Ever Wonder Why "URGENT!" Doesn't Work?

[Barn]

There seems to be another somewhat sudden preponderance of "URGENT" posts, so I thought I'd post this as a little informational blurb.

Those of you who do this (probably not reading this post -- more on that), may have noticed that responses are curiously slow in coming (if they come at all). Ever wonder why?

There are a number of factors that come into play when a message includes "Urgent" or "ASAP" or "tight deadline" or some such time-compression type term in the subject.

1. Some people, who might otherwise reply, see agreeing to help with an issue marked urgent as almost a binding type of commitment to see the issue through to its solution, and most don't have that kind of time to devote to a real-time exchange of posts.

2. Some people, who might otherwise help, may see the note of urgency, and realize that it was posted hours ago, or possibly even days ago, and just presume that it WAS an emergency, and that, by now, it's either solved or it's too late to help, so they pass it by.

3. Some people, who might otherwise help, have a better perspective on what constitutes an emergency:
"my house is on fire"
"the power to my kidney machine has failed"
"I'm trapped under my burning automobile"
"My cat peed on my keyboard"...and just prefer to deal with people who aren't carrying quite so much emotional baggage.

I think I can safely say that NOTHING done wth Flash is truly an emergency; any such imposed sense of emergency is artificial, arbitrary, and contrived.

4. Some people, who might otherwise help, consider the labeling of any one person's issue as more important than others as a form of arrogance or affrontery, and will just pass the post by on general principle.

And, to return to my previous statement about the likelihood of people who mark their message as emergencies reading this post, it is unlikely because that such persons so marked their messages generally indicates that they probably cannot see beyond their own circumstances. If you ARE one of those people, you might wanna think about changing that, you should be the one to NOT pass by those emergency threads of others -- kind of a Karmic justice.

[mikenificent]

If your referring to my post then I understand, I'm just trying to get some help ASAP with this as I'd like it today if possible so i can go further with the rest, I havent got much help in the past with my problems and would really like to figure this out as I've been having trouble with it for several days so I decided to post it here my problem to see if anyone can find a solution.

[BradLee]

I agree 100%. It's definitely not helpful, and personally I find it somewhat rude.

Also, it seems that much of the time these posts involve downloading a flash file and sorting through a bunch of code without much explanation of what exactly the problem is.

It would be better for everyone if people slowed down, realized that the world is not going to end if their flash movie doesn't work, and fully thought out and explained the problems they are having.

[mikenificent]

I fully explained what I want it to do, theres not a bunch of code in mine, I'm asking for something simple dealing with the radio button component, I just have never used radio buttons compenents in the way I want to for this movie and was wondering if someone could help me with my problem.

[BradLee]

^ I wasn't specifically targeting you. It just seems in general that this happens alot. I actually haven't even read your question yet, so I can't really say anything about it.

I enjoy helping people, so if people can help me help them, then everyone is happy.

Sorry if I offended you.

[CyanBlue]

Haven't you seen that enough already, Barn??? ;)

That's one of the reason I just remove those words like 'urgent', 'help needed', or any other meaningless words from the title, if I have a privilege to do so that is...

Those words do attract people's attention, but not many of them actually get answered because we know that the post probably has been posted in other online forums or because we think that might have been solved already because it is so urgent... If it truly is an urgent problem, you'd have spend some $$$ to hire somebody who can do the job for you... At least that's how I see it...

[mikenificent]

^ I wasn't specifically targeting you. It just seems in general that this happens alot. I actually haven't even read your question yet, so I can't really say anything about it.

I enjoy helping people, so if people can help me help them, then everyone is happy.

Sorry if I offended you.

Thats ok, It's just a bad day for me, you didnt offend me, I'm just trying to get some help and on these forums unfortuneatly I've had a few bad experiences with people not helping me with some of my problems so i put URGENT in my thread because I thought maybe someone would try to give me a hand. It seems like a simple problem but I've never used components so I'm trying to figure out the structure of how to code it how I want things to work but have not been able too.

[Barn]

If it truly is an urgent problem, you'd have spend some $$$ to hire somebody who can do the job for you... At least that's how I see it...
Exactimundo!

And good point about the typical presumption that the same post has been splattered across many Flash forums, and probably approached with an "oh, somebody else, somewhere, probably already took care of it (or will)" attitude -- I guess that falls under number 2, above.

[mikenificent]

All I'm doing is trying to get some help in a part of Flash which I dont fully understand and its sad when I see other people getting help for a simple problem as a tween or a button, but since mine is more complex nobody bothers to respond to my thread or even take a look at my files. I thought this board was to help people with their problems, from my other threads, out of several problems I have ran into using Flash I believe I was only helped once and I'm very grateful for the people who do take time to help me with a problem and help me understand how things work so I can learn it and go through it and can apply it to future applications.

[Esoltas]

this really should be stickied.

[skitboxkilla]

i agree. my question for you however, is this: how would you propose to pre-empt your next stage in software development with sufficient tact that progress can be made in good time, whilst sharing the knowledge for the benefit of the community?

i posted last night with a view to opening a discussion on where my fellow coders see flash going next. i don't wish to over-egg the pudding, as it's neither urgent, nor is it overly specific. however, unless a specific goal is presented (which usually happens because of a glitch!), a typical post will be buried. i imagine that most members of this and other forums like to pitch-in - call it karma if you will, but there is something highly rewarding about solving something for someone else for no reason other than that you know how to.

perhaps we ought to open a new section entitled: 'what if?'

[CyanBlue]

I think you are abit too sensitive on this matter, mikenificent, because you were caught in the wrong time... I am sure Barn was not really targeting you when he created this thread... All he was saying is that people should really use a common sense when posting a question to the forum...

its sad when I see other people getting help for a simple problem as a tween or a button, but since mine is more complex nobody bothers to respond to my thread or even take a look at my files.
I can think of several cases when that might happen...
#1. Somebody sees a question and knows that the question has been asked many times or it is something that's written in the Flash manual already...
#2. Somebody sees the question but the question does not really tell him much or the question is simply not interesting enough...
#3. A thread was created and it is basically saying that I should open up the file and see what the question is... Sometimes people don't even have Flash when they browse through the forum...
#4. A thread does not really mean much to a reader or a reader has no idea what the actual question is...
#5. Somebody saw this same question on another online community and don't really bother to read further because he thinks that it probably has been solved already...
#6. Something in the topic makes the reader mad or whatever so he doesn't bother to read what you are asking... For example, if it says 'urgent' or 'help required', that sometimes sound like the poster is too demanding...
...
...

I thought this board was to help people with their problems, from my other threads, out of several problems I have ran into using Flash I believe I was only helped once and I'm very grateful for the people who do take time to help me with a problem and help me understand how things work so I can learn it and go through it and can apply it to future applications.
We sure are not here to pick a fight... We come here to see if we can find anybody in need and get some satisfaction out of the process... We don't make a dime out of the whole thing... We are here as a volunteer and we can just do so much to help... As a matter of fact, if somebody says 'help required', it makes me feel like I am obligated to help and that's the last thing I want from here... It's good if both ends are happy, but that's how it is if it does not happen that way...

Don't feel too bad about it and just let it go... Just learn the atmosphere of the community first and you will get to blend in in no time... :)

After all, I'd rather spend time to write this reply than find somebody who I can help, if you know what I mean... :)

[mikenificent]

Its ok I got it figured out

[Esoltas]

we're not targeting you, but ever hears "straw that broke the camel's back"? Your post was one of many of one-time users who only made 1 post to ask a question so broad and "URGENT!!!" that it was obvious they had no idea what they're doing. Not you, mike, your q was fine, but still "urgent". Hey, by the way, it almost seems appropriate to censor urgent in caps on a title or code some warning into the forum script. Maybe not sensor, but you know, a witty warning, such as: "You wrote urgent in your title. Are you sure that it is an emergency matter, and do you need the EMS?"

[domilucide]

I'm still new here, but I have to put in my two cents...

Personally, when I see "URGENT" in the title, I try even harder to help. Why ? Simply because I've been needing URGENT help myself in the past.

By acting this way, I'm assuming that the person who says that as a good reason to do so. Maybe I'm a bit naive, but I still prefer acting that way because I see it as a way to stick out for each other. I'm sure some guys have been using the "U word" abusively and without any good reasons, but I try not to think about that for the sake of those who REALLY need fast help.

Of course the earth is not going to stop turning because some guy can't load XML or create a draggable button, but I know that sometime's, you gave your word to someone that his/her website would be ready on a certain day, and there's always consequences when you can't meet the deadine. Last week, I've been losing sleep for a couple of days over a problem I had, until a good samaritan did his best to help me. I thought this was inspiring and very generous. As for the "if it really was urgent, you'd be ready to pay someone to do this for you", well, I WAS ready to pay someone, but to show me how to do what I needed to do. I just couldn't find anyone. And btw, not EVERYONE has the money to hire a professional. That's why forums like these exist... so that we can help each other... free of charge.

Anyways, all this to say that I think we should try to enforce a feeling of community instead of posting cynical remarks about inexperienced users who need help. So Mister Barn, you are not speaking for me. I know I'm not the most experienced and I can't always help others, but I'm doing my best, and in my opinion, the beautiful thing about a forum like this one is that is has the potential to be a place where you know there will be people to turn to in case you REALLY need help. I'm not trying to put anyone down here. I just don't know why this is such a big deal to some of you. If the "U word" repulses you, don't read the thread... and that's it !

Maybe there should be a section called "URGENT HELP NEEDED" so that only people who are not bothered by urgency can look there first to see if they can help anyone.

PS: Sorry for my weird english.
PPS: This thread doesn't even belong here. It should be moved to the "Forum Guidelines/Suggestions" section.

[CyanBlue]

Hey, by the way, it almost seems appropriate to censor urgent in caps on a title or code some warning into the forum script. Maybe not sensor, but you know, a witty warning, such as: "You wrote urgent in your title. Are you sure that it is an emergency matter, and do you need the EMS?"
I think that's the job for the moderators... They should go over the thread list and filter out/edit out the unnecessary stuff... That's what I do on other sites and that's my 2 cents...

You've got yourself hurt over the weekend... Call your primary physician... What does the recording says??? It usually says go to the emergency room if it is a case of an emergency and you know why...

Like everybody have said already, this is not something that can be fixed no matter how we talk about it, but it is always good to hear everybody's opinion and try to understand their story... and I agree this this does not belong in the F8 forum... Where is the moderator??? :p