Post here to shower the ImageMagick developers with praise or discuss how you could have done a better job if you developed ImageMagick. Or talk about how Photoshop is better than ImageMagick. Even complain about how no one answered your postings in the Users forum. Venting and musings welcomed here.
1/ The person you try to help and you never hear back if the answer was correct.
2/ The user deletes their post - whats the point of that? These are mainly the same as the members in 1/
I am a member of a forum using vBulletin and you can set members to "Ignore" I have 81 members on my list now
I have also left a couple of forums that that started to have a lot of users from 1/
Is it only me or have things got a lot worse over the last couple of years ?
However for type 2 members. I am one of those. However I do not delete posts containing the original problem or solutions, but only posts whcih turned out to be very wrong, missleading, or accidentally offended someone. However if it only part of a post, I usally edit it or correct it in some way.
Actually I often re-edit my posts, usually just after posting when I discover I missed or made a mistake because i didn't preview my response. Or to correct a mistake that would cause other readers problems.
Actually I really hate forums that do not allow you at least go back and edit your posts.
But I don't just delete things without good reason as I keep in mind that forums also provide a place for users to search for old discussions.
4) people who join just to post advertising, usually non-relevant to the forum (I usually send PM to Magick to have it deleted).
By the way, I assume most members cannot delete their topics, only delete the text. I don't seem to have any permission to delete my own post, even when I realize I posted something totally wrong. All I can do is end up editing it and posting a smily
5) users who post a problem without example or without showing their commands and expect a solution
6) users who assume everyone knows how Photoshop or GIMP works or has either one to begin with and wants a "magic" conversion to IM with no explanation of how the feature works. Too much "magick" and not enough "image"
I agree to most of what has already been said. I would like to make the point that people who ask should often explain somewhat more about the more general background of the question. A good example is the "Rastr (lenticular)" post. I think this should have started with a short explanantion of what the guy was trying to achieve, possibly with a link to the corresponding Wikipedia article. We could have helped him more directly I think and we would also have learned something by it. (I looked it up myself somewhat later.)
Maybe I often put things too lengthy when I explain about a problem i put over here, but I think that everyone who puts a question should try to give something back, and if it is only the opportunity to learn something new.
My opinion an Photoshop and Gimp is not as strict as Fred's. I rather think that anyone who is trying to achieve a certain effect with IM should have tested it with Gimp before. This would also be my approach to any problem. I would look at it the other way round: There is no use in trying to achieve something with IM that could more easily be done by the use of Gimp, unless you want to automise the process or perform bulk processing.
Possibly, we should be more strict ourselves in the future: No answers to anyone who does not tell about his/her operating system and IM version and the background of the problem. As Fred proposed, we could just remind him/her to read the rules before posting in the first answer. Could people possibly be reminded of certain things when pressing the "Submit" button? Say, in a pop-up that asks: "Did you mention your operating system and IM version in your post?"
Just reading this thread and having a quiet chuckle. But regarding Anthony's point
3/ users that post their NEW problem to an old thread!
Often it is because a search has not turned up that topic, and that is often because some of us as users simply don't search accurately.
I would like to add one of my pet peeves. Forum users who post new topics like "Problem with ImageMagic" with no hint at what the problem might be. I personally think those topics should be put into some sort of automatic waste basket, or dumped into a special section for readinf by anyone who is simply bored and has nothing intresting to do.
