Re: Solipsism

[Bev Parks <bparks -at- HUACHUCA-EMH1 -dot- ARMY -dot- MIL>]

Stan Brown wrote-->
> Well, yes, quicker for _you_ perhaps.  But I would hope you (and others who
> seek answers on the Net) would also consider the time spent by the persons
> who read your request as well as those who respond to it.  Just to pull
> numbers out of a hat, assume a thousand persons spend a minute and a half
> each to read your query, and a dozen spend fifteen minutes each responding
> to it.  That is twenty-eight non-billable hours, to save you perhaps half
> an hour.  (With different assumptions the number of hours would be
> different, but the principle remains: saving a little of one person's time
> at the expense of a lot of time from many persons.)
========

I agree with what Stan is saying. His numbers--hypothetical as
they may be--really drive the point home. I think most of us
have been guilty of this at some time or another, so the person
who authored the post Stan cited need not feel picked on.

If you're seeking a known right answer to something, it's
usually best to exhaust the static resources available to you
first, before posing the question to the Net. Questions that
have many possible answers (such as answers reflecting personal
opinion or local policy) are more appropriate to ask.

In short, if you're trying to make a decision about something
that has no apparent single right or wrong answer, ask it.

(Notice I said "apparent"--sometimes there may be just one right
answer, but the topic may be so new to us that we're not aware
of it. Example: "You mean I've been pulling my hair out over all
these options, and there's an industry standard! Geez, I didn't
know.")

Thanks for providing that food for thought, Stan.

Bev Parks
bparks -at- huachuca-emh1 -dot- army -dot- mil