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Dec 11, 2006 at 02:30 PM

How about fining consulting companies when their staff post idiot questions

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I was reading the ABAP General Forum the other day and happened to stumble on a series of posts which centered on the difference between operating on an itab using verb "X" versus operating on an itab using verb "Y". (I will not mention the two actual ABAP verbs, to avoid embarassing anyone.)

Now I can understand stupid questions being posted to ABAP General by staffmembers of SAP customers, because I know that companies often throw developers into ABAP without adequate training (following the famous rule: "If you know one programming language, you know them all.")

So I'm never bothered when a stupid question is posted to ABAP General by a staffmember of a direct SAP customer, because I don't know the circumstances.

BUT -

I get really ticked off when I see a stupid question posted by a staff-member of a consulting company.

I have this reaction because presumably the company is billing its client (an SAP direct customer) for trained ABAP personnel, not personnel who have to ask questions or be corrected about basic ABAP fundamentals.

It reminds me of the old Arthur Andersen claim (pre-Accenture, of course.) Andersen would tell clients - "We hire such smart people that we can send them to SAP coursework and they'll hit the ground running faster than your own SAP veterans." (No - don't accuse me of "naming names" here - the old Anderson folks actually did pitch this nonsense and everyone above the age of 40 knows they did.)

So what I suggest is that when some staff-member of a consulting company pitches a really stupid question to the Forums, deduct two points from the total of every member of that particular company who posts to the Forums.

That way, maybe some of these companies would do their own policing.

And - if you ask me who decides what's a stupid question - well, I think it's usually pretty obvious. In marginal cases, I'm sure Rich or Thomas could arbitrate easily.