新聞財經娛樂♬資訊 News Economy

Thanks for your reply

Because someone who doesn't have complete information responded here, rather than remove the comment, I have moved this to Expert Input to allow for discussion.

To give you the information that is reasonably accurate:

1. Yes. You can't post it in threads, but your profile is relatively sacrosanct. We also don't advise that you do so, because profiles are indexed and therefore exposed to bots and spiders -- but there's no reason otherwise.

2. Off-site communication means that solutions are arrived at outside of EE's pages. In other words, if I ask a question and ask you to send me a file to solve the problem, and I do that, and you then send me the answer, then the question has no value to EE, so no points can be awarded. Basically, don't do it.

3. We can't stop you, nor do we want to try. We only deal with those issues that are on EE. If the question isn't asked on the site, then we can't very well require you to answer it or ignore it, can we... *grin*

4. Yes; we prefer it. If I could rid this site of links to other sites under every circumstance except for "where do I download Ubuntu", I would. Plagiarism is a legal term that means you've copied and pasted a solution; it's the written representation of information or ideas -- not the information or ideas themselves.

The restriction on the use of links is more behavioral: A: If removing the link from a post leaves nothing of value, then it's a blind link; and B: If one posts a link and rarely, if ever, follows up, then behavior is that of what gets known as a Google Monkey.

Our perspective is that if you can only resort to using links to answer questions, then you might be good at searching; however, this site is not called Searchers Exchange. It's called Experts Exchange -- and the implied promise is that an Asker will be getting solutions from people who know what they're talking about.

5. Yes -- but not automatically by clicking a button that says "ask a related question"; we had that feature for a while and it never got used (probably because it was in tiny type buried and was never really publicized). So it's a good idea to copy the URL to the old question in the one you're asking, if only to save yourself having to redescribe the situation.

6. I spent not quite forty years of my life dealing with advertising, and over the last dozen or so have been dealing with it here; to paraphrase Justice Stewart, I might not be able to describe it, but I know it when I see it.

We generally put the hammer onto someone for advertising if they have a financial interest in the company being promoted. That means 1) it's your software that you sell; 2) the company you work for that has hired you to market it by posting links to the company website in as many threads as possible; and 3) anything in between -- and there will always be exceptions.

I have a "financial interest" in my hosting service; we trade out some services so I pay a little less than I should. But I can still suggest them as a hosting service if they fit the requirements of the Asker. In my case, I usually post a disclaimer, but it's not required. So to answer your question specifically, before you post ask yourself, "Am I posting to help solve the Asker's problem? Or am I posting because it will keep me sleeping indoors and eating?".

Netminder
Senior Admin

thanks for your repy

1) Not yet answered
2) Some people said it is not allowed for off-site communication , but the meaning of off-site communication it is not clear enough .
3) If talking about EE question  externally which is closed or graded , that is okay or not ?
4) it is hard to tell it, since every ones' answer must base on something , right ?  Are all answers plagiarized ?
5) Not answered yet
6) When you post the commercial link, whether it is assisting them to sale the product  if you are not benefited ?

Disclaimer, I'm not a an actual representative of EE, this is just a post based on my own findings.

The terms are here:
http://www.experts-exchange.com/terms.jsp

1)  I know a number of people post their email addresses or list alternate ways of communication.  

2)  Not sure where you see it, but I don't see anything in the terms that says you can't communicate off line.  If anything they don't want you answering questions directly as it doesn't help build the knowledgebase.

3)  I don't think they can prevent you from talking to anyone.  Normally if it's a technical question I'll tell them to post it on EE and send me the link to the question.  If it's not EE related then feel free to do with it what you want.

4)  It all depends on the fair use act.  There are only so many ways that you can code a solution to a problem.  I've been asking the mods on this and have yet to hear a clear answer.  As you can't link to a competitor's site, I just say I found the solution online.  Re-Writing the solution (even changing variable names  or orders of operation) without improving the performance or changing the intent of the code is technically plagiarism.  However, from day 1 in my college courses my professor always said don't re-invent the wheel.  

5)  You can ask any question you want.  I've asked related questions to get a better understanding for myself or to see why something was going on.

6)  They don't want you blanket advertising.  Sometimes people ask for software recommendations, and sometimes that can cost money.  If you're associated with the product or have a financial interest in anyway I would recommend you reveal that association.  I also normally state that it's a commercial solution.  The goal of advertising is to generate sales.  If you're trying to generate a sale from the post the intent of it is wrong.  If you're recommending the software because it fits the needs of the asker I use that as my guideline.


Again, just my 2 cents, but looking forward to what others have to say.