What should we do with those posters that use Sciforums for their homework assignments?
Often a new member is at e.g. the math forums with a question, and when it has been answered we don't hear anything from them anymore.

If I see them once, I'm inclined to give at least a partial answer to help
them on their way. Repeat cusomers get the cold shoulder. Handing the
answers to someone deprives them of important "collateral" learning
they would get by searching for the information themselves.

:m: Peace.

I see no problem with helping people, until they start leaving all the work to those willing to help.

I normally do not help when it's a new member. 'cause I think it is sooo cheap to become a member just for this one problem. known members, no problem. But I usually only give hints. Same reason as goofyfish.

I hate it when it's obvious that the posters are just plain lazy.

Originally posted by Adam
I see no problem with helping people, until they start leaving all the work to those willing to help.

But someone doesnt think like u Adam..
Dont forget everybody was a new member when their first signup@ the forum dont u??;)

Long blathering anecdote to justify response:
I remember one time I asked for help on a homework assignment (the definition of Good and Evil). It turned out to be quite a long thread by the end. I found it very helpful, because there were so many ideas (btw, I wrote a great report. 24/25, baby. One mark off only for my grammatical mistakes. I ain't maked no mistakes, what they smoking?) :D

I think it depends on what kind of a question it is. If it is something debatable, or requiring the expertise found here at SciForums (:)!) I think it's okay. But something like "What's the square root of 4? I lost my calculator down the toilet, and I'm an idiot who doesn't realize there's a Calculator on my computer." might not be good.

Personally, I wouldn't mind helping someone with a particularly sticky problem. I enjoy being a good Samaritan. It gives me highs that can't be reached by drugs.

-Blue :cool: :m:

I have no problem with giving hints and even complete solutions, depending on the context of the question. What I like to see is evidence that the poster has thought about the problem and tried to find answers themselves before asking here. If they have obviously tried to work something out but are not understanding something, I am happy to help them.

I am wary of posters who demonstrate that they only want answers and do not care if they actually learn anything or not.

I take it this thread has been spawned on account of my posting in Free Thoughts and Science forum. Nobody actually gave me any answers, it was the first time i have asked a question like this (to do with academics) because i was very desperate. Yes, people did give me hints but i did already know these points in the first place (yes, there is only my word on this).

If however someone did give me an answer and i were to copy it and submit it, it would be considered plagerism. It would be really easy for me to get found out as the lecturer/ marker could do a search in google for the question and find the answer to be identical to the one i could have submitted. A- if i did copy i would get thrown out of uni, B- It would be my own fault and C- it wouldnt be to the standard that i am capable of, raising alarm bells -see C.

o.k, so heres the score; this is my project that we have to do. I cant make head nor tail of the question. ...-this part not relevant-...If anyone can interpret this question i would be very grateful.

I had difficulty in actually descipering what the question (go on, have a look at it, its particulary nasty) actually meant as i dont believe uni should be about tricking people with questions. If you can do the work i dont think interperating (sp) questions should hinder progress. (sp) I didnt actually ask for help with answering the question. I know now that it could be interperated by people glancing at my post that i was wanting help with answering it but that wasnt how it was intended.

As to your question with what we should do with posters that posted a so called 'home work assignment' (which doesnt accurately portray (sp) what it was, i dont know, i feel its a personal thing.

I think this could possibly be my longest post and have noticed people dont tend to read big posts (i am guilty of this) but feel i am expected to explain myself.

Yours sincerely

Captain Crunch
:eek:

:m:

Should we give the answers to homework problems?

I'm all for it , because I suspect that someday I will need this help myself ;)

cheers

i came here with questions, i have many questions since, and im sure there will be more to come.

in fact, i have one running right now....

so ofcourse, i voted the last option.

sure i don't mind helping out on homework, cause in life it's not what you know it's who you know.:m:

ya, but...how do we know when someone is using this forum for answers to homework? know what i mean? they are pretty sneaky about how they present the questions...:D *shakes fist at the conniving snorkers*