Forum Antics: A Rant about Programming Forums

I love helping people with PowerShell questions because I’m a PowerShell geek. I actually care a lot that not only I get better with PowerShell but others do to. That’s why I’m a Microsoft MVP.

I care that new people are getting into PowerShell every day and love it. I absolutely love it when I give an up-and-comer help on a PowerShell question. These people ask smart questions and come back with code examples of what did work and what didn’t work.

These people are going places. They don’t just care about solving the immediate problem. They actually care about how to solve the problem and what to understand why it works. These people are amazing and it makes me proud I’m able to give them a helping hand along their journey.

All walks of life show up on various programming forums from up-and-comers to people just looking for free consulting. It gets frustrating weeding out the bad from the good and taints the pleasure I receive in helping people who want to learn. I’ve compiled a small list of the five types of people who I see on various forums that really get to me. Why? Because it’s going to make me feel better to rant!

The piggybacker is one you should watch out for. You spend a significant amount of time crafting this elaborate script for an answer. It’s a complicated problem but you…