6
$\begingroup$

Can anyone, please, help to close the following question:

my techer now gave us harderproblems man. :(((

how can u solve dis problem?

26*8y = 4x - 27/8

u solved before on other qestion but this is a lot different from b4 yeah? thx bros :)))

before such style became dominant.

Upd. There is at least two reasons, why this question should be closed: 1) as a too localized homework question with asker, who didn't make any (visible) effort to solve it by himself; 2) as Pete L. Clark puts it "I find the semiliterate presentation of the question off-putting enough so that I don't want to read any further" — we should not tolerate questions written in such style.

Upd2. Even previous post of the same user wasn't great. And after it was not closed but answered in detail (giving complete solution to homework problem)... — very graphic example of where different policies lead.

$\endgroup$
8
  • $\begingroup$ Would it be possible to delete it? $\endgroup$
    – anon
    Aug 10, 2010 at 21:35
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @muad moderators and 2k-rep users can delete closed questions after a couple of days, I think $\endgroup$
    – Grigory M
    Aug 10, 2010 at 21:37
  • 7
    $\begingroup$ I don't like the question either. But again, in this early phase of the site, can we discuss/explain why we don't like it, and what policy it violates? For my part, I find the semiliterate presentation of the question off-putting enough so that I don't want to read any further. But perhaps that is trading one kind of snobbery for another. Is there a consensus here that questions on the site should be carefully written in standard English [assuming they are written in English]? I vote yes. $\endgroup$
    – Pete L. Clark
    Aug 10, 2010 at 21:38
  • $\begingroup$ Consider me to have voted to close as too localized. If 4 others cast close votes (and nobody else gets to it first), I will close it. $\endgroup$
    – Larry Wang
    Aug 10, 2010 at 21:39
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ @Kaestur I think such questions should be closed ASAP without waiting for 5 votes $\endgroup$
    – Grigory M
    Aug 10, 2010 at 21:40
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I think the OP is a troll. $\endgroup$
    – Qiaochu Yuan
    Aug 10, 2010 at 21:49
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Closed as too localized, under the assumption that Isaac is in the same boat as me. $\endgroup$
    – Larry Wang
    Aug 10, 2010 at 21:53
  • $\begingroup$ I'm marking this as status-completed. If you want to discuss the more general issue of closing/deleting/flagging certain types of bad questions, that can take place in another meta question, since this question's wording does not particularly suggest it. $\endgroup$
    – Larry Wang
    Aug 10, 2010 at 22:03

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
8
$\begingroup$

I've deleted the other of this user's questions, which was essentially a duplicate, because of the user's inidication that he was taking an exam and needed the answer before the teacher returned to the room. Regardless of the other potential issues of presentation in this question and duplication viz. the other, the use of this site for cheating is unambiguously unacceptable.

$\endgroup$
3
  • $\begingroup$ Do you really think the question was serious? $\endgroup$
    – Charles Stewart
    Aug 11, 2010 at 12:06
  • $\begingroup$ @Charles, I don't know if THAT one was serious. But I know of people who have quickly posted to online communities to get answers to stuff. $\endgroup$
    – Jesse Dorsey
    Aug 11, 2010 at 18:35
  • $\begingroup$ of course I don't know, but I've definitely seen it done; if the person wasn't serious they'll post other better questions, and no harm done. $\endgroup$
    – Jamie Banks
    Aug 11, 2010 at 21:49
3
$\begingroup$

I personally don't like this question, although I did give an answer. The part I don't like the most was answer by OP. He said "plz help!!! i have to finish this rly fastor i will fail :(((("

First, I don't like ifucnrdthsudmakearelgdprgammr style of writing. I understand that most people don't speak English and that a large amount of people on the Internet may not be very proficient English users, but this style of writing tells me that OP doesn't care about proper sentence structure.

Next, I really don't like "i have to finish this rly fastor i will fail" part. Is the OP doing a test or something similar? In general, I don't like such situations. If the OP is on a test and we do provide him a correct answer, we will be basically helping him cheat.

On the other hand I've been having major problems with math since primary school (almost failed a year in primary school because of math and failed a year in University because of math). Now that I'm in university that hasn't changed, so I can understand that some people may be unable to see the difference between two types of problems which are basically identical.
If there are multiple questions by same poster about very similar problems, I think that we should close later questions and point the OP to the first question related to similar problem. Next we should help the OP understand why those two seemingly unrelated problems are in fact same. Example: I've seen that some beginners (well, primary school level) may understand that 4/2=2 but cannot comprehend why (4*x)/2 is 2*x. In this case we should explain that division and multiplication are of same priority and that it is possible to divide 4 by 2 and multiply the result by x.

We should also explain to posters that although we can provide solutions to problems, we can't learn something for them. Instead we should focus on on giving answers which will provide correct way of thinking to posters. I've had my share of solution in various books which basically say "It's obvious that we should multiply this 500 character expression by this other 750 character expression which is quite obvious so there's no need to explain where it comes from. From that it's obvious that x=2" and they aren't actually helpful because they provide solution for one problem and don't give pointers for general case.

$\endgroup$

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .