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this thought has been in the back of my mind since I started helping out on phpFreaks...

 

Can't help but feeling there are people here who manage to finish entire projects with scraps of code they find around the internet and slap together in the most appalling ways, then someone here fixes bits of this 'n that (most of the times without knowing the full scripts or where and how they'll be applied) and suddenly they have a whole project up and running, with probably tons of security holes and memory leaks. It's just scary, but it gave me a cool idea that I hope to try one day, just for the heck of it:

 

One day, I'll come up with a huge project, devide it all into tiny modules, and try to do the whole thing done without having to write a single line of code, just relying on kind people around the forums that will end up writing it for me if I insist enough, (pretending to be foreign and not understanding English)... I figure if I, or someone who wishes to try it, documents the whole thing, not only will they have the project done, but I'll also have enough material to write a fun book on how to get someone else to do your work for you.

 

Just thought I'd share this.

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Well I think we've been working on trying not to be such pushovers, and insist on people actually doing enough work to justify our help.  Lots of questions go without an adequate answer because people get fed up with bad questions and people who don't seem to be able to understand the content of the answers adequately. 

 

The nature of the software development field is that there is and always has been a practice of documenting things for the greater good, and helping others.  Most programmers understand that they stand on the heads of many who have come before them, and increasingly software has features that allow it to connect and interface with other systems, so it behooves everyone to share and document, and that's what motivates people to do the same.  I know that the material I've published based on things I've learned was certainly motivated by that, because a day rarely goes by that I'm not googling and reading information that someone decided to publish, which has helped me figure out how to get around a problem I've encountered, or figure out how to solve a problem I need to tackle in my work.  The reality of the world is that most people take more than they give, but overall the system benefits the majority.  Simply pointing out that there are people who leech off of others would not be a great surprise to anyone in my opinion.

 

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this thought has been in the back of my mind since I started helping out on phpFreaks...

 

Can't help but feeling there are people here who manage to finish entire projects with scraps of code they find around the internet and slap together in the most appalling ways, then someone here fixes bits of this 'n that (most of the times without knowing the full scripts or where and how they'll be applied) and suddenly they have a whole project up and running, with probably tons of security holes and memory leaks. It's just scary, but it gave me a cool idea that I hope to try one day, just for the heck of it:

 

One day, I'll come up with a huge project, devide it all into tiny modules, and try to do the whole thing done without having to write a single line of code, just relying on kind people around the forums that will end up writing it for me if I insist enough, (pretending to be foreign and not understanding English)... I figure if I, or someone who wishes to try it, documents the whole thing, not only will they have the project done, but I'll also have enough material to write a fun book on how to get someone else to do your work for you.

 

Just thought I'd share this.

you think too much... :P

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There are indeed quite some of those leeches around and in real life i would put salt on them (master chef season 4 here we come). Now pretty often if someone doesn't show his code or any effort there aren't many people that are willing to help. The leech project you describe depends on others willing to spend there time helping leeches that don't show any effort, I don't believe such a project will ever be the next big thing. If you were to write a book/article on how to become the best leech on the interwebs. Do your thing. Realize though people that don't put any effort in there own business, code or anything will fail.

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There's members on here pm'ing me on typing entire modules and projects as a means of helping them get on their way. The reality of it is that most people do it for the money, while we actually enjoy what we do. In my opinion there's a fine line between asking for help and asking someone to do everything for you by sugar coating it with innocent posts acting like they are clueless..,,

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There's definitely an art to becoming helpfully unhelpful.  You give too much, and people take advantage and neglect to even attempt to learn anything.  Give too little, and you're a jerk who only makes the other person more frustrated.

 

I like answering the questions which can be solved in a few posts, as anything that takes a page or more to solve generally degrades into "I really have no clue/am just lazy, and need the entire thing to be rewritten by someone else," which is definitely not my purpose here.  The bite-sized, fundamental problems are right in my particular wheelhouse.

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