3 ms·

What do you mean by "vampires"? I have an interest in forums, but I'm not familiar with that "category".

sklivvz1971 10y ago
People that post a whole program that does not work and ask the community to fix it for them... "Give me teh codez..." etc
- Eupolemos 10y ago
  Ah, thank you.
discreditable 10y ago
Help Vampires are users who incessantly ask simple and/or previously-answered questions and provide nothing of value to the community. Over time, they can drive valuable contributors away. http://slash7.com/2006/12/22/vampires/ http://slash7.com/2006/12/22/vampires/
- DanBC 10y ago
  And here's the meta discussion: http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/19665/the-help-vampire-problem http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/19665/the-help-vampi...
- exstudent2 10y ago
  That post (aside from being overly juvenile) is pure speculation and not backed by any sort of data that would suggest that "help vampires" impact the larger community. It's an extremely condescending and unprofessional term to refer to your less experienced users. It really betrays the core problem with the SO staff. They've gone moderation mad and see the user base as the enemy.
  - the8472 10y ago
    They are real. The unwillingness or inability to do some basic research or mental flexibility to adjust generic guidelines to their particular case (maybe 1 step out of 5 needs to be skipped!) combined with their persistence makes them quite frustrating and an outsized time consumption. The guy who only needs a single link to the right tutorial is easy to deal with and makes all sides happy. The guy who asks a question because he didn't even bother to read the 5-page beginner's tutorial (you know because he comes back after 1-2 minutes) where answer somewhere further down... well... after seeing your 50th or 100th of that kind you just want to yell at them. Others expect you to fix their pastebinned code for them and do not take prose for an answer. They don't want to understand what's going on and what they did wrong, they just want you to do it for them.
    - exstudent2 10y ago
      Even if this behavior is real, the term is condescending and I see a ton of speculation about the impact of this type of thing, zero data.
      - the8472 10y ago
        > the term is condescending It perfectly encapsulates how those people are perceived. They drain the fun out of helping others. Playing language police is unlikely to gain you any more ears from people who feel drained by the vampires. > ton of speculation about the impact of this type of thing, zero data. Do you expect them to have a positive impact that would increase if moderation were decreased?
        exstudent2 10y ago
        It's unprofessional for a company to refer to its users like this. Calling people names is childish and helps nothing. > Do you expect them to have a positive impact that would increase if moderation were decreased? My theory is that the cost of this behavior is near zero but "fighting" it is being used as cover for abusive mod behavior and a culture of intolerance that's chasing away high value users. I for one don't contribute to the site anymore and I know I'm not alone.

sklivvz1971 10y ago

People that post a whole program that does not work and ask the community to fix it for them... "Give me teh codez..." etc

Eupolemos 10y ago
Ah, thank you.

discreditable 10y ago

Help Vampires are users who incessantly ask simple and/or previously-answered questions and provide nothing of value to the community. Over time, they can drive valuable contributors away. http://slash7.com/2006/12/22/vampires/ http://slash7.com/2006/12/22/vampires/

DanBC 10y ago
And here's the meta discussion: http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/19665/the-help-vampire-problem http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/19665/the-help-vampi...
exstudent2 10y ago
That post (aside from being overly juvenile) is pure speculation and not backed by any sort of data that would suggest that "help vampires" impact the larger community. It's an extremely condescending and unprofessional term to refer to your less experienced users. It really betrays the core problem with the SO staff. They've gone moderation mad and see the user base as the enemy.
- the8472 10y ago
  They are real. The unwillingness or inability to do some basic research or mental flexibility to adjust generic guidelines to their particular case (maybe 1 step out of 5 needs to be skipped!) combined with their persistence makes them quite frustrating and an outsized time consumption. The guy who only needs a single link to the right tutorial is easy to deal with and makes all sides happy. The guy who asks a question because he didn't even bother to read the 5-page beginner's tutorial (you know because he comes back after 1-2 minutes) where answer somewhere further down... well... after seeing your 50th or 100th of that kind you just want to yell at them. Others expect you to fix their pastebinned code for them and do not take prose for an answer. They don't want to understand what's going on and what they did wrong, they just want you to do it for them.
  - exstudent2 10y ago
    Even if this behavior is real, the term is condescending and I see a ton of speculation about the impact of this type of thing, zero data.
    - the8472 10y ago
      > the term is condescending It perfectly encapsulates how those people are perceived. They drain the fun out of helping others. Playing language police is unlikely to gain you any more ears from people who feel drained by the vampires. > ton of speculation about the impact of this type of thing, zero data. Do you expect them to have a positive impact that would increase if moderation were decreased?
      - exstudent2 10y ago
        It's unprofessional for a company to refer to its users like this. Calling people names is childish and helps nothing. > Do you expect them to have a positive impact that would increase if moderation were decreased? My theory is that the cost of this behavior is near zero but "fighting" it is being used as cover for abusive mod behavior and a culture of intolerance that's chasing away high value users. I for one don't contribute to the site anymore and I know I'm not alone.