When I come across one of these questions I will often try to figure out why the person is in the position to do things that way – sometimes it is out of ignorance, but most of the time it is due to limitations that they may not go into in the ng post.
I know there are MVPs who have spent a lot more time than I reading these questions and probably get sick of them, but it is always strange to me to read an answer like ‘You’re doing it wrong!’ or ‘Just do it that way!’ or ‘Walk away from that client because you want better ones.’
I will give you an example: ‘My client has an SBS 2003 server, and their remote users cannot connect to the server as a POP client. Any suggestions?’ Reply: ‘Your client should not be using POP, you should have them running RPC over HTTP. Tell them to reconfigure it.’
Let me be clear: The best way to collect e-mail from an SBS Exchange server is by RPC over HTTP. I agree with that statement. I also can think of a limitation to that method: It is only supported on Outlook 2003, which means that any non-PC user or user with Outlook Express cannot use it. Would I tell a consultant to have all of their client’s workstations (remote workstations – domain members using a CAL get an Outlook 2003 license) – including non-PC platforms (Entourage does not work with RPC over HTTP either) – upgrade immediately? Maybe not the best advice you can give.
If the respondent had said ‘You should be using this method, but if you have to use that method then try this:’ I would have respected it, but to just blow off the question? It got me wondering if MVPs need a minimum number of posts rather than acknowledged answers to maintain their status.
Don’t get me wrong, I am at times a very snide and glib person who will usually go by the mantra ‘when someone asks a stupid question, give them a stupid answer.’ But before I do that I try ask myself if it really is a stupid question, or are there factors that may make it necessary? If you take the time to think it you might come up with something and thereby develop a better understanding and appreciation of what may on the surface be a stupid or irrelevant question.
If you respect the questions you are asked then the people asking will usually respect your answer. If you don’t then you can give the community a bad name, which is in none of our best interests.