Important thing that must be in consideration

I think that it is outrages to see unanswered questions in The forum and no one is bothering to reply. Where is the experts, where are the helpers? Why being selfish if we could help each other? Actually I'm not okay with that. It is Scirra's community responsibility to make this forum active and to help others just like you.

If you seen this post and you know scirra a lot, I want to ask you: isn't it outrages to see other developers just like you suffering to get an answer?

Turns out you're in the wrong forum after all.

I really don't see how you came to that conclusion. I see people helping all the time even to the point of doing what the person is trying to figure out for them by providing them a .capx. I don't provide .capx files but I do answer I believe for me to help you, you first have to help yourself. Heck at times the people give capx files willy nilly if a person was clever enough they could have their whole program done for them and they learn absolutely nothing in the end.

I see it as bad because new people come in demanding .capx and not just answers.

I must say this forum helped me uit quite a lot. But ofcourse, if you ask questions that can be read in the manual or tutorials, people tend to neglect them. Go through the tutorials, read the manual and if you still have questions by then, for sure people will answer them. But yeah, nowdays people demand instand gratification and succes. The golden rule if you want to become good in something is to spend 10.000 hrs in it. And that my friend, is the case with everything.

Totally disagree with you. There's already a lot of helpers here, and I've learned a lot from them until now. Manuals and tutorials, the thread of some moderators is also a big helper, which new people easily ignores. If you carefully take a look at those unanswered question, you may found why it doesn't get answers.

You don't always need an expert to answer every question. If the question isn't directly tied with c2 the internet is a vast resource that can provide solutions or tips on how things are done. Even if it isn't then you can expiriment with the lab which is c2. My computer is filled with examples I've done to figure out how things work.

I'm not saying you shouldn't ask questions, rather there are ways to figure it out on your own.

Also keep in mind that most experts don't just know an answer, but if it sparks their interest and they have the time they sometimes can find a solution. The key word being "time". And all users, including you and even the brand new users can be one of the "contributing experts" if you take the time to find an answer to a question.

Is this in response to your question here that was not yet answered when you started this thread? Five hours had passed - and the answer was, in fact, to be found in a tutorial all along...

I disagree, I find the forum quite helpful with nice people!

I have been amazed at the effort and patience shown by some people on the forums in answering problems. Personally i dont think i have ever been on such an active and helpful forum.

Well, just to mention it, but I guess Ashley and Tom are very helpful as well.

It´s not usual that administrators of program software answer directly on postings of the community, what they did several times even on my questions.

If you would like to have an answer to something from big players like Microsoft or Apple, you would just get an email saying "....read our FAQ" or "... read our manual!"

Personnaly (and I think I am not the only one in that case), I am always willing to help people out, but even wit my experience I cannot just tell what is wrong in every case, it demands time to awnser questions (like to figure out what the person did, what he wanted to do, and even a capx makes this difficult in some cases, which is why I prefer explanations rather that people giving a capx but that is my personal opinion, and how to do it in a way that is efficient yet can be understood easily by the one who asked, which is not easy since most people are learning to use the tool and so will not be as familiar as us with some things).

There are a lot of people helping right here, but there are also a lot of questions out there, which implies that sometimes we don t notice it right away too

I've been here almost 7 years and feel things have changed somewhat, I think they call it "signal to noise ratio" which is a result of a sudden large influx of new users, with the majority of questions asked now fitting into one of three categories.

1. People who ask a question that has already been asked before but can't be bothered to search.

2. People who ask a question that is covered in the manual which they haven't bothered to read.

3. People who want you to code their game for them.

A special category is reserved for people who want to know how to add inapt purchases to their crappy bird clones.

If i'm stuck and have tried numerous ways to make it work, first i search the manual, then the forums with various different wordings. Then i'll search the MMF forums because a lot of the time the code is so similar it can be converted. Then i'll check the internet, if it's a maths question, and finally i'll post here.

i was always helped when i asked questions, and i always tried to help myself when i was in the knowhow

I find the questions and help requests that get "ignored" are the ones that have been asked within the last week or questions that come up so often that even the simplest search would fine.

I have seen on a few occasions where the same question was in fact on the first page. There is a certain point where if an individual can't be bothered to do simple research. However as many point out this is an active forum. Research is a programmers best friend is a big chunk. If a question is that simple that there is no research done... well...

I think that it is outrages to see unanswered questions in The forum

I kind of agree with that.

But also, in my experience, and as already mentioned in this thread, most of those questions just happen to be questions already answered or basic stuff that can be found with a little bit of search/read through the manual/tutorials/already existing threads.

Also most questions don't interest me anymore since I already answered them thousands of time, even if with another formulation.

Some other questions also happens to just be so poorly formulated that it's hard to even understand what is being asked and it shows directly that the basics of C2 are not understood by the person.

And still in my experience, when I don't have the time for it, I don't want to kick in the bees nest and ask for clarifications because then, those people asking questions feel entitled that I shall give them an answer/provide a capx/babysit them until they are as at ease with C2 as I am. They'll try to send me PMs, or emails for the most basic stuff that going through tuts and manual shall teach them.

I personally can't handle/guide every new comer like that.

Also, believe it or not, when I started using C2, there wasn't the sixteenth of all the documentation available now. If you can't show me that you've made the basic search, I'm not always willing to put you on the correct track either.

If you don't do the minimum, why should I ?

That is something that is known in internet communities. The influx of newcomers, asking for the same set of already answered questions. And the "experts" (I'll dare consider myself one) just becoming tired of always answering those questions, especially when we've spent the last years already doing so.

In my opinion, Scirra's forums are still welcoming and providing support.

Some of the people who got helped years ago are now helping back with efficient support.

Maybe someday, you'll do as well Naji.

Nevertheless, I'm also wondering where this reflexion is coming from seeing that all threads you've been posting that I've seen, has been answered in one way another.

Maybe you're thinking about other posts you've seen. If so, I then invite you to try to provide an answer to those post.

"Pro-tip": I've learnt a lot about C2 by trying to provide solutions to posts on the forums, and that's how most of my capx were made. And doing so, I learnt and practice a great deal on the way. You can do so as well !

But yeah, be aware that "experts" are most likely to have to be interested in the question (it should be challenging, and not just because of a lack of knowledge of the person asking) and to have the time to investigate. And not all questions require "experts" either, far from it.

Also, one has to consider the human factor. Sometime, when working on my own projects, I don't want to be bothered with other people's "problems". And I think it's quite natural.

The community's purpose is not to be here to serve you (general "you" here).

If you think that because you ask a question the community HAS to answer you, there is a misconception already here.

If I remember correctly in Buddhist philosophy a saying goes : "If one asks a question, one's not yet ready for the answer".

Think about it