To whoever hacked into my Database

[rurpy at yahoo.com]

On 11/08/2013 11:08 AM, Chris Angelico wrote:
> On Sat, Nov 9, 2013 at 4:11 AM,  <rurpy at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> On 11/08/2013 03:05 AM, Νίκος Αλεξόπουλος wrote:
>>> I never ignore advices.
>>> I read all answers as carefully as i can.
>>> But nevertheless sometimes i feel things should have been better
>>> implemented using my way.
>>>
>>> Not of course that i know better, but thats better suited for me in the
>>> level iam.
>>
>> Most of the "advice" I've seen posted here has, as far
>> as I can tell, not intended to be useful but to serve
>> as a way to telling you are incompetent are in other ways
>> insulting or useless.  I think you are quite right to
>> ignore it (or tell the poster to get lost.)
> 
> Actually no; most of the advice has been genuine.

Actually yes; most of the advice has not been genuine.

Of course neither you nor I know for sure since we can't
read minds.  But when "advice" consists of things like
 "Maybe try some of the advice you have been given instead? "
 "use php"
 "Try starting with something simple. The following is a 
  step by step guide... Now, and this is really really
  going to tax you..."
 A treatise on 1nf in six short sentences followed by
  ruminations on competence including "...never shows
  a glimmer of interest in learning."
 "Now that helpful suggestions have been offered, and
  the OP continues to obstinately refuse to learn,"
I don't consider it "helpful" nor do I believe the 
claims of  such people (who have an history of antagonistic
responses) that they are genuinely trying to be helpful.

If you want to be helpful try posting useful information
without the insults, with an attempt to tune it to the 
level of understanding the recipient and without the 
offensive "do what I tell you" attitude.

>> Long before you showed up here, I noticed the tendency
>> to not answer questions directly but to jerk people off
>> by giving hints or telling them to do something other
>> than they want to do.
>>
>> Often that is good because the original request was
>> for something that the OP really didn't want to do.
>> But sometimes the OP knows they want to do (but doesn't
>> want or is unable to clearly explain why) and when
>> they clearly state that, yes, they do want to do it
>> their way, their question should be answered in good
>> faith or, for those who just can't tell how to do
>> something "wrong", ignored.
> 
> I disagree. If you go to a doctor and ask for a prescription for
> <insert name of medication>, the doctor is quite right in refusing if
> s/he believes that that won't help you. If the OP asks for a way to
> stuff more into a single record in MySQL, then we're right to say "No,
> don't do it that way".

No you're not.  Without determining how the data is to be 
used you can't say it's not normalized.  Otherwise one
could claim every of the millions of databases containing 
addresses is not even 1nf because their designers crammed
two pieces of information (street number and street name) 
into a single datum.

Second, to simply say, "don't do that, it's not 1nf" when 
most database systems provide data types like arrays, set, 
composites etc whose purpose is to do what you're saying not 
to do is not being helpful -- it's being domineering and 
condescending.

Finally you're wrong to say "no" because you are not in
a position to evaluate all the criteria that determines 
right or wrong for the OP.  For example it is often easier 
when learning to use something one understands better, or 
uses less code or is  simpler is some other way to the learner, 
with the intent to fix it later if experience shows the need.

> Generally, people who ask for one thing and are advised another will
> see that the advice is actually getting them to where they really
> wanted to be. There's another thread now about calling from Python
> into C, which I haven't been following closely, but I saw a comment
> from its OP to the effect of "Oh right! Standard input/output would do
> what I want!" - it may not have been specifically what was asked for,
> but it was helpful. If it's not helpful, give a reason for that.

Right.  Which is why I wrote 

  >> Often that telling the OP he is doing it wrong] is good because
  >> the original request was for something that the OP really didn't
  >> want to do.

I then went on to address my comments to the case where the OP insists 
he *does* want what he asks for.  So you could have saved us all a 
little time by leaving out the above irrelevant paragraph.

> Do you (anyone) know better than all the people of this newsgroup?

That you are so naive as to propose that majority opinion
is always right is so naive I'm not sure what to think, other 
than to wonder how old you are.

> I would think not, firstly because you're asking the question (why are
> you asking if you already know better), 

That's pretty illogical thinking.  How can he know better *before*
he asks and sees the answers.  Only after he gets the answers can
one decide if they are better or not.  

> and secondly because the
> collective knowledge and skill is far greater than any individual's.

Really?  You can't think of cases where one individual saw beyond
the collective view?  Your premise is defective.  There are many 
cases where the collective view is faulty do to group-think, 
influence by leaders, emotional involvement, etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_behavior

> So why reject advice out of hand? If it's inapplicable for some
> reason, _explain why_. Don't just go back and forth saying "But I want
> it done like this" when all of us and conventional wisdom all say not
> to do it.

He didn't reject it out of hand, he gave some reasons why he 
rejected it.   But as is SOP here, you chose not to see or pay
any attention to those reasons.