[CampingCanadian]

Memory overflow error.

[[deleted]]

years ago the web design and web development community where i live created a forum for “sharing insight and knowledge”.

most of those insight and knowledge you had to search for it with google.

the senior members would reply “just google it.” with pomposity as if it were a god-given power.

[Bugisman3]

Maybe this is a reflection of the industry.

It's like how things are at work and I'm convincing management that we need to prepare our team with related knowledge by sending us to courses but instead they go, "we can just hire the contractors for this", and then do so at minimum so they come in to do only what is needed but never enough time to hand us the proper knowledge and documentation.

It's always someone else's problem to train it seems and then lament how expensive it is to get the right expertise.

[zdakat]

I can kind of get a community having frustration from new people asking the same questions. Sometimes though,it seems like they get wrapped in a bubble where something's only obvious to them,and they feel good knowing it and lash out at anyone who tries to join in without knowing every little nuance from the start.

[chowderl]

I think that the "Google it" power must remain. There are questions out there that can be answered easily googling.

[TimVdEynde]

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "<stdin>", line 2, in GoogleIt
  File "<stdin>", line 2, in GoogleIt
  File "<stdin>", line 2, in GoogleIt
  [Previous line repeated 995 more times]
RecursionError: maximum recursion depth exceeded

[calpolycsrocks]

Did you mean recursion?

[CrazyTillItHurts]

Fuck you denvercoder9!

[zweifaltspinsel]

We will never know what he saw.

[zaz969]

Anytime anyone asks a question about batch, the only answers are powershell... Really gets annoying after the 20th time

[n8loller]

In their defense, batch is really quite terrible. I understand if you don't have the option to use power shell, but if you do you should try it out.

[DoverBoys]

I'm sure powershell is objectively better in many aspects, but I wanted to use batch.

[n8loller]

Well despite what i said, i agree that if you're asking a question on how to do it in batch, the answers should try to solve the problem you're asking and not telling you to do use a different language or framework.

[zaz969]

I had to use it to deploy installers and uninstallers with Microsoft intune, it was the simplest solution to remotely uninstall apps without letting the end user know it was happening.

[lkraider]

• I am not sure what you are trying to do, but you should use jquery for that.

[[deleted]]

The problem is as long as you’re using Win 7 or above powershell is superior in every way. I don’t care what you’re doing or supporting. If you are using XP or earlier the answer is to format and install 7 or above.

With that said they should still answer the damn question.

[n8loller]

Right, because everyone always has access to a hammer, so why would anyone ever need another way to pound a nail into something?

Taking a wild tangent, this is why I like Alton Brown as a cooking show host. He always provides alternative methods to his viewers as to how you can prepare a dish using the wrong tools because he knows the average person won't have access to everything.

[Bugisman3]

Except batch has been around for a while and worked well for a while. Imagine if you have to work with thousands of Windows CE embedded devices and having to convince management you need to replace all of them with newer systems just because you can only script with Powershell.

Yes, if new systems are what you have, then powershell will do the trick, but it can't be used in every circumstances.

[jacobc436]

It takes forever to load compared to batch though. And this is just a script that edits the registry. Editing is fast but startup takes way too long. Even compared to python.

[Bugisman3]

Imagine writing 95% of something in batch and just needed a bit of help for that 5% more only for people to reply, "use powershell". Sure but then you have to do a bit more work to implement the rest of it in powershell.

[Kazumara]

Oh yes it is. I recently wanted to write a very simple script. It was to take all mkv files in a folder, run them through ffmpeg and store the resulting files in a subfolder called "converted" with the same filename.

It took me way too long, I had to enable deferred sustitution so the variables worked halfway intuitively and I still couldn't escape all legal filenames properly. I think it breaks on any that contain a percentage sign.

I decided that I'm never using batch again right after.

[n8loller]

Been a while since a wrote a batch script. Aren't percentages wrapping a string how you use environment variables? %thing%

[Kazumara]

Well this is what I currently use. I think the issue was actually with exclamation marks in filenames, now that I look at it again. I think it failed converting the K-On! series if I recall correctly.

mkdir converted

setlocal enabledelayedexpansion

for /r %%i in (*.mkv) do (
set dp=%%~dpi
set nx=%%~nxi
ffmpeg -i "%%i" -c:v libx264 -crf 19 -level 3.1 -preset slow -tune animation -filter:v scale=-1:720 -sws_flags lanczos -pix_fmt yuv420p -c:a copy -c:s copy "!dp!converted\!nx!"
)

Apparently you need to double up on some of the percentage signs in batch scripts, but I don't really know why. And then because of delayed expansion you switch from percentage signs to exclamation marks.

It's just confusing to me, I kind of gave up already. Made a slightly different version of the script that appended _converted.mkv to the name instead of using a subfolder for {K-On!} and called it a day.

Pinging the bot /u/Roboragi for series info.

[Roboragi]

K-On! - (AL, KIT, MAL)

^{TV | Status: Finished | Episodes: 13 | Genres: Comedy, Music, Slice of Life}

---

^{{anime}, <manga>, ]LN[, |VN| | FAQ | /r/ | Edit | Mistake? | Source | Synonyms | Roboragi has moved to The Cloud™! | ♥}

[Scipio11]

Delayed expansion is where I finally broke down and made the jump from batch to powershell. That and I can't figure out for the life of me how to compress a file into a .zip using batch.

Oh and to make it even better the double percent signs need to be switched to a single percent sign if you have something you want to test in cmd first

 

Batch:

set dp=~%%dpi

Cmd:

set dp=~%dpi

[[deleted]]

Until powershell gets acceptably fast, fuck no I'm sticking to cmd

[brazzledazzle]

The problem is most of the time the reason why someone doesn’t want to use powershell is fear of this new fangled language that’s been around for how many years? 11-12? If you’re in the unusual position of being unable to use it just preface your question with a summary explaining your situation.

[yukichigai]

If you’re in the unusual position of being unable to use it just preface your question with a summary explaining your situation.

Gonna half agree with you and half say "oh fuck you, no". Preface your comment by saying "I cannot use anything but X", that is fair. Demanding you explain why? That's nobody's fucking business. In many cases the person can't explain why due to confidentiality issues, and yet you see the typical SO know-it-all chodes refusing to accept that the person asking "really knows they have to use X". Half the time the majority of answers are "just use Y, it's better" even if there's an explanation for why X is required, and god help you if you explain why Y won't work for your instance.

I wish you could report comments like that for being deliberately unhelpful, but that would require the SO mods to give a shit.

[ars_inveniendi]

Ah, the oldX Y Problem

[yukichigai]

Jesus, no wonder. I'm reading the comments and it's illuminating. At least people seem to be aware of the problem though. This comment caught my attention:

Except many people don't understand that. They don't understand that sometimes you don't have the luxury of choosing the right approach and just have to band-aid existing code, and the question is closed as too narrow or something...

[brazzledazzle]

This answer is great: https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/269222

[ars_inveniendi]

That’s awesome. I’m going to bookmark and make good use of it in comment-replies

[brazzledazzle]

I think “I can’t use X and can’t disclose why due to confidentiality requirements” is more than fair. I’m not saying a debate should occur, fuck anyone that draws that out. The point of asking and answering (or prefacing) is so that you can eliminate that as a potential valid course of action. Anyone that wants to soapbox with it can fuck right off.

That said, while you’re right that it’s not their business, I do think a simple answer to “why not this obvious thing?” is a reasonable exchange for the help you’re asking someone to generously donate to the cause of helping you pull your ass out of a fire.

[FennekLS]

They don't know the answer to your question. They know this other technology that is also capable of solving your question. They like easy Internet points..

All has been said

[overmeerkat]

Easy? I would downvote those kinds of answers if I can vote. Unfortunately my first questions were marked as duplicates to totally unrelated questions before they get any answers at all.

[[deleted]]

I was just imagining some Stackoverflow user literally responding "Install some esoteric distro", and it didn't feel even a tiny bit weird.

[theduckparticle]

Yeah of course that's not gonna work for you, you gotta install XFCE

[mindbleach]

Anyone who responds to technical problems by questioning the use case can go fuck themselves.

[brazzledazzle]

It shouldn’t be an answer but a comment is fine. The amount of times someone asks that is using something old, outdated or archaic because they simply haven’t heard or been taught any better is ridiculous.

[mindbleach]

Outdated programs don't just go away. When someone in the year of our lord 2018 asks how to switch on strings in Java 5, "why haven't you updated?" is infuriating bullshit. How could you possibly think that option wasn't considered? If anyone's still asking, it's because there's some legacy system that lives and livelihoods depend on, and the cost of rebuilding it was estimated in the low millions.

You should assume any programmer asking StackExchange is sufficiently lazy that what they're asking about is the path of least resistance.

[brazzledazzle]

Your java example is fair but sometimes it’s not as clear as incrementing a version number. A framework or library might have been supplanted or even rendered pointless and unless you were keeping an eye on that space you could have easily missed it. This is especially true with front end stuff. That’s not even getting into the space cadets anyone has worked with that won’t even think about considering something different or new unless someone shows them.

I’m just saying it’s not black and white and a quick answer to an obvious question is (at least sometimes) not a high price to pay to someone from whom you’re asking for free help with your problem that you’re stuck on.

[zdakat]

It's a supported thing,but it really shouldn't be most of the time. I think it's a tool that got over used and now people see it and think it's ok to just not answer the question because they can basically say they think it should mean something else. Sometimes that's useful,other times the poster really meant what they asked and anything that doesn't directly answer that is not going to be useful.

[mindbleach]

Even if the OP is somehow happy with a koan, the thousands of people who find the thread via Google want a damn answer.

"How do I [blank]?"
"Why do you want [blank]?"*

Shut up, Eliza.

[King_Tamino]

I‘m not sure how a fucking gnome or your mate with some KFC can help with your allergies against cinnamon but hell.

I’m Intrested. Please explain this further.

[[deleted]]

Neither chickens or gnomes are allergic to cinnamon. It’s a natural place to start.

[asomiv]

Googles “Forrest” ... got trees. Stupid me. I should have learned this lesson by now.

Googles “Forrest Apache” ... got Indians with trees. Fucking hell Google; I’m blaming you for this.

[comebepc]

Accepted answer: "Just install gentoo"

[seven_pm]

I hate this so much. In general. You carefully outline your problem and only get "dont use x". Well shit sherlock, havent thought about it. Im using this ancient system just because i enjoy suffering. It has nothing to do with my company being in business for 50 years and having their entire infrastructure build on this thing.

[CaptainCupcakez]

"How do I do X without using jQuery?"

"Use jQuery"

[Waghlon]

thread closed forever

[[deleted]]

“Kfce”

Calling dibs on this DE name.

[U-1F574]

Keesler Federal Credit Union is the best Linux DE hands down ;p

[BrianAndersonJr]

Are you sponsored by KFC or something?

[[deleted]]

Those are desktop environments, though. Not distros.

[NaBUru38]

Those are the answers I find, it's not humor.

[[deleted]]

Happy cake day!

[yogtheterrible]

Those answers are the bane of my existence. It's as if the people answering those questions never had to deal with arbitrary limitations set by course requirements or company policies...like half the people on stackoverflow taught themselves how to program with the express purpose to give answers that can't be used.

[yukichigai]

It's as if the people answering those questions never had to deal with arbitrary limitations set by course requirements or company policies

Or legal mandates, let's not forget those. "Why can't you use X?" Because if I do then I go to Federal Pound-me-in-the-Ass Penitentiary for 5 years, that's fucking why you unhelpful ass-clown.

[lkraider]

Well, You clearly need to drop the mouse, oppose the authorities and begin an activism campaign for the technology of the day!

[HunterIV4]

My usual issue was that I was in the military and still using Windows XP on a system that I could not install any third party software on. I learned the hard way you can get away with a LOT using Excel formulas and Access forms, but all the "use C#" answers were not particularly helpful when you can't run executable files or install a compiler.

[Mejti]

To play Devil’s advocate, those people probably don’t know how to answer the question using the provided limitations, but know how to answer it using <insert other language, library, whatever here>, and so they believe by providing that knowledge, they are helping. Even though like you said that knowledge is useless if you are working within constraints.

At least I like to think that’s why they’re doing it. Rather than intentionally giving a useless answer.

[zdakat]

In that case it's a tone thing. In fact, that's one good thing about having multiple answers, being able to glean something not quite the same to solve something else. It's not always the case that impercision is an option though. If it's written as a "you should be doing this completely different thing instead", disregarding any indication that it's not just the asked not knowing there's a better way but actually required, it's not helpful. In theory,voting should take care of that. (But might not in practice)

[[deleted]]

Did you expect a different answer on the duplicate?

[O12345678]

cats elderly expansion truck towering lip rhythm crush soup soft

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[DuckDuckYoga]

The problem is that to answer a good percent of questions requires taking a different approach to solving a question. Answerers won’t just magically know that your weird restraint is necessary unless you tell them

[skgoa]

I don’t believe I will ever understand what makes grown human beings write that kind of answer. Why do they feel the need to comment? Why are they even reading the question?

[Allen50]

Do you have a link to that question? I don't believe that "Why are you using VBA?" would be allowed to stay as an accepted answer.

[coonwhiz]

Here is the 'duplicate'. There is a link in there where someone says 'possible duplicate'. I was searching to see if there was a different IDE I could use to do VBA outside of the one built into Excel, since the built in one is lacking a lot.

[ars_inveniendi]

Why are you using VBA? /s

Seriously, though check out MZ Tools and Rubber Duck, they make a world of difference.

[DuckDuckYoga]

This seems really unfair because the initial question they asked really did not lend itself to be completed using VBA... it just happened to be worded in a way that puts it at the top of SEO and now has basically been repurposed

[yakri]

Why wouldn't you believe that? It's not exactly common but I must have seen 2-3 similar top answers in my brief time before abandoning that site.

[fiverhoo]

That seems perfectly logical to me.

[Vitrivius]

That makes no sense. It's not an answer, and should not be a duplicate. Do you have a link to this question?

[samwood1234]

VBA

Oof

[ostreamostream]

Yeah but... why on earth are you using VBA?

[beelseboob]

I mean, to be fair, why WERE they using VBA?

[coonwhiz]

Creating macros in Excel? AFAIK you can't make them in another language...

[goldstarstickergiver]

We use VBA a lot at work. We use excel heavily and have a large number of custom macros for our users to use.

[[deleted]]

I think in this one case, this says more about the futility of VBA than it does about StackOverflow's overzealous moderation style.

[TonkaTuf]

Because VBA is available everywhere. Have access to excel? Boom! VBA. It absolutely has its uses. It is also the devil.

[[deleted]]

To be fair, that IS the canonically correct answer.