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Clarify the "entire code base" point. (For context, see my comment Apr 5 and BradleyDotNET's reply.)
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wjandrea
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Stack Overflow is a question & answer site. You may think that you have asked a reasonable, answerable question, but a question like "Can someone help me"? really doesn't qualify.

First, a bit of background: The purpose of Stack Overflow is to create a knowledge repository of solutions to programming problems. Its mantra is "Make the Internet a better place". That means that a primary characteristic of a good question is that it is likely to be searched by someone else. "Will you help me do X?" doesn't do that. More than likely, no one will ever be trying to do, and searching for, the exact same thing as you in exactly the same way. On the other hand, questions like: "How do I convert a string to a number?" are searched very often.

Second, for the sake of argument, suppose we didn't care whether the question is useful to someone else (we do), that we are only here for you (we aren't). A request for help on a list of requirements is still impossible to answer. Imagine what an answer might look like. It would essentially need to be the entire code base. We can appreciate that you only want "help", but with the question you've asked, we can't provide it (especially if some requirements are unclear or poorly scoped). By contrast, something like "How do I convert a string to a number?" has a clear definable answer (or even multiple answers).

So, help us help you. When you write a question, make sure to actually ask a question. Answerable questions don't ask how to implement a feature, they ask how to accomplish a programming task (among other things).

There's a catch here, that asking a good question will nearly always require you to know enough to know what you don't know. If you aren't there yet, start by breaking down the problem/feature into as many small steps as you can, and ask about the ones you don't understand and can't answer by doing your own research. However, it still helps to mention the context, just in case you're approaching the problem from the wrong angle.

So in summary:

  • Ask one question per post.
  • Make sure it is clear what you want to know. Is the question about fixing existing code, or is it about figuring out the next part of the code? Either way, what specifically do you need to understand in order to solve the problem?
  • Ask a specific programming question, not how to implement an entire project or feature.
  • If you don't know the programming question to ask, at least break it down into as small a piece as possible, and still make it about programming, not the feature.
    • If you are trying to figure out how to do something, then think about what things need to happen and in what order, figure out what you can and can't do already, and focus on a step that causes a problem.
    • If you are trying to fix a problem in code, then try to check what each part of the code does separately, figure out what part is doing something wrong, and ask about that with a minimal reproducible example.
  • Wait for the reaction you get and think about it before asking the next question you may have. It might already be obsolete or just change radically.

The good news is, you are trying to learn. So work on the question, edit it into something answerable, or at least make sure your next question is a good one. We'll be glad to help!

Stack Overflow is a question & answer site. You may think that you have asked a reasonable, answerable question, but a question like "Can someone help me"? really doesn't qualify.

First, a bit of background: The purpose of Stack Overflow is to create a knowledge repository of solutions to programming problems. Its mantra is "Make the Internet a better place". That means that a primary characteristic of a good question is that it is likely to be searched by someone else. "Will you help me do X?" doesn't do that. More than likely, no one will ever be trying to do, and searching for, the exact same thing as you in exactly the same way. On the other hand, questions like: "How do I convert a string to a number?" are searched very often.

Second, for the sake of argument, suppose we didn't care whether the question is useful to someone else (we do), that we are only here for you (we aren't). A request for help is still impossible to answer. Imagine what an answer might look like. It would essentially need to be the entire code base. We can appreciate that you only want "help", but with the question you've asked, we can't provide it. By contrast, something like "How do I convert a string to a number?" has a clear definable answer (or even multiple answers).

So, help us help you. When you write a question, make sure to actually ask a question. Answerable questions don't ask how to implement a feature, they ask how to accomplish a programming task (among other things).

There's a catch here, that asking a good question will nearly always require you to know enough to know what you don't know. If you aren't there yet, start by breaking down the problem/feature into as many small steps as you can, and ask about the ones you don't understand and can't answer by doing your own research. However, it still helps to mention the context, just in case you're approaching the problem from the wrong angle.

So in summary:

  • Ask one question per post.
  • Make sure it is clear what you want to know. Is the question about fixing existing code, or is it about figuring out the next part of the code? Either way, what specifically do you need to understand in order to solve the problem?
  • Ask a specific programming question, not how to implement an entire project or feature.
  • If you don't know the programming question to ask, at least break it down into as small a piece as possible, and still make it about programming, not the feature.
    • If you are trying to figure out how to do something, then think about what things need to happen and in what order, figure out what you can and can't do already, and focus on a step that causes a problem.
    • If you are trying to fix a problem in code, then try to check what each part of the code does separately, figure out what part is doing something wrong, and ask about that with a minimal reproducible example.
  • Wait for the reaction you get and think about it before asking the next question you may have. It might already be obsolete or just change radically.

The good news is, you are trying to learn. So work on the question, edit it into something answerable, or at least make sure your next question is a good one. We'll be glad to help!

Stack Overflow is a question & answer site. You may think that you have asked a reasonable, answerable question, but a question like "Can someone help me"? really doesn't qualify.

First, a bit of background: The purpose of Stack Overflow is to create a knowledge repository of solutions to programming problems. Its mantra is "Make the Internet a better place". That means that a primary characteristic of a good question is that it is likely to be searched by someone else. "Will you help me do X?" doesn't do that. More than likely, no one will ever be trying to do, and searching for, the exact same thing as you in exactly the same way. On the other hand, questions like: "How do I convert a string to a number?" are searched very often.

Second, for the sake of argument, suppose we didn't care whether the question is useful to someone else (we do), that we are only here for you (we aren't). A request for help on a list of requirements is still impossible to answer. Imagine what an answer might look like. It would essentially need to be the entire code base. We can appreciate that you only want "help", but with the question you've asked, we can't provide it (especially if some requirements are unclear or poorly scoped). By contrast, something like "How do I convert a string to a number?" has a clear definable answer (or even multiple answers).

So, help us help you. When you write a question, make sure to actually ask a question. Answerable questions don't ask how to implement a feature, they ask how to accomplish a programming task (among other things).

There's a catch here, that asking a good question will nearly always require you to know enough to know what you don't know. If you aren't there yet, start by breaking down the problem/feature into as many small steps as you can, and ask about the ones you don't understand and can't answer by doing your own research. However, it still helps to mention the context, just in case you're approaching the problem from the wrong angle.

So in summary:

  • Ask one question per post.
  • Make sure it is clear what you want to know. Is the question about fixing existing code, or is it about figuring out the next part of the code? Either way, what specifically do you need to understand in order to solve the problem?
  • Ask a specific programming question, not how to implement an entire project or feature.
  • If you don't know the programming question to ask, at least break it down into as small a piece as possible, and still make it about programming, not the feature.
    • If you are trying to figure out how to do something, then think about what things need to happen and in what order, figure out what you can and can't do already, and focus on a step that causes a problem.
    • If you are trying to fix a problem in code, then try to check what each part of the code does separately, figure out what part is doing something wrong, and ask about that with a minimal reproducible example.
  • Wait for the reaction you get and think about it before asking the next question you may have. It might already be obsolete or just change radically.

The good news is, you are trying to learn. So work on the question, edit it into something answerable, or at least make sure your next question is a good one. We'll be glad to help!

clearer English
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khelwood
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Stack Overflow is a question & answer site. You may think that you have asked a reasonable, answerable question, but a question like "Can someone help me"? really doesn't qualify.

First, a bit of background: The purpose of Stack Overflow is to create a knowledge repository of solutions to programming problems. Its mantra is "Make the Internet a better place". That means that a primary characteristic of a good question is that it is likely to be searched by someone else. "Will you help me do X?" doesn't do that. More than likely, no one will ever be trying to do, and searching for, the exact same thing as you in exactly the same way. On the other hand, questions like: "How do I convert a string to a number?" are searched very often.

Second, for the sake of argument, suppose we didn't care whether the question is useful to someone else (we do), that we are only here for you (we aren't). A request for help is still impossible to answer. Imagine what an answer might look like. It would essentially need to be the entire code base. We can appreciate that you only want "help", but with the question you've asked, we can't provide it. By contrast, something like "How do I convert a string to a number?" has a clear definable answer (or even multiple answers).

So, help us help you. When you write a question, make sure to actually ask a question. Answerable questions don't ask how to implement a feature, they ask how to accomplish a programming task (among other things).

There's a catch here, that asking a good question will nearly always require you to know enough to know what you don't know. If you aren't there yet, start by breaking down the problem/feature into as many small steps as you can, and ask about the ones you don't understand and can't answer by doing your own research. AlthoughHowever, it still helps to mention the context, just in case you're approaching the problem from the wrong angle.

So in summary:

  • Ask one question per post.
  • Make sure it is clear what you want to know. Is the question about fixing existing code, or is it about figuring out the next part of the code? Either way, what specifically do you need to understand in order to solve the problem?
  • Ask a specific programming question, not how to implement an entire project or feature.
  • If you don't know the programming question to ask, at least break it down into as small a piece as possible, and still make it about programming, not the feature.
    • If you are trying to figure out how to do something, then think about what things need to happen and in what order, figure out what you can and can't do already, and focus on a step that causes a problem.
    • If you are trying to fix a problem in code, then try to check what each part of the code does separately, figure out what part is doing something wrong, and ask about that with a minimal reproducible example.
  • Wait for the reaction you get and think about it before asking the next question you may have. It might already be obsolete or just change radically.

The good news is, you are trying to learn. So work on the question, edit it into something answerable, or at least make sure your next question is a good one. We'll be glad to help!

Stack Overflow is a question & answer site. You may think that you have asked a reasonable, answerable question, but a question like "Can someone help me"? really doesn't qualify.

First, a bit of background: The purpose of Stack Overflow is to create a knowledge repository of solutions to programming problems. Its mantra is "Make the Internet a better place". That means that a primary characteristic of a good question is that it is likely to be searched by someone else. "Will you help me do X?" doesn't do that. More than likely, no one will ever be trying to do, and searching for, the exact same thing as you in exactly the same way. On the other hand, questions like: "How do I convert a string to a number?" are searched very often.

Second, for the sake of argument, suppose we didn't care whether the question is useful to someone else (we do), that we are only here for you (we aren't). A request for help is still impossible to answer. Imagine what an answer might look like. It would essentially need to be the entire code base. We can appreciate that you only want "help", but with the question you've asked, we can't provide it. By contrast, something like "How do I convert a string to a number?" has a clear definable answer (or even multiple answers).

So, help us help you. When you write a question, make sure to actually ask a question. Answerable questions don't ask how to implement a feature, they ask how to accomplish a programming task (among other things).

There's a catch here, that asking a good question will nearly always require you to know enough to know what you don't know. If you aren't there yet, start by breaking down the problem/feature into as many small steps as you can, and ask about the ones you don't understand and can't answer by doing your own research. Although, it still helps to mention the context, just in case you're approaching the problem from the wrong angle.

So in summary:

  • Ask one question per post.
  • Make sure it is clear what you want to know. Is the question about fixing existing code, or is it about figuring out the next part of the code? Either way, what specifically do you need to understand in order to solve the problem?
  • Ask a specific programming question, not how to implement an entire project or feature.
  • If you don't know the programming question to ask, at least break it down into as small a piece as possible, and still make it about programming, not the feature.
    • If you are trying to figure out how to do something, then think about what things need to happen and in what order, figure out what you can and can't do already, and focus on a step that causes a problem.
    • If you are trying to fix a problem in code, then try to check what each part of the code does separately, figure out what part is doing something wrong, and ask about that with a minimal reproducible example.
  • Wait for the reaction you get and think about it before asking the next question you may have. It might already be obsolete or just change radically.

The good news is, you are trying to learn. So work on the question, edit it into something answerable, or at least make sure your next question is a good one. We'll be glad to help!

Stack Overflow is a question & answer site. You may think that you have asked a reasonable, answerable question, but a question like "Can someone help me"? really doesn't qualify.

First, a bit of background: The purpose of Stack Overflow is to create a knowledge repository of solutions to programming problems. Its mantra is "Make the Internet a better place". That means that a primary characteristic of a good question is that it is likely to be searched by someone else. "Will you help me do X?" doesn't do that. More than likely, no one will ever be trying to do, and searching for, the exact same thing as you in exactly the same way. On the other hand, questions like: "How do I convert a string to a number?" are searched very often.

Second, for the sake of argument, suppose we didn't care whether the question is useful to someone else (we do), that we are only here for you (we aren't). A request for help is still impossible to answer. Imagine what an answer might look like. It would essentially need to be the entire code base. We can appreciate that you only want "help", but with the question you've asked, we can't provide it. By contrast, something like "How do I convert a string to a number?" has a clear definable answer (or even multiple answers).

So, help us help you. When you write a question, make sure to actually ask a question. Answerable questions don't ask how to implement a feature, they ask how to accomplish a programming task (among other things).

There's a catch here, that asking a good question will nearly always require you to know enough to know what you don't know. If you aren't there yet, start by breaking down the problem/feature into as many small steps as you can, and ask about the ones you don't understand and can't answer by doing your own research. However, it still helps to mention the context, just in case you're approaching the problem from the wrong angle.

So in summary:

  • Ask one question per post.
  • Make sure it is clear what you want to know. Is the question about fixing existing code, or is it about figuring out the next part of the code? Either way, what specifically do you need to understand in order to solve the problem?
  • Ask a specific programming question, not how to implement an entire project or feature.
  • If you don't know the programming question to ask, at least break it down into as small a piece as possible, and still make it about programming, not the feature.
    • If you are trying to figure out how to do something, then think about what things need to happen and in what order, figure out what you can and can't do already, and focus on a step that causes a problem.
    • If you are trying to fix a problem in code, then try to check what each part of the code does separately, figure out what part is doing something wrong, and ask about that with a minimal reproducible example.
  • Wait for the reaction you get and think about it before asking the next question you may have. It might already be obsolete or just change radically.

The good news is, you are trying to learn. So work on the question, edit it into something answerable, or at least make sure your next question is a good one. We'll be glad to help!

Rollback to Revision 17 - "Although" is being used as an adverb, not a coordinating conjunction, so requires a comma. You could change the word if it's unclear.
Source Link
wjandrea
  • 34.2k
  • 33
  • 58

Stack Overflow is a question & answer site. You may think that you have asked a reasonable, answerable question, but a question like "Can someone help me"? really doesn't qualify.

First, a bit of background: The purpose of Stack Overflow is to create a knowledge repository of solutions to programming problems. Its mantra is "Make the Internet a better place". That means that a primary characteristic of a good question is that it is likely to be searched by someone else. "Will you help me do X?" doesn't do that. More than likely, no one will ever be trying to do, and searching for, the exact same thing as you in exactly the same way. On the other hand, questions like: "How do I convert a string to a number?" are searched very often.

Second, for the sake of argument, suppose we didn't care whether the question is useful to someone else (we do), that we are only here for you (we aren't). A request for help is still impossible to answer. Imagine what an answer might look like. It would essentially need to be the entire code base. We can appreciate that you only want "help", but with the question you've asked, we can't provide it. By contrast, something like "How do I convert a string to a number?" has a clear definable answer (or even multiple answers).

So, help us help you. When you write a question, make sure to actually ask a question. Answerable questions don't ask how to implement a feature, they ask how to accomplish a programming task (among other things).

There's a catch here, that asking a good question will nearly always require you to know enough to know what you don't know. If you aren't there yet, start by breaking down the problem/feature into as many small steps as you can, and ask about the ones you don't understand and can't answer by doing your own research. Although, it still helps to mention the context, just in case you're approaching the problem from the wrong angle.

So in summary:

  • Ask one question per post.
  • Make sure it is clear what you want to know. Is the question about fixing existing code, or is it about figuring out the next part of the code? Either way, what specifically do you need to understand in order to solve the problem?
  • Ask a specific programming question, not how to implement an entire project or feature.
  • If you don't know the programming question to ask, at least break it down into as small a piece as possible, and still make it about programming, not the feature.
    • If you are trying to figure out how to do something, then think about what things need to happen and in what order, figure out what you can and can't do already, and focus on a step that causes a problem.
    • If you are trying to fix a problem in code, then try to check what each part of the code does separately, figure out what part is doing something wrong, and ask about that with a minimal reproducible example.
  • Wait for the reaction you get and think about it before asking the next question you may have. It might already be obsolete or just change radically.

The good news is, you are trying to learn. So work on the question, edit it into something answerable, or at least make sure your next question is a good one. We'll be glad to help!

Stack Overflow is a question & answer site. You may think that you have asked a reasonable, answerable question, but a question like "Can someone help me"? really doesn't qualify.

First, a bit of background: The purpose of Stack Overflow is to create a knowledge repository of solutions to programming problems. Its mantra is "Make the Internet a better place". That means that a primary characteristic of a good question is that it is likely to be searched by someone else. "Will you help me do X?" doesn't do that. More than likely, no one will ever be trying to do, and searching for, the exact same thing as you in exactly the same way. On the other hand, questions like: "How do I convert a string to a number?" are searched very often.

Second, for the sake of argument, suppose we didn't care whether the question is useful to someone else (we do), that we are only here for you (we aren't). A request for help is still impossible to answer. Imagine what an answer might look like. It would essentially need to be the entire code base. We can appreciate that you only want "help", but with the question you've asked, we can't provide it. By contrast, something like "How do I convert a string to a number?" has a clear definable answer (or even multiple answers).

So, help us help you. When you write a question, make sure to actually ask a question. Answerable questions don't ask how to implement a feature, they ask how to accomplish a programming task (among other things).

There's a catch here, that asking a good question will nearly always require you to know enough to know what you don't know. If you aren't there yet, start by breaking down the problem/feature into as many small steps as you can, and ask about the ones you don't understand and can't answer by doing your own research. Although it still helps to mention the context, just in case you're approaching the problem from the wrong angle.

So in summary:

  • Ask one question per post.
  • Make sure it is clear what you want to know. Is the question about fixing existing code, or is it about figuring out the next part of the code? Either way, what specifically do you need to understand in order to solve the problem?
  • Ask a specific programming question, not how to implement an entire project or feature.
  • If you don't know the programming question to ask, at least break it down into as small a piece as possible, and still make it about programming, not the feature.
    • If you are trying to figure out how to do something, then think about what things need to happen and in what order, figure out what you can and can't do already, and focus on a step that causes a problem.
    • If you are trying to fix a problem in code, then try to check what each part of the code does separately, figure out what part is doing something wrong, and ask about that with a minimal reproducible example.
  • Wait for the reaction you get and think about it before asking the next question you may have. It might already be obsolete or just change radically.

The good news is, you are trying to learn. So work on the question, edit it into something answerable, or at least make sure your next question is a good one. We'll be glad to help!

Stack Overflow is a question & answer site. You may think that you have asked a reasonable, answerable question, but a question like "Can someone help me"? really doesn't qualify.

First, a bit of background: The purpose of Stack Overflow is to create a knowledge repository of solutions to programming problems. Its mantra is "Make the Internet a better place". That means that a primary characteristic of a good question is that it is likely to be searched by someone else. "Will you help me do X?" doesn't do that. More than likely, no one will ever be trying to do, and searching for, the exact same thing as you in exactly the same way. On the other hand, questions like: "How do I convert a string to a number?" are searched very often.

Second, for the sake of argument, suppose we didn't care whether the question is useful to someone else (we do), that we are only here for you (we aren't). A request for help is still impossible to answer. Imagine what an answer might look like. It would essentially need to be the entire code base. We can appreciate that you only want "help", but with the question you've asked, we can't provide it. By contrast, something like "How do I convert a string to a number?" has a clear definable answer (or even multiple answers).

So, help us help you. When you write a question, make sure to actually ask a question. Answerable questions don't ask how to implement a feature, they ask how to accomplish a programming task (among other things).

There's a catch here, that asking a good question will nearly always require you to know enough to know what you don't know. If you aren't there yet, start by breaking down the problem/feature into as many small steps as you can, and ask about the ones you don't understand and can't answer by doing your own research. Although, it still helps to mention the context, just in case you're approaching the problem from the wrong angle.

So in summary:

  • Ask one question per post.
  • Make sure it is clear what you want to know. Is the question about fixing existing code, or is it about figuring out the next part of the code? Either way, what specifically do you need to understand in order to solve the problem?
  • Ask a specific programming question, not how to implement an entire project or feature.
  • If you don't know the programming question to ask, at least break it down into as small a piece as possible, and still make it about programming, not the feature.
    • If you are trying to figure out how to do something, then think about what things need to happen and in what order, figure out what you can and can't do already, and focus on a step that causes a problem.
    • If you are trying to fix a problem in code, then try to check what each part of the code does separately, figure out what part is doing something wrong, and ask about that with a minimal reproducible example.
  • Wait for the reaction you get and think about it before asking the next question you may have. It might already be obsolete or just change radically.

The good news is, you are trying to learn. So work on the question, edit it into something answerable, or at least make sure your next question is a good one. We'll be glad to help!

fix punctuation
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khelwood
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Clarify why XY problem is applicable
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wjandrea
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Mention context / XY problem.
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wjandrea
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Improve clarity/grammar. Add back connecting phrase removed in last edit.
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wjandrea
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copyedit prose; expand and reorder advice
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Karl Knechtel
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Focus on the scope: the previous phrasing was making a distinction without a difference.
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Ryan M Mod
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Fix capitalization (might have been for emphasis, so add bold instead). Combine disjointed paragraphs. Fix link - this one has the verbatim quote.
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wjandrea
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replaced http://blog.stackoverflow.com with https://blog.stackoverflow.com
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do your own research before asking!
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MattDMo
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added 19 characters in body
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Theresa Garcia
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Jive Dadson
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Post Made Community Wiki by Martijn PietersMod
mantra += http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/12/stack-overflow-gives-back-2010/ "quote source"
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gnat
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added 140 characters in body
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Deduplicator
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Grammar
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BradleyDotNET
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deleted 65 characters in body
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BradleyDotNET
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Increase the apostrophe level by two.
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hobbs
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BradleyDotNET
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