Yer askin' for help. I ain't gonna give you any

Here's something that infuriates me, it happens on this board too. Someone is asking for info about doing plan A. Someone chimes in about plan B. Then others pile on about plan B. NOBODY addresses plan A. In some cases, the OP even says he's tried plan B and he got paint thinner on his hootus and has no plan on doing it again. But we will still go on about plan B. Why?
I'll give you an example. I'm putting together a HTPC right now. I was trying to figure out why I couldn't get one program to talk to another. I went to the googles and typed "'program a not talking to program b'" and came upon a post asking the exact thing I wanted to know. He basically said "I want to use programs A and B. I've used C before and it stinks. Microsoft doesn't support it" Then the very first response was "I've never used program A and B together. I use program C and it works great. Now, the OP said he had no interest in program C because Microsoft was no longer supporting it. Then post after post about program C. Not telling him how to make it work, just talking about it.
Stop the insanity!

Plan A is more expensive. Plan B will get the job done and cost half as much, and parts will be cheaper/easier to find. Why do you hate plan B?!

You could buy a German car and a Miata for half as much as building a HTPC.

Cause still dealing with humans. Also keep in mind that internet advice is free, and worth exactly what you paid. Also, it might be that Plan A is just not feasable.

As a counter-rant, I will post that I get tired of people going on line and complaining that they don't get the exact answer they wanted and that too much information is contradictory or even just wrong. We come on line to do research and arrive at our own solutions based on what we learn to be true or applicable.

I want to know why you hate Apple products so much. Their coolaid is much tastier than the brand X you are trying to use now. Their coolaid always works properly and if it doesn't it's because you are the devil. What is wrong with you and why won't you consider the children.

Oh, and because of, "One Track Mind." I suffer from it often. Sometimes you just need to derail the train.

logdog wrote: You could buy a German car and a Miata for half as much as building a HTPC.

This. If you use the German car as a daily then you'll never have time to watch TV anyway.

I tend to think that a good thread is a balance. Askers should understand that there are several methods of achieving an objective. Answerers should understand the difference between an asker who is trying to press the wrong tool into serving a goal and an asker who is trying to work with a certain tool for a reason.

I've tried using a Dremel cutoff wheel on an exhaust hanger. It didn't do much of anything but break wheels. I've tried using GNU sed when I should have used GNU cut.

On the flip side, I've had to do something using only the tools available. If I have a question regarding that, I'll usually note in my question that I have a restriction. Sometimes, you have to use, for example, Windows find.exe instead of GNU grep, and having a dozen people tell you to install grep won't help.

I'll put this here, because it's good for anyone who has to ask questions.

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way Eric Steven Raymond

This board... Is actually the worst about this out of any i frequent. By a wide margin.

I'd say north of 50% of my questions asked on here go this way.

You really shouldn't be building a HTPC anyway when instead you could get a used FRS. Have you seen the used FRS'? There's one down at the corner lot. I think it's blue. Do they call it "Blue?" Or is there some name like "Ocean Spray Sky?" Not like the cranberry Ocean Spray, as that would be more of a "red" I would think.

Dr. Hess wrote: You really shouldn't be building a HTPC anyway when instead you could get a used FRS. Have you seen the used FRS'? There's one down at the corner lot. I think it's blue. Do they call it "Blue?" Or is there some name like "Ocean Spray Sky?" Not like the cranberry Ocean Spray, as that would be more of a "red" I would think.

That sounds good. If it is auto, that would be great. It is rated for better MPG than the stick and there will be less fuss if SWMBO can drive it.

The trick is to not plant any seeds about plan B or "program C" in the initial post.

Does everyone's SWMBO like autos? Mine can drive a stick but prefers autos. She says that since I put Megasquirt based EFI on her Sportster, it is like driving an automatic. Just put it in a gear and go. What kind of bike does your spousal unit ride?

... wrong FRS. I was thinking toyobaru. She hates bikes. That makes it easy for me, I don't have to worry about passenger issues when I can finally buy one. Probably next spring. At present I'm looking at a few used Kawasaki's. An ER6N for $4k or a Ninja 500 for $3.2k.

Oh, back to the OP, try Program C. It's a great product from Microsoft. I use Program C for that every day.

Just about everybody on this board has automotive ADD, so its a reasonable conclusion that ADD seeps into the ..... Hey look, there's a turkey in my front yard. What was the original question again?

And regular ADD. I have to say the Adderall was the best med, much more potent than Ritalin.

Maybe because when one of the unofficial site mottoes is "The answer is Miata," it implies people have already made up their minds before they read the question.

i went through this trying to run NHL95 on windows 7 computer. i waded through hours of message board posts with a bunch of derailed BS, and finally found "download it here, already modified to run on dosbox" - that's all i wanted.

What gets me are the blatant ones. Someone will say that they are not interested in four door cars or no convertibles and then all they get are why they need a four door car or a convertible. It's like they do it on purpose.

Nick_Comstock wrote: What gets me are the blatant ones. Someone will say that they are not interested in four door cars or no convertibles and then all they get are why they need a four door car or a convertible. It's like they do it on purpose.

dude, seriously, you need a 1964 lincoln continental 4 door convertible. it's perfect for your needs.

Is that the one with the suicide rear doors, Pat? Those were cool. WAY before the RX8. y0.

What the hell is HTPC? I might be able to help if I knew whet we're talking about.

Starting an Internet forum thread is like raising pigeons. Once you release them you have no control over where they go. Sometimes they just turn around and poop on your head.

I like pie