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- Aug 7, 2007
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How to Successfully Request Help
The hive is a robust community with many great tutorials and knowledgeable people. Contained in the Hive Workshop are the resources and knowledge to make any map that a person's imagination can conceive. Many members of the hive love seeing unique ideas come about and achieve reality, and will happily do what they can do bring them out. What The Hive Workshop members do not like, what no community likes, is people who come on and expect their ideas are worth a silver platter.This tutorial deals with guidelines on how to ask for help, and when to ask for it. It is in no way a definite formula, since every person will react differently. This will help many people be a little more successful when hunting for help.
Key Understandings
First of all, know that nobody owes you anything. Community members can decide to ignore you, and if you aren't asking the right way, probably will. Most people in the Hive who know what they are talking about have spent hundreds or thousands of hours working on whatever they are familiar with to get their level of expertise. No matter how awesome you think your map is, it isn't a drop in the bucket at the amount of time they have put into developing the skills you want to know about. Not understanding and respecting that will result in the very least a large amount of hostility directed at you. Just to have someone stop and acknowledge you have made a request should be something you should show appreciation for. Starting from the beginning showing that you value the effort they are putting into your request is a great way to get off on the right foot.Initial Request
A good introduction to your request for help can set the tone for not just one person to help you, but for anyone who hears the exchange at all. A good introduction states clearly that you need help, and what item you need help with. The Hive Workshop has all kinds of different artists here. Gui Triggers and Jass, Models and icons. Even story helpers can be found here. A good introduction also starts off polite and respectful, and stays there even if you don't get what you want.Here is an Example of a good exchange:
Arrag the New: I'm having a trigger problem, can someone help me please?
The Hive Workshop Helper: What is your problem?
Arrag the New: Thank you for your response! Well, I cannot figure out which event is best to check for a barracks being built would be.
Here is an Example of a bad exchange:
Arrag the Noob: I need someone to help me!
The Hive Workshop Helper: What is your Problem?
Arrag the Noob: I want someone to tell me what triggers I need to make a unit spawn when a barracks is built.
The good example has our requester, "Arrag the New", demonstrating that he is working on the map himself, and understands and appreciates that the helper's time is valuable. The second has "Arrag the Noob" demanding that something be made for him. The second introduction is not likely to be answered further, although sometimes if the person who is offering help is in a good mood it will be. If you have made an introduction like the second one, an apology and clarification of your intentions would not be called for. When in doubt, apologize. It might help some hive member you approached the wrong way take a step back and cool down before they get angry with you.
Getting the Help you didn't know you needed.
People understand the concepts you still haven't even yet thought to struggle with. They know better than you do what levels of experience are required before you are capable of doing whatever your grand idea is. If they say you need to study a concept that has nothing to do with whatever element you are dealing with, there is usually a good reason for it. JASS is a programming language, and understanding basic concepts of programming may be required to understand advanced JASS systems. Modeling also is another profession that has a lot of overlap outside of the material covered by The Hive Workshop. The same is true for icons and other forms of art. There is no skill used in the Hive Workshop that isn't useful in some form in other professions. Also, sometimes you may need to understand some basic jargon to phrase your request in a form they might understand. Hundreds or thousands of hours of experience mean years since they were in your shoes, and they don't think the same way as you will. Listen to what they, and read what they think you should read. You may not agree with the value of it after you have read it, but you will at least be more informed and know what was wrong with what they provided. If you aren't willing to pay that price for the help, you should reconsider your desire to seek help at all.Respecting the Silence
The individuals in the Hive Workshop are often busy with their own projects, and while stopping to help someone is worthy in it's own right, most Hive members will continue to do something else while helping you. This may mean you aren't getting answered quite as quickly. Don't get impatient. If you see them talking and feel they missed what you said and you had been having a positive exchange before, repeat your last statement. They may have missed it in the shuffle. Do not start spamming them or getting impatient with them. Sometimes they may be googleing things that may give you the in depth answer you need that they don't have time to give. Keep your manner respectful, and don't become impatient with the person who is helping you for the time it is taking. Remember that this issue stopped your mapping, and that it may not be as simple as you think.Polite and Humble FTW!
People who are helping you are doing it for free. It is not unreasonable to expect that they might make significant amounts of money for doing similar work in real life. If you cannot be polite and humble to such people, you are not expressing that you put much value in the time of these individuals. This is not the way to get individuals to help you. This extends even when the individuals turn you down. People have good days and bad, and the most helpful person in the world might have been having the worst day of his or her life when you came by asking for help, but might be in a better mood the next day. Accepting nos with grace will help prevent the burning of bridges, which may only be closed temporarily for repairs. Also, many people who are helpful are respected by a great many of the Hive Members. The person who was helping you later in the day yesterday may stop helping you if he learned you were abusive to someone they respected a few days ago. Bridge burning is very easy and can be practically undetectable. When in doubt, be polite and humble.Research!
Be proactive in your help. If you need help it is often from a lack of knowledge in how to do it yourself. Googling and reading tutorials will help you be better prepared to know what kind of help you need, and demonstrating a willingness to learn how to do it yourself often will encourage those who are helping you in sharing a few extra tips, which could only improve your future project. Many people will not help you at all if they do not feel you are working on your own end as well. Furthermore, many potential helpers will be quite offended if they do not believe you put at least the amount of effort of searching common sites for a similar problem. A quick entry on a forum's search engine to check if the problem is a common one could save you possible embarrassment, as well as prevent a potential helper from refusing to help you in the future. Furthermore, evidence that you have done your homework and still don't have the solution could encourage otherwise busy members to help you on the basis that it might give them a challenge.Credit
Give credit where it is due. If you develop a reputation for taking credit for the help offered by others, you will not get much help in the future. Nobody likes supporting people who claim all the effort as their own. If someone is being unreasonable, such as giving an idea for a system you didn't even use and demanding you credit them or else it is one thing, but The Hive Workshop as a whole feels credit is very important. If you got help, always assume that credit is needed, even for the smallest of things. If you are in doubt, ask someone if they want credit. Additionally, many people appreciate getting reputation points, and it would leave a favorable opinion of you with such people if you give them rep for helping. This isn't true with everyone, but it couldn't hurt. Who knows when you might need their help again, so always ensure you don't burn any bridges once the help is over.Conclusion
So in conclusion, Be humble and patient, and do your research. Doing such will take you great lengths in the direction of getting you the help you might need.Acknowledgments
Thank you to everyone at The Hive Workshop, past present and future, especially the regulars, who make this community what it is.And a special thanks to Garra and people like him, for without them, this tutorial would not exist!
Also thanks to Elfsilver Lord for his assistance in making sure nothing important was missed.
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