Experts Exchange



  • Is anyone of this site a member there? That entire site is a WTF. It clogs up every google search I do. Pay forums are a serious WTF, who would bother to answer for free, if you have to pay to be a member there.

     I think the entire thing might be a scam.



  • My first post.... dont know why this post called for me to come out of the dark and join the living, BUT......

    If you do a google search and you get an Experts Exchange post that looks relevant to what you are looking for, instead of clicking the google link to take you to the actual forums... click the google Cached link instead. You get the normal google cached looking page, but the difference is that if you scroll down to the replies and then highlight the "obscured" text using your mouse, you can actually read the replies and hopefully the solution you are looking for. =D



  • @Twitch said:

    hopefully the solution you are looking for. =D

    And therein lies TRWTF with Experts Exchange.


    Even if you do luck out and get one of the vanishingly small percentage of actually useful replies, it's nothing that's not available for free elsewhere anyway.



  • Probably no secret to some here I'm a moderator and frequent contributor to some other developer forum and the general consensus among the most helpful people there is they avoid that site like the plague. The google work around is known but the google "clogging" is also an annoyance many others cite.

    I would never contribute personally to a "pay" site because my contribution is not paid for thus I don't think anyone should be paying for something I'm offering for free. I think that's how most feel. Sure some other non-pay site gets revenue from advertising but the distinction is its not the end user that's footing the bill. 

    It's my opinion that the exchange of ideas should be free and I participate freely to this end.

    The free  online ask an expert site ...

     

    And by free we mean ... well not free ...




  • Until recently it was a free site.  I suspect their content will dry up now that people are going to stop contributing.  But if enough people buy it for a while, they could hire their own peopleto do nothing but answer questions poorly.



  • You don't even need to use cached.
    Go to the normal page. You will see "obscured" replies with gibberish text which say you must register to read them.
    Scroll down to the bottom of these and you will see a long list of categories the site offers. Scroll past that and the replies will be there.



  • @Treeki said:

    You don't even need to use cached. Go to the normal page. You will see "obscured" replies with gibberish text which say you must register to read them. Scroll down to the bottom of these and you will see a long list of categories the site offers. Scroll past that and the replies will be there.
     

    Thanks for adding that, I was about to say the same thing. TRWTF is that no one else even bothered to scroll down before complaining.

    Most of the answers are still WTFs, but no more so than most other forums...



  • What I find to be the TRWTF is that Experts Exchange seems to taunt me with the exact question I'm seeking answers to, but can't find them anywhere else.



  • I have to tell you that I have been lurking here for a while but never signed up, I had to for this thread.  I have personally been a member of Experts Exchange for a while.   It used to be a completely free site with the ability to pay for more credits to ask questions.  To ask questions you need credits that you get from just being a member,  if you need to ask alot of questions and have not been a member for long you can always just pay for more credits.  Then they changed formats and have been locking it down more and more.  I think the google cache hole has been closed, there was also a work around using plugins that identify your browser as a google spider.  If you sign up for a free account you can view any posting and post your own questions, but you can't search and do other things.

    I have free account because  I am an "expert" and answer enough questions (thereby earning usless points, I haven't even got a f-ing tshirt) to quailify for a free experts acount. I have personally found the site very helpful when I have had some high level or non-speciality questions.  To give an example, I am an old school tech (the first system I worked with was a VAX and the first programing was with LOGO).  Batch scripts are no issue for me, I can do anything with a batch, but I had to do something in KIX.  I posted the problem in EE and got a full working script from a KIX expert in about 1 hour.  

    Although I am in the top 2000 "experts" I am not a mod / owner / have a vested interest in the site at all.  If this boards mods want's to confirm they can contact me through my registered e-mail address.  Some of the answers on EE are WTFs, mostly because the average computer user that is having computer problems are moronic and so are some of the answers.  There are idiots that read one issue of Wired and begin preaching about how great they are, like any forum but as a whole EE is a good resourse for tech guys and people honestly trying to figure out a computer issue.   I do hate the google spaming though.



  • @vt_mruhlin said:

    Until recently it was a free site.  I suspect their content will dry up now that people are going to stop contributing.  But if enough people buy it for a while, they could hire their own peopleto do nothing but answer questions poorly.

     

     You must be thinking of Expert Sex Change. People get confused, you know...



  • I have been using the google cache workaround for experts suckchange for a while now.  Almost always it's just the first site that pops up of many, but on the rare occasion when it's something with not many places that have the answer I find that the answers at expert's suckchange are ridiculously hacked and stupid.  For instance, I google for how to block the screensaver in windows the other day and looked at experts suckchange and the accepted solution was one that got the time until the screensaver came on from the registry, then slept that long, then programmatically moved the mouse.    WHAT THE MOTHER FUCK!?!?!?!?!!?!?

     

    Helllo!!!!!!!!!

    protected override WndProc(ref Message m) { if (m.Msg == WM_SYSCOMMAND && m.WParam.ToInt32() == SC_SCREENSAVE) return; base.WndProc(m); }

     

    basically 2 lines of code.  I just hope expert sex change shuts down before I die.   Then my life will be complete.



  • @notagod said:

    Then they changed formats and have been locking it down more and more.  I think the google cache hole has been closed, there was also a work around using plugins that identify your browser as a google spider.  If you sign up for a free account you can view any posting and post your own questions, but you can't search and do other things.
     

    You can still just scroll to the bottom of the page to see everything, how is this locked down??



  • It would appear, mr medialint, that your screen has some dead pixels:

    Missing pixels in the Google screenshot


  •  @tster said:

     For instance, I google for how to block the screensaver in windows

     

     

    TRWTF here is that the script is for that you posted is OOP. I guess the basic steps of going to Control Panel > Display Options > Screen Saver > select "(None)" would not solve your problem, or you were working on a C program?

    And please as professional courtesy, watch your language. I'm sure you wouldn't go around your office at work yelling words like that.



  • @tehriddler said:

     

    TRWTF here is that the script is for that you posted is OOP.

     

    I have no idea what this sentence means.   Yes, the code I posted is for C# which is object oriented.  However, it's not a "script."  Also it's not a sentence and I cannot parse it for it's proper meaning.  Please communicate more clearly 

     @tehriddler said:

    I guess the basic steps of going to Control Panel > Display Options > Screen Saver > select "(None)" would not solve your problem, or you were working on a C program?

     I don't know abot you, but everytime I use a video player player to watch a DVD or movie I don't really want to go through those steps.  It's pretty obvious that I was working on a program considering that I posted programming code.  However, it's not a C program.

     @tehriddler said:

    And please as professional courtesy, watch your language. I'm sure you wouldn't go around your office at work yelling words like that.
     

    A.  I do cuss at work as do most people I know

    B.  This isn't work

    C.  You are on an internet forum.  You can't expect people to not cuss.   Furthermore, the website is the daily WTF.  I don't know if you know what the F stands for, but it's the same word I used.

     

    Next time you sign up for an account on a forum to berate one of the older and most active posters, try showing us a little courtesy and not tell us what to do.  I can pretty much guarantee that the regulars here were not offended by my last post.  If you can't handle that kind of language, then I suggest you go to a more tightly moderated forum.  You can always try javaranch.com or the official Sun forums.  You also might have some luck at channel9.

     

    EDIT:

    The real WTF is that someone came to a thread about Experts Exchange and expected NOT to see the fuck word. 



  • @Treeki said:

    You don't even need to use cached. Go to the normal page. You will see "obscured" replies with gibberish text which say you must register to read them. Scroll down to the bottom of these and you will see a long list of categories the site offers. Scroll past that and the replies will be there.
     

    Apart from the super-sekrit h4xx0ring trick of scrolling down, the "gibberish" text can be cr4xx3d by reversing the ancient and mythical content-protection method known as rot-13. 

    [checking before posting]

    Oops, it appears that they have removed the rot-13 stuff since I looked there last? Scrolling does still work, though.



  • I'm a member. I used to be a member from before the whole "paid" thing came into play so I never had to pay anything.

    Also, if you collect 3000 expert points a month, you get "Qualified Expert" status which is an alternative clean interface and unlimited points to ask questions. It is quite useful and the points motivates someone to get you an answer quick. Of course, this is also free.

    The 3000 points is piss easy to get, most questions are worth 500 points and most people award you "A" or "B" grade which multiply points so you only have to answer 2 questions a month. Just look at the latest 10 projects and find the easy questions (there are plenty).



  •  Didn't know you could get dead pixels on a print screen.



  • @XIU said:

     Didn't know you could get dead pixels on a print screen.

    ---joke---->
    
     o
    /|\
    / \
    XIU
    


  • @boh said:

    part from the super-sekrit h4xx0ring trick of scrolling down, the "gibberish" text can be cr4xx3d by reversing the ancient and mythical content-protection method known as rot-13. 

     

    Nyy unvy gur zvtugl ebg13!  Hfrarg sgj! 



  • @tehriddler said:

     @tster said:

     For instance, I google for how to block the screensaver in windows

     

     

    TRWTF here is that the script is for that you posted is OOP. I guess the basic steps of going to Control Panel > Display Options > Screen Saver > select "(None)" would not solve your problem, or you were working on a C program?

    And please as professional courtesy, watch your language. I'm sure you wouldn't go around your office at work yelling words like that.

     

    Wow.  Did you really join here just to post that? He obviously meant programmatically.

    What was the bad word -- 'screensaver' or 'windows?'



  • @shadowman said:

    @tehriddler said:

     @tster said:

     For instance, I google for how to block the screensaver in windows

     

     

    TRWTF here is that the script is for that you posted is OOP. I guess the basic steps of going to Control Panel > Display Options > Screen Saver > select "(None)" would not solve your problem, or you were working on a C program?

    And please as professional courtesy, watch your language. I'm sure you wouldn't go around your office at work yelling words like that.

     

    Wow.  Did you really join here just to post that? He obviously meant programmatically.

    What was the bad word -- 'screensaver' or 'windows?'

     

     

    He's obviously a user and therefore inherently dumb.  Of course the guy meant programmatically.  Epic DUH! 



  • @Soviut said:

    What I find to be the TRWTF is that Experts Exchange seems to taunt me with the exact question I'm seeking answers to, but can't find them anywhere else.

    Screw that, WebMasterWorld is way worse for that. Demons I hate them.



  • @tehriddler said:

    And please as professional courtesy, watch your language. I'm sure you wouldn't go around your office at work yelling words like that.
     

    And please, as a professional courtesy, do mind your manners and not tell veteran posters here how to be have in your first post. Either spend some time here and learn what the post and comment standards are and then act accordingly, or don't come here at all.

    And, BTW, how could you expect not to see profanity at a site with the "F" word as part of it's name? ("F" word used to avoid "offending you".) Grow up. While my mother would never use that sort of language, she doesn't get all offended when she overhears it in a conversation or reads it somewhere, and she's turning 70 this year. 



  • @KenW said:

    @tehriddler said:

    And please as professional courtesy, watch your language. I'm sure you wouldn't go around your office at work yelling words like that.
     

    And please, as a professional courtesy, do mind your manners and not tell veteran posters here how to be have in your first post. Either spend some time here and learn what the post and comment standards are and then act accordingly, or don't come here at all.

    And, BTW, how could you expect not to see profanity at a site with the "F" word as part of it's name? ("F" word used to avoid "offending you".) Grow up. While my mother would never use that sort of language, she doesn't get all offended when she overhears it in a conversation or reads it somewhere, and she's turning 70 this year. 

    Yeah, as a veteran poster (by post count), I think I can say STFU noob.

    PS pay attention to the tag.

    (obviously directed at tehriddler not KenW) 



  • @tehriddler said:

    TRWTF here is that the script is for that you posted is OOP.

    If you insist, here's how you do it in C (using the platform SDK):

    LRESULT CALLBACK	WndProc (HWND hWnd, UINT message, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)
    {
    	int wmId, wmEvent;
    	switch (message)
    	{
    	case WM_COMMAND:
    		// (most of your existing window event handler code is probably already here)
    		break;
    	case WM_SYSCOMMAND:
    		if (((wParam & 0xFFF0) == SC_SCREENSAVE) || ((wParam & 0xFFF0) == SC_MONITORPOWER))
    			return 0;
    		// else fall through
    	default:
    		return DefWindowProc(hWnd,message,wParam,lParam);
    		break;
    	}
    	return 0;
    }
    

    (copied/pasted directly from some of my own code, with some minor cleanup)



    One amusing property of this method of cancelling the screensaver is that it [b]will not work at all[/b] if your screensaver is password protected.


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