MegF. said:
I'd like to point out one other thing. Jimmy stated back a few threads ago that people shouldn't get upset when someone comes here asking newbie questions because they are doing research. There I think you are incorrect. When you come to a forum and ask a question like what temperature should I have my viv at, what size enclosure, how often should I feed and similar questions, you haven't done research. Research #1 should preferably be done before you purchase the animal. If you have access to the web as obviously you do if you're here, you could easily punch in questions about cornsnake care and find a jillion links to care sheets. . . . But really...I've seen similar posted questions on the same day 2 or 3 threads down. Obviously someone is not reading. . . . I went on the web first, read care sheets, got a book on the species and then asked specific questions that I couldn't find using search functions or anywhere else. THAT is research. The other is being lazy!
I agree. Some of the questions that are posted by newbies are research, and some are not. When I don't know how to spell something, I look it up. My mom always made me look it up. Sure, when I didn''t know how to spell something, it wasn't that easy to find in the dictionary because I didn't know how to spell it! But if I gave it some effort and tried different "search terms," I could usually find it. If not, then my mom would give me the first three letters to try again. Some of the questions here are akin to asking somene how to spell something. That's not research. Some questions are not, and those are never answered with "look it up!" I just gave out a "look it up" reply the other day because the person stated that they had recently seen a thread on the topic, but what was the answer again? They did NOT say that had seen and thread and hadn't been able to find it again (i.e., they had attempted to do research but had failed to find what they were looking for.) I got flamed for it, but come on. That was lazy. And yes, it does take me longer to find a particular thread than it does to remind a person that he or she can look for it.
Sure, the search function isn't all that easy and you don't find what you're looking for on the first try every time. But if you simply read the boards for a week, you will learn all kinds of things that don't come up on care sheets. That's what I did. I had read care sheets before I got my first two snakes but none of them discussed co-habitating, and the woman I got them from said it was fine. I found this site after I had my snakes. After reading the threads for less than a week, there was a thread on co-habitation. I then had a keyword (which I didn't have before, and wouldn't have been able to find much without it) and searched for it. Then I decided that I would separate my snakes when I had enough money for a new viv. Not much later, I learned about rack systems. So I paid attention to the dimensions people listed for their tubs when they were discussing their new rack systems, etc. Then I researched plastic tubs. EVENTUALLY, I posted a question about which were the clearest tubs, because I had done searches for that issue and hadn't found the answer I wanted. Then I got some nice replies including a type of tub I hadn't heard of before, and off I went to get one and separated my snakes. I learned about how many holes to drill in the tub from someone else's thread. I even learned about how to melt holes through several tubs with a soldering iron. Of course I would never have found that in a search for "methods for efficiently making holes in tubs."
My point is, if you are new and you hang around and read others' threads, you will get answers to almost all your questions and many more you never knew you had. And that seems like common sense. To borrow a metaphor, if you came upon a group of podiatrists at a party, it wouldn't make sense to immediately butt into their conversation and start asking questions about your feet. You would obviously learn a lot more if you stayed a while and listened to their conversation. Furthermore, after you have listened a while, and then you have some questions, those questions would be informed by what you have already learned from your listening, and the podiatrists would be much less likely to excuse themselves from the conversation because they need another drink from the bar.
You always learn a lot more from listening than from talking.
