What is happening to fluther?

I think the reason people take umbrage over homework questions is that they want to be able to hold a conversation with someone who is truly interested in what they have to say, and is not here simply to take advantage of their hard work and then leave without becoming engaged.

It’s well noted that fluther is not the site to ask for your homework to be done. Try Y!A if that’s what you’re looking for.

We are not here to help you get a better grade on your test. There’s other resources out there to help you find the answers. Do a little research. I’m sure you are referring to the question you asked earlier, and if so, there were people who gave you hints on where to look.

I dont really know what your talking about as i havent noticed anything myself, so ill just go off of what you mentioned.

“shouldt someone who needs help with their homework ask for it? shouldnt people who want, and ask for help get help?”
Sure thats fine and dandy, fluther has a problem when people just start asking for the solution to the homework instead of asking how to arrive at that solution. We are more than happy to help you if you get stuck, but we arent going to do your homework for you.

“doesnt everyone ask questions to seek knowledge? ”
No, people ask some pretty stupid questions on fluther sometimes, and by stupid i mean the ones that can be answered with a quick google search. To me, thats a complete waste of fluthers potential and a waste of everyone’s time involved. Cant find the answer to your question? Ask away.

Well said, @Jayne

and there’s a difference between asking something you truly don’t know and/or can’t find out (or opinions) and asking about something you’re supposed to be finding out through study and true research.

@uberbatman i was struggling with a concept for a test i had today and i asked the most simple question because i was fighting with information i had gathered about the topic, and instead of others clarifying for me they scolded me for freeloading.

its not a matter of googling or not. information searched through that way is often miss leading. and wiki answers are not the best answers. i want opinions and information in plain talk from real people who know what they are talking about.

and if you have a problem with someone trying to wrack your brain, dont answer!

It was a matter of googling.

i didnt understand. someone pleaase invent a app on google for instant understanding of WWI &WWII failed foreign governments. please and thank you.

I like it the way it is, if you want better grades why dont you try paying attention in class or ask your professor

Sometimes some questions need some not so nice answers

@A_Beaverhausen – Now you’re lying because there were people who gave you some hints. They didn’t have to, but they did.

Yea see that whole “if you dont like it dont answer” philosophy is sooooo flawed, people say the same shit about duplicate questions. The reason we hold strong against them and mod them is so that it doesnt get out of control. If we all stopped caring if there were crap questions or the same thing asked many times over fluther would quickly go to shit.

for future reference, i will not be contacting anyone from fluther as my lifeline if i ever get on Millionaire.

I think it is more about how the question was posed.

Asking a question and then putting “Quick!” in the details, is just saying that you haven’t thought out the answer at all. If you had said, “I’m trying to figure out the difference…here’s what I see as the major aspects of Fascism versus Nazism…What does anyone else think?” then you might have gotten better responses.

Or you might have figured out the answer for yourself.

@krysta um yea! and they were great. mucho lurve for everyone who helped me today. im pretty sure i got an A. krysta, thanks for nothing.

I also think there’s a difference between “here’s my homework, answer it for me so I can copy/paste it” and “this is my homework problem, do you have any insight that could help me understand it on a deeper level?”.

(Which is possibly what @fireside is getting at, but I hadn’t seen that when I answered.)

As far as homework goes, I think there’s also a difference between
“What’s the answer to this problem?”

and “I’ve tried all of these techniques and it has not worked..Can anyone help me or point me in the right direction?”

Or in the terms of a history question

“I’ve tried searching google for __________ and I can’t find anything. Does anyone have insight into __________ or what I might be able to search for?”

People are much more willing to help if you show that you’ve at least put in some effort.

I just read your question. If you had been struggling with the concept, why didn’t you say that in the question? Why didn’t you take the responsibility to explain what was going on and that you were totally lost on the concept? Also, you could have asked people to point you in the right direction, not the for the answer, but links to help you find the answer, yourself.

Instead of being angry at people for not doing your work, accept some of the responsibility for the wording of your question and move on.

Oh, you were actually taking a test and wanted the answer.
That’s cheating, you should have asked Fluther last night while you were studying.

the world is evil. fluther is happy, but interlopers get thru the small cracks of internetism, thus the hackers and the hostile keypunchers. fluther on…

I have noticed a larger influx of new members lately, but I don’t see any of this negativity you speak of…

@Perchik i agree, i should have thought out my question better, buuuut my intentions weren’t to exploit anyone.and i had been studying for a while.

@fireside I WAS STUDYING! HOW COULD I BE ON MY COMPUTER DURING A TEST?? YOU PEOPLE ARE UNFORGIVING.

i was in a pinch, it was last minute. but still i believe everyone was being a lot more harsh then needed.

you automatically assume that im being lazy or that im usuing you for homework. it wasnt like that at all. i thought asking the question flat out would get better answers.

its fine, ill find more willing study partners.

@A_Beaverhausen Whoa chill out. It so happens that we get a lot of users who simply ARE trying to exploit people for homework answers. Since that’s the case, when someone just asks a question, it comes off as “do my homework for me please” unless you explain otherwise.

Secondly, I’d always suggest going to your professor/teacher before going to fluther for homework help. They know what you’re supposed to know, we don’t. If studying at the last minute is causing problems for you, perhaps you should study beforehand. If you had more time before the test, you could have asked a much better question and gave it time to get much better responses.

@A_Beaverhausen – lol, sorry bad assumption. hope you got a good grade!

@A_Beaverhausen “I WAS STUDYING! HOW COULD I BE ON MY COMPUTER DURING A TEST?? YOU PEOPLE ARE UNFORGIVING.” uhhhh iPhone? :P

im not looking for an appology, guys just be nice. if i were new to this i would run away screaming. i mean its like having terrible in laws that wont let you get a word in edge wise. but i know that there are good fluthers out there, i would know ive gotten some great advice from them.

@uber i didnt even think about that. but touche.

I skimmed over your list of questions to see what you were talking about because I haven’t seen any of them untill just now. Flutherites have never liked doing people’s homework for them and never will. In your questions I have seen that both hinted at and said directly, so if you are still asking homework questions and the others are being terse with you, I wouldn’t be surprised.

If you’re not please with the tone of the answers you get, you may want to re-think your questions.

what is happening to fluther?

what is happening to the world?

stop crying and get over it

all im saying is that if we knew each other and i saw you on campus and asked you a question regarding my homework im sure you would have helped me-

without being interrogated so you could justify me asking.

I think most of us, if you’d asked us when we’d met you on campus, and if we knew the answer, would have said something like “USSR was communist, Germany was socialist. That’s the difference.” And expect you to look up the meaning of that yourself.

And that’s pretty much what you were given by Fluther.

Again, I think it was pretty gracious.

@A_Beaverhausen: hear, hear! great question. Great answers too :)

@A_Beaverhausen but this isn’t campus, and even if it was, I wouldn’t do your homework for you. As Grisson stated above, I would still encourage you to do your own work, as many others here have. It’s been explained to you several times, and from every angle and still it seems as clear as mud to you, why is that?

WON’T SOMEONE PLEASE THINK ABOUT THE CHILDREN!!!?!?

oops! spoke to soon…

gotta start reading the whole thread

I agree with @A_Beaverhausen. I for one would really like Fluther to take my cardiovascular physiology exam on Thursday. And by Fluther, I mean shilolo of course.

@grisson, im not upset about the answers, cause i did get it. fluther came through. thank you.

@scamp im over this question, stop trying to make me look like i dont do my work. because you have no idea. and thats not the case.

im not sorry for sticking up for myself. because i know where i stand. and im not going to appologize for asking a question either. because i was always encouraged to ask questions when i didnt know the answer.

even if it was a half an hour before my test. i needed help. and instead of direction, i got negativity.

if you were half as bit as wise as you are cynical, you probably could have learned more about history today too.

but unfortunately people are being stingy with wisdom today. so please return to answering stupid redundant questions about ‘what color taupe looks better in your kitchen.’

you all are jaded and salty, why is that?

Fluther is alive. Living things tend to change.

‘cause we graduated college and know what it’s like in “the real world” : P

You learned how to sift through negativity to fine the answer you needed, you have no idea how far that will take you. …as long as you don’t cal everybody out on their negativity all the time…

@fireside; if you dont tell them they’re being negative how will they know they are bumming everybody out?

You’re future boss and co-workers may not care if they’re bumming you out.
Finding the right working environment and corporate culture is key to enjoying your job.

@A_Beaverhausen – instead of completely lashing out, do you see how if you had reworded the question and said you were at a total loss – you were lost, couldn’t find the right direction to find the answer, things might have gone differently?

To answer your initial question, Fluther has not changed.

We’ve never done homework questions.

Hey Fluther, would you please do my job for me? Oh, and while you’re at it, could you write my novel? And get me a few gigs?

I hate to do this, so I won’t use the t-word, but doesn’t it seem like people are paying way more attention to this than it deserves? And that a certain someone is really enjoying the attention?

this not the problem. i clarified in an answer once i started realizing my question wasn’t clear enough. read the thread. i stated i was studying. and i got great answers, and a lot of help.

thanks for the attention :) ill let you know how my test went.

o, i had to give a speech on gardening today too. i got an 88% on it.

I think it is just a more collective effort to try and purge out questions that don’t really engage any thought. Like one I saw that caught a lot of flak was, what is the Illuminati. And everyone was right all you have to do is google it and you will know. I mean we all have the internet at our fingertips just find it for yourself right. It is frustrating, now if that person had asked something like, I know what the illuminati is but could someone give me more insight into what the big deal is. That is different.

@PnL Careful. There are some who feel shilolo is not a real doctor, he just plays one on Fluther. See this weird thread.~

@marina – that was very weird!

I lost some respect for a certain person by reading that thread.

I find that the answers I really care about are the ones from our friendlier Flutterers, but yeah, the hosility does bother me at times.

Loser: wasn’t it you and madcapper that got on my case recently when I expressd an opinon? That was pretty hostile! The cronyism and small mindedness is getting pretty tiring. I agree with A_Beaverhausen. Answers, in general, do seem a little more more hostile, homework aside. It seems like it all depends on the type of question.

I think for me I tend to call bullpoop for excessive broad and curt questions because if the person had done a modicum of research there would be a more specific question.

i.e. For your question How were the “totalitarianisms” of Germany, and the Soviet Union different from one another? Showed that you weren’t even really aware of the fundamental terms of what you were asking. The first paragraph of the two states tell you that one was socialist and the other a dictatorship. Then it’s a quick search for both of those terms and off you go.

The fact that you couldn’t even identify the form of governance pretty much proves that you didn’t even do the minimum cursory Google/Wikipedia spree – you just threw the question at the collective.

Anyways if you had a half-hour you could’ve easily Googled your way to the answer faster than waiting for potshots from the fluthers. The problem with fluthering for homework is that you have to wait, you occasionally the crackpot answer (you see, Hitler invented McDonalds…), and it’s still slower and less informative than some quick Google-fu.

And I am an undergrad student now, so I’m pretty much in the same position as you.

@Cardinal you mean that one thread where you gave asmonet shit for no reason? ;)

I am fairly new to fluther, but I have noticed the hostility too. I was always taught that there is no such thing as a stupid question. Some people may not word their question like they should have to get an honest, sincere, and intelligent answer, but don’t we all make mistakes?

I think the community is going through an adjustment of growth – I haven’t even been around fluther that long but I think there are more newcomers of late and that can trigger growing pains for a variety of reasons.

But there should be some ‘push back’ so to speak to maintain the integrity of the community that’s made it as successful as it has – otherwise we’d be regulated to the vat of Kindergardeners that makeup Yahoo Answers.

Although I got in while the going was good when we were all in our little wading pool so maybe it is much more of a hostile environment to newcomers?

My desire would be for both these two sentiments to be honored:

@A_Beaverhausen: “i think there should be a new rule. IF YOU HAVE NOTHING NICE TO FLUTHER, DONT FLUTHER AT ALL.”

@uberbatman: “If we all stopped caring if there were crap questions or the same thing asked many times over fluther would quickly go to shit.”

@A_Beaverhausen GQ off the bat.
What I absolutely hate is when people go off topic on my threads. Now this may be hypocritical because I might have done if a lot before, but I am trying not to.

I think there are some seasoned Flutherers whose patience grows thinner and thinner with each silly question. There are people here who don’t have much of a tolerance for silly, and make snide, passive-aggressive comments. In that instance, I’ll give you that Fluther can be hostile.

However, I agree with everyone else… it looked like you were fishing for answers, not guidance.

Even if someone is fishing for answers, there is no need to be rude and try to scold the questioner. No answer is better than a rude one.

@A_Beaverhausen I am getting to know you better in this thread. When I first read the question, I thought it was “another noob baby” whining because fluther was not giving him what he wanted. So I did some of my own homework and read your questions to see why you felt so attacked.

I then gave you some advice to try and help your experience here be a little more pleasant by explaining yet one more time why you were getting the type of responses you were unhappy with. You just don’t seem to get it. Most people would say thanks for the advice and learn from it.

Instead you chose to insult me with a sexist remark dismissing me to the “stupid questions” concerning kitchen paint color, and you say I am unwise, cynical jaded and salty?? pffft. Time to take a hard look in the morror child. You’ll find the source of the hostility you speak of looking right back at you.

After experiencing your temper tantrum,I found out that my initial impression of you was the right one after all.

@scamp. my temper tantrum? i gave thanks where thanks was due. i never asked anyone to ‘do my homework’ you honestly think i would take my time to write a question, when i could google something in 3 seconds? i already had been studying, how is that being lazy? and i already apologized for being to vague. im over it.

for real, why are you even on this thread still? you didnt answer my question, nor do you plan to.

to be completely honest, the totalitarian question, i was so confused because i thought Hitler operated a communist regime, but in reference to that question it was Hitler who was running as a socialist. i asked a friend in my class, and she listened to me and found why i was so confused.

i thought fluther could be a friend like that. but i guess not.

and i happen to care greatly about the color of my kitchen. every woman does. and that questions wasn’t aimed at you personally, so don’t feel special. that bullet didn’t have your name on it.

PS. you dont know me. i dont care what you think about me.

im officially over this thread

@A_Beaverhausen: I believe you said you were over the thread already. Why are you still responding?

I may be the last one, but… S/F

@Grisson high five!!

Folks, I don’t think this is getting anywhere. With every post, beaverhausen digs himself deeper in his hole. He thinks he’s arguing that he isn’t asking for homework help, but what he describes is a prime example of homework help. Apparently he couldn’t google “hitler regime” or something of that ilk. Anyway, it’s not really much fun going around and around on this. I urge you all to let beaver have the last word, and just drop it.

“Topics: peace, love…”

@loser, you never fail to crack me up!! Lurve to ya my buddy!!

@daloon, you’re right… let’s leave it to beaver.

@scamp: total lurve for making me laugh in delight! Too perfect! Too perfect!

Am I missing something? Beaver’s last post was 8 posts up. How did she get the last word? Just sayin’. :)

@loser read what @scamp / @daloon said

@daloon aww shucks! I am to please!!