Question 26: And the answer to question 25 is?
I had a serious dip yesterday, and did consider stopping the Q and A on my blog due to rude remarks, scary emails and quite a few not so well-presented or kind opinions.
Who do you think you are? This blog is dumb and obviously written by an amateur. …fake…
I posted what could be the last question, Am I too stupid to ask questions?– closed my computer, packed a suitcase and crossed the border to Norway to visit my parents. I decided not to touch the computer for a day, and think things thoroughly.
On my way to Norway a friend of mine called me, a fellow dev, a MVP and therefore a person used to being in the spotlight. We had a long talk, and although I didn’t want to promise anything I said I would consider what he/she said. That phone call meant a lot to me.
You are doing what you do so well, and being you is what people like about you. Don’t stop that.
I arrived at my parents, feeling very depleted and a bit spaced out. Even if I had felt like talking, it would have been hard as their world is far away from mine. I slept for many hours. Had some really weird dreams, forgot all of them.
An hour ago I woke up at 10PM, and I opened my computer.
The first thing I noticed was an inbox full of unread mail. I opened Twitter, mentions was full. My phone, full of sms. My blog full of pending comments.
I carefully read them all, messages and comments one by one. Each and single was allocated a bit of memory in my heart, some were humorous, some very personal and emotional, and some snap-out-of-it style. I laughed, cried and smiled a lot as I read through all of them.
It made me so incredible happy, not just for the support I was getting, as a person, but also (and maybe even more important) for what this symbolized. The support was aimed at new programmers having a place to turn to; I was cheered on to continue with the Q and A with that purpose in mind.
A thought struck me, how selfish wouldn’t it be if I did indeed quit the Q and A? If I with the energy I am blessed with, and the bordering to foolish passion, didn’t dare to ask, how would then other new developers fare? What message would I be sending out? And with the substantial support I was getting from the community, quitting seemed cowardly- a word that would not describe me very. I stopped being scared a long time ago, and I am sure as hell not starting now.
What was very interesting, was the fact that out of the probably hundreds of responses that I got- not a single one was negative. And that proves something. I am not quitting the Q and A, as a matter of fact, I’ll make then even more ‘stupid’, I’ll use even more illustrations, and I’ll ask and answer just as I see fit – with comments being more than. I’ll add a disclaimer however, as many of you advised.
A thousand million trillion super-awesome thank you, all of you, for the enormous support you’ve given me! You have no idea how much it means to me, and how energized I feel right now! So, it’s time to give some energy back! I have plenty of questions and code to share and it is going to be one hell of a ride.
Comments
Hej! That's the spirit! Keep on rolling the stupidest of the stupidest questions! I like the way you describe things in programming. I've never seen anything like it before - anywhere. I don't comment many blogs at all and somewhere i feel that you deserve the gratitude. Thanx for your energy and strenght.
I like your QnA something I don't like is please stop doing a RT of all the mentions (those that say nothing but just how amazing you are) you receive in twitter. I know you are awesome but that seems a little cocky
You are an angel ;)
Iris, You have just over a year in programming and I have over 15 years programming. I have tried to write a blog, articles and tutorials only to get attacked by trolls on the internet. It is rough and I have caved in to the pressure of the trolls and given up on writing about programming more times than I can think. Don't follow the footsteps I set and do not give in to some anonymous idiots who cannot do what it is your doing. As I said in one of my comments on another of your posts, I am stealing your question a day theme to make myself better at the newer technologies and your questions mean I get two questions a day. Unless of course you start reading my mind and using my question. Keep up the great work and do not worry about the dumb trolls that sit in their mother's basements.
That's the spirit! Happy to hear you will not stop doing you're Q&A.
There will always be those weak people that will try to put you down. Keep going strong, some of us still need more inspiration. )))
There are always the haters. Always. It doesn't matter what field someone is in, there are _always_ a small percentage that will have negative comments no matter what you post or say. Keep up the good work. If someone doesn't like it, they simply can go find another webpage right? The fact they take the time to post shows they just like to be idiots, otherwise they could simply close the page and go somewhere else. In addition - what on earth are they contributing? Not nearly as much I guarantee.
if you make people angry you do something right, right? for the next hate-mails you will get: just answer them with something like "for 500 bucks i set you up your very own blog so you can do your own, in-depth-complex-expert-nobel-prize-winning Q&A."
Having browsed many of your "stupid questions" by now, I honestly think they're brilliant. If there's one thing developers in general are terrible at, it is explaining. Really, if I want to learn about a new subject, keep it simple, give me the basic overview, let me understand the broad concepts. Then I can dig into all the details later by myself. But we, as programmers, always want to explain *everything* in detail, fill in every gap, and leave no room for ambiguity. That's helpful when programming, but overwhelming and useless when teaching others. And often we (well, I like to think that I'm not as bad at as many others) get almost angry if we feel others are oversimplifying or leaving out what we consider to be important on a subject we care about or know a lot about. And it's childish and not very helpful. You're able to keep it simple, just answering the important parts, and leaving the rest for later. That's a rare skill, and it's making these questions a pleasure to read.
Last modified on 2012-08-17