when and how do you give up with an OP

I often like to make some response to the messy ones. Just to help them understand why they are unlikely to get a reply and I often do that as a PM.

With some of the threads I ask for a bit of information about the business. If it is something where they should and could pay for the work or training I might say so (as a PM (usually)) but if it looks like a small business just trying to make things a bit better I will go the extra mile.

Just occaisionally I am quite pointed in my reply but conscious that others may take a different view.



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Roy's hit the nail on the head pretty much.

One of the most frustrating things I come across is someone insisting that they cannot possibly change the way they have decided they want to do something.

I'm afraid I can be guilty of just drifting away from those threads sometimes.

Dom

hi all,

Edit: Ooopps, I've just spotted how old the thread is. Oh well, read on... /end edit

Originally Posted by tony h

I often like to make some response to the messy ones. Just to help them understand why they are unlikely to get a reply and I often do that as a PM.
With some of the threads I ask for a bit of information about the business. If it is something where they should and could pay for the work or training I might say so (as a PM (usually)) but if it looks like a small business just trying to make things a bit better I will go the extra mile.
Just occaisionally I am quite pointed in my reply but conscious that others may take a different view.

hmmm, good point, perhaps I should have pm'd for the below thread...

Originally Posted by broro183

... to a more experienced eye the spreadsheet looks painfully messy ie it is not designed as well as it could be*.

My initial phrasing was a lot more pointed, but I walked away & then came back & rephrased before submitting the post. What made it so challenging for me was

Originally Posted by th3spankst3r

...I've written a database in MS Access, and part of the database exports information to Excel. I have split my workload with a coworker because he is a genius when it comes to Excel, so I left the Excel formatting and programming up to him.

I know I'm still learning and I don't want to be arrogant.However, I really hope the person's coworker is open to learning too because opening the Report sheet in the file made me recoil away from my laptop screen!

Try looking at the file - go on, I dare you!
Roy's already seen it, but for anyone else, if you don't recoil, perhaps you can help the OP out?

My internal dialog usually starts (& quickly finishes) along the lines of "how can they get better if no one points them in the right direction?" but in this case, there were a few days where I thought "someone else will take this on, please... please... someone...? anyone...? *sigh* - it looks like I'm up!".

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I've never really considered business size before (but may factor that in now) & usually base my effort on their initial/ongoing attempts or, if I'm feeling generous - on their appreciation & acknowledgement of my efforts.

Rob