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Ulrich Diez
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I like the idea of TeX-LaTeX StackExchange of having a collection of questions that explains the many individual basic facts in such a way that you can "assemble" your own solutions to your specific problems/tasks using this collection.

But I see a problem and this problem is one of the main reasons why I don't reject every "do-it-for-me" question:

Many beginners are not familiar with the programming-paradigms, concepts and terms that underlie TeX and LaTeX. It is therefore difficult for them to break a problem down into partial aspects in such a way that individual aspects of the way TeX/LaTeX works can—for the sake of re-usability—be explained separately.

This breaking down and then explaining the individual aspects, and how they work together, needs to be done for them and shown to them by someone who is familiar with the subject.

I like the idea of TeX-LaTeX StackExchange of having a collection of questions that explains the many individual basic facts in such a way that you can "assemble" your own solutions to your specific problems/tasks using this collection.

But I see a problem and this problem is one of the main reasons why I don't reject every "do-it-for-me" question:

Many beginners are not familiar with the programming-paradigms, concepts and terms that underlie TeX and LaTeX. It is therefore difficult for them to break a problem down into partial aspects in such a way that individual aspects of the way TeX/LaTeX works can—for the sake of re-usability—be explained separately.

This breaking down and then explaining the individual aspects, and how they work together, needs to be done for them and shown to them by someone who is familiar with the subject.

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Ulrich Diez
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As I understand it, a "do-it-for-me" question is a question in which the circumstance plays a role that the questioner has a task to do and is not so much concerned with gaining the deeper understanding necessary for accomplishing the task him-/herself.
For the questioner the "do-it-for-me" question is a means to have the task accomplished by those who answer the question, or to have "pieces" delivered by those who answer the question, which he or she can then with little effort put together into a solution to the task.

To put it casually:

With a "do-it-for-me" question the focus of the questioner is not on acquiring the knowledge he or she needs for doing the donkey-work himself/herself but the focus of the questioner is on having the donkey-work done by those who answer the question.

Since the reasons for writing "do-it-for-me" questions can be quite diverse, I am not one of those who are fundamentally against "do-it-for-me" questions—as long as the questioners deal openly with the circumstance that it is a "do-it-for-me" question. If you already know a little bit, such questions sometimes can be a nice pastime.

But I don't like questioners trying to hide the fact that there is a "do-it-for-me" question. This often leads to questions being asked in a more general way at first—in the hope that there is someone among the respondents who provides what is needed for solving the special case. If this doesn't work out, by and by the question is narrowed down to the special case: The questioner in his/her comments by and by mentions additional conditions that were not mentioned before—or the posting containing the question is changed by and by accordingly—, which makes it necessary to take a completely different approach, so that the work done in the initial answers is in vain. And those who answered arrive at the unpleasant realization that one could have saved oneself this work if the questioner from the start had said everything.

Do not confuse "do-it-for-me" questions with questions that also are motivated by attempts at getting a task accomplished, but where the problems have made the questioner aware that he or she lacks knowledge, and where the questioner now wishes to acquire this knowledge in order to be able to cope with similar tasks without assistance in the future. (That wish may be linked to the desire to get a concrete example where one is familiar with the underlying problem and therefore can more easily learn how to approach such things.)

Classifying a question as a "do-it-for-me" question implies making a statement about the underlying motivations of the questioner. Identifying underlying motivations often is difficult. Cautiousness, thoroughness and conciliatoriness are needed here. Especially since TeX/LaTeX is something that for beginners is often accompanied by a steep learning curve, which means that beginners may quickly reach a point where they have to ask others for advice on the source code for documents they want/have to write with TeX/LaTeX. Furthermore, StackExchange is a communication medium which allows only very limited insight into the situation/motivations of the individual communication participants.

As I understand it, a "do-it-for-me" question is a question in which the circumstance plays a role that the questioner has a task to do and is not so much concerned with gaining the deeper understanding necessary for accomplishing the task him-/herself.
For the questioner the "do-it-for-me" question is a means to have the task accomplished by those who answer the question, or to have "pieces" delivered by those who answer the question, which he or she can then with little effort put together into a solution to the task.

Since the reasons for writing "do-it-for-me" questions can be quite diverse, I am not one of those who are fundamentally against "do-it-for-me" questions—as long as the questioners deal openly with the circumstance that it is a "do-it-for-me" question. If you already know a little bit, such questions sometimes can be a nice pastime.

But I don't like questioners trying to hide the fact that there is a "do-it-for-me" question. This often leads to questions being asked in a more general way at first—in the hope that there is someone among the respondents who provides what is needed for solving the special case. If this doesn't work out, by and by the question is narrowed down to the special case: The questioner in his/her comments by and by mentions additional conditions that were not mentioned before—or the posting containing the question is changed by and by accordingly—, which makes it necessary to take a completely different approach, so that the work done in the initial answers is in vain. And those who answered arrive at the unpleasant realization that one could have saved oneself this work if the questioner from the start had said everything.

Do not confuse "do-it-for-me" questions with questions that also are motivated by attempts at getting a task accomplished, but where the problems have made the questioner aware that he or she lacks knowledge, and where the questioner now wishes to acquire this knowledge in order to be able to cope with similar tasks without assistance in the future. (That wish may be linked to the desire to get a concrete example where one is familiar with the underlying problem and therefore can more easily learn how to approach such things.)

Classifying a question as a "do-it-for-me" question implies making a statement about the underlying motivations of the questioner. Identifying underlying motivations often is difficult. Cautiousness, thoroughness and conciliatoriness are needed here. Especially since TeX/LaTeX is something that for beginners is often accompanied by a steep learning curve, which means that beginners may quickly reach a point where they have to ask others for advice on the source code for documents they want/have to write with TeX/LaTeX. Furthermore, StackExchange is a communication medium which allows only very limited insight into the situation/motivations of the individual communication participants.

As I understand it, a "do-it-for-me" question is a question in which the circumstance plays a role that the questioner has a task to do and is not so much concerned with gaining the deeper understanding necessary for accomplishing the task him-/herself.
For the questioner the "do-it-for-me" question is a means to have the task accomplished by those who answer the question, or to have "pieces" delivered by those who answer the question, which he or she can then with little effort put together into a solution to the task.

To put it casually:

With a "do-it-for-me" question the focus of the questioner is not on acquiring the knowledge he or she needs for doing the donkey-work himself/herself but the focus of the questioner is on having the donkey-work done by those who answer the question.

Since the reasons for writing "do-it-for-me" questions can be quite diverse, I am not one of those who are fundamentally against "do-it-for-me" questions—as long as the questioners deal openly with the circumstance that it is a "do-it-for-me" question. If you already know a little bit, such questions sometimes can be a nice pastime.

But I don't like questioners trying to hide the fact that there is a "do-it-for-me" question. This often leads to questions being asked in a more general way at first—in the hope that there is someone among the respondents who provides what is needed for solving the special case. If this doesn't work out, by and by the question is narrowed down to the special case: The questioner in his/her comments by and by mentions additional conditions that were not mentioned before—or the posting containing the question is changed by and by accordingly—, which makes it necessary to take a completely different approach, so that the work done in the initial answers is in vain. And those who answered arrive at the unpleasant realization that one could have saved oneself this work if the questioner from the start had said everything.

Do not confuse "do-it-for-me" questions with questions that also are motivated by attempts at getting a task accomplished, but where the problems have made the questioner aware that he or she lacks knowledge, and where the questioner now wishes to acquire this knowledge in order to be able to cope with similar tasks without assistance in the future. (That wish may be linked to the desire to get a concrete example where one is familiar with the underlying problem and therefore can more easily learn how to approach such things.)

Classifying a question as a "do-it-for-me" question implies making a statement about the underlying motivations of the questioner. Identifying underlying motivations often is difficult. Cautiousness, thoroughness and conciliatoriness are needed here. Especially since TeX/LaTeX is something that for beginners is often accompanied by a steep learning curve, which means that beginners may quickly reach a point where they have to ask others for advice on the source code for documents they want/have to write with TeX/LaTeX. Furthermore, StackExchange is a communication medium which allows only very limited insight into the situation/motivations of the individual communication participants.

Source Link
Ulrich Diez
  • 30.9k
  • 8
  • 17

As I understand it, a "do-it-for-me" question is a question in which the circumstance plays a role that the questioner has a task to do and is not so much concerned with gaining the deeper understanding necessary for accomplishing the task him-/herself.
For the questioner the "do-it-for-me" question is a means to have the task accomplished by those who answer the question, or to have "pieces" delivered by those who answer the question, which he or she can then with little effort put together into a solution to the task.

Since the reasons for writing "do-it-for-me" questions can be quite diverse, I am not one of those who are fundamentally against "do-it-for-me" questions—as long as the questioners deal openly with the circumstance that it is a "do-it-for-me" question. If you already know a little bit, such questions sometimes can be a nice pastime.

But I don't like questioners trying to hide the fact that there is a "do-it-for-me" question. This often leads to questions being asked in a more general way at first—in the hope that there is someone among the respondents who provides what is needed for solving the special case. If this doesn't work out, by and by the question is narrowed down to the special case: The questioner in his/her comments by and by mentions additional conditions that were not mentioned before—or the posting containing the question is changed by and by accordingly—, which makes it necessary to take a completely different approach, so that the work done in the initial answers is in vain. And those who answered arrive at the unpleasant realization that one could have saved oneself this work if the questioner from the start had said everything.

Do not confuse "do-it-for-me" questions with questions that also are motivated by attempts at getting a task accomplished, but where the problems have made the questioner aware that he or she lacks knowledge, and where the questioner now wishes to acquire this knowledge in order to be able to cope with similar tasks without assistance in the future. (That wish may be linked to the desire to get a concrete example where one is familiar with the underlying problem and therefore can more easily learn how to approach such things.)

Classifying a question as a "do-it-for-me" question implies making a statement about the underlying motivations of the questioner. Identifying underlying motivations often is difficult. Cautiousness, thoroughness and conciliatoriness are needed here. Especially since TeX/LaTeX is something that for beginners is often accompanied by a steep learning curve, which means that beginners may quickly reach a point where they have to ask others for advice on the source code for documents they want/have to write with TeX/LaTeX. Furthermore, StackExchange is a communication medium which allows only very limited insight into the situation/motivations of the individual communication participants.