A few months back we added some text in the editor, instructing all users to post their own attempts at writing code, their data samples (in and out) and any error messages:

Screen Shot 2021-10-02 at 10.50.36 AM859×280 28.6 KB

This post is another reminder that this site is not a "script writing service" for people who, for whatever reason, do not attempt to solve their own problems.

For example, take a second to look at this recent post:

Count words in second and third column when first column value is constant

In this example, a three year member returns to our community, only to ask members to write code for them. @Lini does not attempt to solve their own problem and seek our help; but instead hopes to get our team members to write code for them.

You will then notice that I asked @Lini to show their own effort, which is our community policy.

First, as a reminder, when any moderator asks the original poster (OP) this kind of information, all other team members should wait for the OP to answer. Even if the answer is very easy, or even trivial. The overall vibe of this community is to help those to help themselves. We are not a free script writing service.

Second, kindly understand that people who write code for those who do not put any effort into solving their problem will more-than-likely have their post hidden (or even removed) if the OP does not respond to the moderator query.

What we normally find is that one of two things will generally happen in this situation:

1. The OP will reply and show their work in a genuine way, often apologizing.
2. Disappear, unhappy we are not going to write their code for them.

Everyone should be aware of this behavior.

Sadly over the years, it seems that many technical people are graduating from school in "certain countries" and all they seemed to have learned is how to Google and find others to do their work for them.

Recently, was on the phone with a friend who works for a very famous consulting firm in the US. My friend told me that someone joined their team "highly recommended". Over time, the supervisor found that the work of this person had a strange vibe about it. After looking into it, they found the employee was taking 30% of their salary and paying people back in India to do the work for them, as if the employee was a contractor.

Please keep this in mind when helping others on the net, especially in our strong community. People will post here, as in this example, and they if they cannot manipulate people to do their work for them, they will just fly away like a butterfly and post in other forums or communities until they can manipulate someone or some group to do their work for them.

As the founder here, I am well aware that if we do not permit this kind of cheating, unprofessional behavior here, we will have far less active users compared to sites which permit this kind of behavior. Since the beginning of unix.com we have always strived for the top professional ethics and the highest possible signal-to-noise ratio. We are not perfect. On the other hand, we are not trying to be the biggest community on the net ; and nor do have I ever had any ambition to put money over ethics.

In other words, we moderate the site to insure that people who come here for help show their own work and put a reasonable effort in to solving their own problems; and in this process, this also means formulating questions in a way which makes it easy to help them. Even if the solution is trivial, we do not do provide solutions to those who refuse to put any effort into solving their own problems.

I may be old fashioned, but I still believe "Without honor and integrity, all is lost." Some might think, "we would have more members if Neo would not enforce the rules like he does". This is probably true; but the same can be said for distributing pornography, in a manner of speaking. Many people make a lot of money in the porn business; but not me. I never had placed money or wealth or fame above ethics and integrity.

There are no shortages of on-online communities where the only goal is to get more users and make more money. This community is not one of those.

If anyone has any questions or comments, I am happy to take the time to reply.

Just one final point.....

Since I have confessed how "old fashioned" I am, let me make one more confession.

In my mind, when a moderator asks a question to an OP, asking for their code, their data, their work products, etc. they are doing so because it is our culture and our rules. When someone then jumps in and attempts to "show off" that they know the answer (or honestly just want to help the OP), they are showing disrespect to our rules and our moderators.

I often immediately know the answer to a question from an OP who has not provided any code, data or work product to show that they are actually working their own issue(s). However, just because I know the answer, that does not mean that I will post my answer just to show people I happen to know the answer. We are not playing a game of "beat the moderators" or "who is the smartest person about a unix command" here.

So, please follow the culture and the rules. Help us keep our community at the highest level of professionalism and ethics. Do not post solutions unless the OP has shown their work. Please respect our community by helping the moderators moderate; no posting solutions when any moderator has asked procedural questions, especially questions related to "show us your work". Help us keep the community professional.

I hope, in my old fashioned way, that everyone understands me. I feel like I keep repeating this, month-after-month, year-after-year.

If not, please reply and explain to me what you do not understand and I'll try to explain it more clearly, without boring everyone to tears in my reply.

Thank you again.

This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.