You get a flavor for those have done some homework and those who are
just looking for others to do their work for them

SO true

wrote in message
...
A high percentage of postings can be answered by searching Google
with the keywords provided by the posters or by accessing the Help
provided by Excel using these keywords. What research was done first?

I personally have not found many questions that are asked in this
forum that haven't been answered before.

A person who searched and made an honest attempt to deal with his/her
particular issue should provide the major points of difficulty which
were encountered.

You get a flavor for those have done some homework and those who are
just looking for others to do their work for them.

As in life, so in this forum.

Paul
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The problem with all the suggestions about how to post and what
research you should do first is that by the time someone comes
here for the first time, they are probably frustrated and need the
answer faster than they could get it by searching. Look at most
of the questions - they are rather simple and the answer is usually
obvious to an experienced user.

The other reason I think that it is ok to use this resource as a first
call is that when one posts here asking that first VERY SIMPLE
question one often reads a few more posts and learns some more
about Excel - something that the person may never need or something
that the person may find the most useful bit of info they ever got - they
just did not know that it was even a possibility.

If someone is having probs with something simple chances are that
the help system with Excel is incomprehensible to that person.

I do not mind helping someone like that and I think that many here
are the same. Other forums I participate in are not so "nice" and
one would get flamed if one asked a question that was asked in the
previous six months.

Chrissy.