Blogger Help Group

    I mentioned that I could be found hanging around the Blogger Help Group sometimes. There's a lot of good information there, but reading the questions it is clear that a lot of people do no research into what they are doing. Like many things: just about every question that can be asked has been asked - and answered.
    So what's my strategy when considering a question? Well, first let me clarify that I am not an HTML, coder, or a Java scripter, or any type of computer expert. But I have been using "personal" computers since the early 80's and have had my own web pages for some years, so I do know one or two things. Another thing I am not is a blogger. I got into this because some one asked me how to do something and have gone from there.
    But, I am very well experienced with dealing with people who have the solution in hand but can't make it work. I made a reasonable living for many years troubleshooting problems for people. Although my main task was on aircraft, I almost never refused to research a problem, regardless of its nature. I think I was pretty good at it because although I haven't worked seriously for a few years some of my former colleagues still call on me to help them out.
    Many times I worked with people who were better trained than me, but they had poor troubleshooting skills. There were memorable times when I provided step-by-step procedures to be followed to solve a problem and at the end the solution wasn't found. Almost without exception, when I took the matter into my own hands, the problem was solved following the same steps. Typically, querying the original person revealed they did "all" of the steps - oh, except that one.
    So here's my approach:
    I try to establish a known condition to work from and then proceed forward. Sometimes it isn't easy, and the person asking will not give up ALL of the facts.
    And, I don't hesitate to save the source code for a problem page to my desktop and play with it. It does not always produce the solution because new Blogger is widget based, but usually it provides a good direction.
    I try to not be afraid to post an obvious solution, because that's what is sometimes overlooked.
    Maybe I'll see you over there sometime.