Quiet Cattle Drive

[Pauline McNamara]

from another thread:

Originally posted by Marilyn de Queiroz:
... The people who have passed this point don't hang out here much any more.

Seems to me that there's a lot less people hanging out at the Cattle Drive in general. Could it be that we are seeing the effects of eliminating the old rule requiring a minimum of posts from folks going through nitpicking?

[Ken Cobbs]

I'll bet there's a lot more people hanging out at the Cattle Drive than it seems. I don't make posts very often, but love to read other posts from folks going through the nitpicking like I am also.
Figured I'd start making a post on each assignment that gets submitted after a I finally finish the wild and crazy 4b!!!

[Peter Gragert]

A must is not good. Invite people to let them tell about their problem(s) with an assignment. Most of the time (as I realized with joy) someone will try to help without giving away a solution directly

[Pauline McNamara]

A must is not good.
I know what you mean here. To tell you the truth, though, I probably wouldn't have started posting here at all if it hadn't been a requirement. I think it probably helps to get over that initial shyness.

[Greg Harris]

i am still here... school and work have been taking all of my time for the last few months. i plan on working on the final Servlets assignment this weekend.
actually, after spending a summer with Ada95, i almost forgot how to write Java code

[Elouise Kivineva]

Is the quiet seasonal? Now that it's fall there are all sorts of new projects starting at work, folks have just gone back to classes, etc. In general the "work" areas of life heat up for a while. Once people get settled into the new business year I would think they would start to find more time for the cattle drive once again.

[Ken Cobbs]

Seeing the A must is not good. is interesting. Did the people in the Cattle Drive use to be reguired to post?
If so how often?

[Carol Murphy]

I actually have written a lot more posts than it seems. For some reason, my system at home has alot of trouble posting and even getting connected to JavaRanch sometimes. I'll submit a post, but there is some kind of problem getting it sent to the server, and it doesn't show up. I'm pretty sure it's my connection, because I don't have this problem at work. My problem at work is that we aren't supposed to use the system for anything but work-related stuff, although if it's slow and I can grab a terminal for a few minutes I'll fire off a message or just check in. I don't think they would fire me if they catch me because I am the go-to person when nobody else can figure out how to do something, but they might reprimand me or put a nasty remark in my personnel file! I can't imagine life without JavaRanch. It's my brain candy! And I need my sweets!

[Michael Matola]

Well, I've been scarce around here for half a year. Haven't written much Java code in that period either.
Weird. Just about the time I become a JavaRanch moderator, I start liking my job again (non-Java-related) and stop writing Java and stop doing Cattle Drive assignments...
Past couple months have been crazy for some personal reasons. This fall I'm hoping things settle down and I can devote time again to Java studies.
Doesn't look like I'll get an assignment in by the end of September. Oh, well, I'll try for October.
Do we need another "Let's hear some noise" thread?

[Marilyn de Queiroz]

Originally posted by Ken Cobbs:
Did the people in the Cattle Drive use to be required to post? If so how often?

Two posts for each nitpick (not necessarily only in this particular forum).

[Peter Gragert]

To Carol,
Check your browser settings, if you have made it more secure with respect to hackers by turning of this and that following advice of system gurus posting does not work (own experience).
Maybe we, I should ask which settings are needed such that the bulletinboard system will respond and accept nicely our messages .

[Pauline McNamara]

Is the quiet seasonal?
This is likely, but still applies to folks who post here anyway. What I was wondering about were the people who don't ever post here. Used to be that you could pretty much see who was doing the Cattle Drive by who was posting, since everyone did post at one time or another (to varying degrees of course).

[Lance Finney]

I don't post much anymore (I finished JDBC a few months ago), but I check out the forum a few times a week just to check things out. I help when I can, but the quick posters usually beat me to the punch. I also check for new tracks.

[Carol Murphy]

(Peter wrote)Check your browser settings, if you have made it more secure with respect to hackers by turning of this and that following advice of system gurus posting does not work (own experience).
I don't think it has anything to do with browser settings, because sometimes I can post easily, other times it seems like the web site is either too busy, or my connection is bad. It's very inconsistent. I can't quite figure out what the problem is!
[ September 27, 2002: Message edited by: Carol Murphy ]

[Johannes de Jong]

Well I know I havent been around here much, too scared people would notice I havent submitted anything for nearly a year know !!!
I've given up saying I'll make a comeback because I know it might not happen, though I must say when I see Carol, still slogging at finishing the "drive" I'm very very temped. Well done Carol, considering your non IT background, you put me to shame. Put a BIG feather in your hat

[Ronald Schindler]

This is an interesting topic. I can't speak for everyone but I can give the reasons that I have.
--Economy would be the first. Things have been tight and the time I'm afforded to visit or even work on the assignments has dramatically dropped.
--Others commentary - I also try to respond to some of the questions under the basic/intermediate areas periodically but find that many of the questions I would feel qualified to answer have already been answered. Kudos to the crowd who beats me to it.
--Search - Although I feel the search functionality has significantly decreased, I usually try going there first before asking a bunch of already answered questions. At times I've really had to study the responses, but it probably answers my questions 75% of the time or better.
Maybe what needs to happen is to figure out a way to keep people involved. Any ideas I'm sure would be welcome.
--I know that some other assignments are coming. Maybe we could leverage the other groups to assist. I realize that this action would require work but could we leverage folks from other areas such as J2ME, EJBs, etc.
Thoughts?

[Carol Murphy]

Hey, JDJ! Good to hear from you. Get back in the saddle dude. We're not goin' anywhere too fast, and you can pick it back up where you left off, just like ridin' a bicycle!