Excel Zone Expert Discussion, Number 9

Yups..just want to ensure..dont miss outa any updates...

Did somebody mention chocolates?

what - have I missed out on chocolates?

Only 144 more trivial post and its EEE X .....

That should be worth at least a couple of posts on the acronym.

Saurabh,

You do realize there is a subscribe link in the question box. You don't need to post to subscribe ;-)

Kevin

Ahh Kevin i notice that..but was not able to resist my temptation of posting in first...so just posted... ;-)

Somehow I can imagine that the first post just disappears :)

They've escaped....

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Office_Productivity/Office_Suites/MS_Office/Excel/Q_24112769.html
...and ...
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Other/Lounge/Q_24112786.html

Wayne

lol :)

thx for the pointers Wayne

Hey Guys,
Not sure about this... Can you award more than 500 points for a question?

See this question..
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Office_Productivity/Office_Suites/MS_Office/Excel/Q_24129295.html

- Ardhendu.

Don't look now everyone, but Barry just hit the overall leaderboard for Excel, showing 392k (that is a cached
amount, calculated daily and not in real time).

So:
1) What are your guesses for the date he hits Genius?
2) Will he be the next person to hit Genius, or will someone else beat him to it?

:)

Patrick

1. =DATE(YEAR(NOW()),MONTH(NOW())+6,DAY(NOW())) 
2. Albert  - just 
3. Can we entice Barry to answer a VBA question before he hits the Genius mark .... I can recall another Genius who once stated that he was unlikely to ever answer a VBA question 

1) If he keeps at his average of 3559 points per day, he'll get his Genius certificate on 28th July 2009
2) If nutsch kept up his pace, he'd get there first, but I think Albert will get there before him, and beat Barry by 6 weeks, assuming everyone keeps up there average daily points....

Actually, I'll take back No. 2. The chart above is based on all zones. Barry should get his Excel Genius cert first....

Wayne,

Can I be selfish and request that you to graph my points over time? Will you be making these tweaks avaialble in QuickEE

I'm hearing much more about home than I'd prefer to right now  ..... horrible times

Cheers

Dave

Wayne,

And me too acting selfish..can you help me in doing calculation about when i hit savant..?? i know its a long way still..but just setting that as my goal at the moment...

Saurabh...

> next verison of QuickEE to be called

QuickEEne1

Dave,

Your chart attached.

>>Will you be making these tweaks avaialble in QuickEE
Probably not. Not in the current version at least. I use a few tools available only to badgers, so most people won't be able to use it. In any case, the few comparison charts above were generated in Excel.

>>I'm hearing much more about home than I'd prefer to right now  ..... horrible times
Horrible indeed. I have a few friends who live down there. They're fine, thankfully. My problem is with the floods we're getting up north. I have to drive south this weekend, and I'm wondering if any of the roads will be open.

>>QuickEEne1
LOL! Will keep it in mind ! Actually, when I first read that, I thought you were refering to the dunny brush from "Hey, Hey It's Saturday" and was wondering what the "1" was about!


Saurabh,

Your chart is on the way. Your data is being collected now, but it takes a little while to run, and I won't be awake at 1:30am when it finishes. I'll post it in the morning before I go to work.

Wayne

thx Wayne, much appreciated :)

Thanks for the interest guys....

I reckon I'm on an upward curve, overall average c 3500, average in 2009 c 4000, average in February 2009, c 5500 so I'll go for a conservative 1st July 2009......not that I notice these things, of course......

VBA? That's a football team, right? [UK joke]

It is if you're Roman Abramovich, I think! Vest Brom.

Ahh ok wayne...Thanks for your help over this....

Saurabh...

Saurabh,

If you keep up your current average points per day, you'll get your Savant Cert in Jan 2012.

Wayne

Wayne,

Thanks for the charts...Really appreciate it..and that is 3 years from now...so still a long way to go.....

Saurabh...

Slacker. There is a good 4 hours of sleep each day that you could be spending here

Okay...Guys i was designing a IQY query to get results of my questions summary as in how many questions answered in what zones and the breakup of it that is accepted or assisted...

Im able to pull the data completely..and i have my breakup for my 2086 questions which i answered so far....as in which zone they belong to and how many questions...

The process is very simple..if anyone is intrested to do..let me know..will help in doing the same...

Just one quick question...im struck at this part only about how to pause my macro code...till the time my external query get refresh..does anyone has idea about how to do that..???

This is a snapshot of my breakup for 2086 questions which i answered....

Saurabh...

What I want to know is what Clippy is doing on your desktop? That little guy tends to hang out with losers and the more challenged.

Ahh that is by default configured in my excel...so when i open it..this bugger shows first..even before my excel is opened..and thanks for the answer...now my macro works the IQY query without any problem....just perfect...now let me just pull ot your data...will get back to you about it...

Saurabh - attached is your data for every single question you answered.

Wayne,

Thanks for it...can i have headers as well so that i know what means what..?? This would help me in getting my data right..what im doing at the moment...

Saurabh...

yeah, ok....

Date, QID, Zone IDs, Points, MID

Okay...cool...thanks..and im runing this one at the moment for kevin...it would be intresting to see his breakup...will post as soon im done with it...in next 30 minutes or so...

Would have been very easy to do Kevin's before the new site was launched. It was probably something like 4000 Excel, 5 VB, 3 MS Office. Lazy bugger rarely ventured out of the Excel TA ;-)

Okay wayne...You are almost correct about Kevin...This is how his breakup look like

Saurabh...

Lazy is as lazy does. All of that is cross posting. I'm an Excel guy and weekend VB warrior.

At least Clippy is nowhere to be seen on my desktop.

Anyone have any ideas what's going on here?

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Office_Productivity/Office_Suites/MS_Office/Excel/Q_24163584.html#a23708685

I think you have two problems with the transpose line:

1. wsArr(0) is  868832 characters, so the Transpose fails.

2. If you use vbLf as the line delimiter, you still can't use Application.Transpose because at least some of the strings are longer than 255 characters. You need something like:

   ReDim varData(1 To UBound(wsArr) + 1, 1 To 1)
   For i = LBound(wsArr) To UBound(wsArr)
      varData(i + 1, 1) = wsArr(i)
   Next i
    ws.Range("A1").Resize(UBound(wsArr) + 1) = varData
                                              

1:
2:
3:
4:
5:

Can I just say a big thank you to whoever got the mobile version of EE running? It makes my life much easier!! :)

Thanks Rory.

Chris,

I tried your email at

experts at pc hyphen development dot net
but it fooled me not just the harvester!

Cheers

Dave

Dave

Good job then ... or not.  Typo in the domain declaration corrected ... it should now work as advertised ... What did I do wrong?, oh nothing, it's Christopher when I do something wrong so 'Chris' must mean you want to make a donation to my fave charity :o)

Chris

So who's the new guy that has already given Dave so much trouble?

LMAO!

Happily Kevin can spin anything and make it look nice (unless you have editing rights)    :)

I decided that I am no longer learning new Excel stuff at work and needed the mental stimulation.  You guys have always been my best source for inspiration, so I am reincarnated and starting anew.  I look forward to learning all kinds of new stuff!

Once I become an Expert again, can I get rid of the syntax advertisements in posts?

Saurabh:

I noticed you posted a link to another question within a question.  I didn't know if you were aware, but you can simplify the URL to the following so it is easier to read.

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Q_24109535.html

Granted, this is for this question, but you get the idea.  I'm a neat freak.  I just can't help it.

Kindest Regards,

Jaes

An OCD neat freak. Any ladies?

http:Q_24109535.html

That's right!  I completely forgot of the super abbreviated version!  I've been away far too long!

I did manage to answer my FIRST question today!

http:Q_24180283.html#a23745896

One down, one hundred billion to go!

Still spending my quality time with Loree.  We're ready to come out and visit!  I believe I still owe you a dinner for something or other.

Jaes,

Thanks for the information...I knew about it...but its like i keep on doing weird things still..i dont know why....but i guess i need to cut down on this...

Saurabh....

Take some advice from an old dude who has experienced plenty of slapping sessions, slow down! And periods work a lot better when used one at a time ;-)

That's no lie!  I would much rather write clear, concise and succinct sentences than be slapped around by the other Excel geniuses.  Take the offered hint!

Hmm...I do...and writing three periods its in me for now ages...and its hard to change it overnight...will take sometime to do that...because i have been writting that for a long time now.

Saurabh...

Sounds like an excuse to me ;-)

Kevin:

Okay, I've had it with this new user.  Can you please help them figure out how to answer the correct question and get the other two closed/deleted?

Original Q: http:Q_24178309.html

I didn't see the original before I answered with my original answer here.

2nd Q with my A: http:Q_24182504.html#a23752613

It took me some time to type my complete solution.  Before I could post it, they posted another duplicate question.

3rd Q: http:Q_24182682.html

Do people not read when they sign up?  Sheesh!

Kindest Regards,

Jaes

Welcome back, Jaes!

Yes, I'm a ZAPE now. Still not really sure which zone/s, but I try to help/fix where ever I happen to be lurking.

Wayne

Wayne:

Thanks man!  It's great to be back.  I've missed all you guys and the mental stimulation you guys provide!

Kindest Regards,

Jaes

Hi Guys,

I was wondering if DATEDIF Function works with Excel 2003?

 I tried the solution which was accepted for the following question but could not get it to work on Excel 2003.

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Office_Productivity/Office_Suites/MS_Office/Excel/Q_24183973.html

- Ardhendu.

Ardhendu,

It does works for excel 2003

Saurabh...

> Take some advice from an old dude who has experienced plenty of slapping sessions

Bad .... bad ..... bad visions popping into my head. I defy anyone not to think further about this.

Dave:

When I began at EE, years ago, in my former incarnation, I would hastily post answers in search of the golden points to further my Excel Expert status.  Most the time, I found that I would have to rework my answer because I didn't fully read the original question and missed some crucial point.

We could all slow down a little and read more, assume less and work together as a team to further all our knowledge instead of fighting for the top spot all the time.  Challenge is great, but ultimately we all know that we are all Experts here and that matters more than the few cherished points we are able to snag from one another.  I don't see some of us ever following that mentality, but we all should.

Kindest Regards,

Jaes

Unfortunately, I'm on the same wavelength as Dave. Not pleasant images!

Jaes, think of Kevin

A big paddle.

A big scantily clad ....

Scary!

OMG - where have you popped up from?  :)

I was over there ------->

Behind Kevin

Okay, now you guys are really scaring me.  Here I am thinking of the scolding Saurabh or SGE as I am now going to begin calling him and you guys are off on some A. N. Roquelaure-ian tangent.  It sure is a good thing I came back to try to keep you guys in line!

> Behind Kevin

with a paddle?

Lol  @ Jaes...for scolding me...you definately going to remind me of my childhood days since thats the only time i used to get scolded and nobody does that at the moment... :-)

Sadly, I just realized that I am the only assumed Expert here without the title of Genius.  Not only that, I'm not even ranked an Expert at all and cannot even seem to amass the mere 10k to get my free Expert membership.  How did I even get in here?  Someone must have left the door open.  Excuse me while I let myself out.

Matt!!! You going on any trips this weekend?

For the rest of you, y'all just keep imagining. It's very entertaining. Note that Brad did most of the slapping.

I wonder if Nigel will show up next...we could use some of his bizarre wit about now...

Saurabh, note that I use the ellipsis above to create a pause in related clauses for dramatic effect, not to separate sentences or replace commas.

> with a paddle?
No, I was up some creek and wasn't given one.

>Matt!!! You going on any trips this weekend?
Sadly, no. Well, actually I am, but just back to Rochester for a wedding. My expenses were too tight to make my way anywhere else. I've got a house and a wedding to pay for!

Dave sticking it to the question asker seeking for additional help beyond the original question. http:Q_24182715.html?#a23758867

No one even asked about my new acrynomic nickname for Saurabh, uh, I mean SGE.

My buddy Matt is getting married and a house!  I have so much to catch up on.

>I have so much to catch up on.
I wouldn't feel too bad, Jaes, that should be news to most everyone. I may have told Patrick about the engagement when we spoke back in November, but otherwise I've been as absent as well.

SGE?

Finally!  Thank you for asking about my new nickname for Saurabh.  It stands for Saurabh Gratuitous Ellipses.  SGE is easier for me to remember than Saurabh, although if I type it enough I'll remember.  I kinda like the ring of SGE instead.  Maybe he'll stop using so many of them though and I'll have to change it to something else like Saurabh.

Jaes - I have no idea what is happening in http:Q_24182715.html?#a23758867. None at all.

But note that this is a very bewildered Dave, still of course prepared to pick up a paddle and beat if needed.  But also a very wary Dave, just  in case I beat up an expert pretending to be a newbie. Not that anyone hear would ever pretend to be such a riduculous thing

SGE - ok come clean.

Matt, you're getting hitched ....wow ... congratulations!  It's been far too long since we were in touch.

But while you are here why don't you pick up the 500 XMLHTTP points I have owed you for 3 years <FONT id=linkPlaceHolder></FONT>

Congratulations, Matt!
Next step, sleepless nights... ;) (take that how you will)

You're such a pervert Rory!

http:Q_23509410.html#a21851394

Can't type, spell or post links.

Matt, look here Mr XMLHTTP

And the winning Expert quote for the day is Rory with, "It's not the size of the formula, it's how you enter it that counts. ;)"

http:Q_23509410.html#a21851394

My how I sure have missed you guys!  Why oh why did I ever take a year off?!?

Jaes,
It's good to take some time off and come back refreshed from time to time. I didn't expect a whole new persona, but hey...
Glad to have you back though!
Rory

Rory:

It's great to be back.  I guess if Sembee can do it, maybe I can, too, and this time get a Genius out of it.

Jaes

I'm trying to figure out whether it's time to ask about Excel here. As you're all having such fun, I guess not, but that's not going to stop me anyway.

I think I read somewhere in our ramblings that ...UsedRange.Columns doesn't always work correctly. Today I completely failed to get it to report the rightmost column in the UsedRange. It reported that the UsedRange was 2 columns wider than it was. There was nothing in the columns to the right of the data - I deleted all the columns to the right to make sure it wasn't picking up any spurious data.

Has anyone else encountered similar problems in Excel 2003?

Patrick

Yep. Usedrange is flaky, although usually deleting the blank columns Excel thinks are included and saving the file cures it (not always though)

That should have read - ...UsedRange.Columns.Count

Patrick

UsedRange is reset when the workbook is saved. It's supposed to reset when accessed but that isn't dependable.

Thanks for that confirmation that UsedRange is flaky. I hadn't encountered it before but I was sure I'd read somewhere.

I figure that all of you know this, but now that I'm officially an Expert with 10k points I can offer a couple extra pennies of information.  The issue with UsedRange is that it remembers any changes to any cell.  This can include formatting of less than entire column or row and also cells that used to contain data.  That's why deleting all the "blank" rows and saving the file resets it.  If you delete the formats and cells that previously included data then UsedRange includes those cells within the range that contain data.

This is also what we've all experienced with file size.  I haven't tested it in 2007, but in 2003 and prior versions deleting cells that previously contained data or formatting could significantly reduce file size.

>That's why deleting all the "blank" rows/[columns] and saving the file resets it.

Oh no it doesn't! On my Excel 2002 it has no effect whatsoever in resetting UsedRange.Columns.Count.

Interesting.  It used to work in Excel 97.  Are you deleting all the columns from the cell just beyond the last cell with data to the last column in the worksheet?

Jaes,

UsedRange misbehaves and I have found that the only reliable way to reset it to accurately represent reality is to save the document.

Kevin

> Are you deleting all the columns from the cell just beyond the last cell with data to the last column in the worksheet?

Yep - ever single one of them after the data.

In my experience the usedrange is not always reset by a save (probably works 95% of the time) so I don't use it.

Bottom line: it is not reliable, period.

Shouldn't you be in the Rock Bottom getting drunk? :)

You're time zones are off by about 12 hours. We're listing to the Excel product team tell us why they do the things they do.

Wish you were here!

Tell Barry we now know what his real name is ;-)

I wish I was there too - I'd love to hear that story.
Have you discovered what a lightweight my mate Richard is? :)

Ya! Said something about you being a fish?

Pah! He thinks having 4 pints for lunch is a lot! :)

:-)

I just answered an Excel VBA question, but the Email said, "Your expert point total in the .NET Zone is 2,000 points. Earn 48,000 more points, and you will become a Master in this zone!"  I'm not trying to get points in the .NET Zone, but in the Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet Software Zone.  Are points allocated to all zones marked for a question or just the first zone listed?

I'm just full of comments tonight.  I noticed that we have 1111 questions in our queue with the oldest being from 06.15.2007.  Do we need someone to go back and start working through the queue to clean it up?  I remember some time before that Jeroen (http:M_1237087.html) was the Cleanup Volunteer.  Are there still Cleanup Volunteers?  It would be nice to get the queue back down to 100 where it used to be.

Jaes,

You get points in each of the zones a question is posted in, but the points will only be added to your overall total once.

The emails only list the primary zone (the first one), which causes a lot of confusion.

Wayne

Wayne:

That's what I thought it was doing and perhaps even how I remembered it, but you are correct.  The Emails are confusing.

Thanks!

Jaes

Jaes

They introduced cleanup as an integral part of the ee site a few months back and things haven't looked forward since!  The capability has been down since Christmas and still isn't back up which won't be helping.

Chris

N:

When did Eric take an interest in the Excel Zone Expert Discussion?  I know I offered in the past, but that was when Jeroen used to do it.  I wonder if anniemod will remember me.  I'll send an E-mail to her.

Jaes

I don't drink...anything...but I do have a bag of this if anyone is interested: http://www.hotsauceworld.com/wafuupco1l.html. (Thank you Jim for reminding me.)

I don't do question cleanup. I'm too busy cleaning up after Eric.

I am listening to why the Excel Gods have gone and done ... er, never mind, I want to stay an MVP...my NDA does allow me to talk about these new features however (from Jayem Nolan via Patrick Matthews):

   http://www.zorvek.com/junk/office-2009-is-here.htm

Saurabh has the fever and isn't much use to anyone these days. Certainly not punctuation lessons. I have heard that he has a supply of Chinese knockoff iPhones for sale if anyone is interested.

I have it on good authority that Barry's name is a ruse. Both fist and last.

We now know that Rory can and will drink any of us including Nate Oliver under table.

Jim Everest made it to the Summit. He's pretty cool. I had him in tears - literally - when I showed him the Daryl Fong posts.

It's not Excel...it's not even Experts Exchange...but Eric shared this with me the other day and it's a must read:

   http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistahardware/thread/720108ee-0a9c-4090-b62d-bbd5cb1a7605

Eric posts here because he is lonely and misses me. Rumor has it he lurks here for potential moderators because we are so amazing and our zone is so well run...but I have yet to see any evidence that that is true - the moderator part, not the zone being well run part.

Eric,

Knowing Kevin a little, I would have to guess that the Everest / Summit connection was *not* a misspelling... :^P

Kevin,

I'm not taking Nate on at drinking - he has a reputation... ;)

Rory

Yes, he does...three beers, outside for a smoke, three beers, outside for a smoke, three...

I like the way Rory thinks. Or I can blame my overzealous spelling checker. Remember the Harris incident?

   http:Q_21447334.html

Eric likes to think he can do things. He liked to think he could answer questions without ever getting a certification. Oops.

Kevin:

And now we know what happened to Harris.  Knowing him well, I nearly fell out of my chair after reading that one!

Jaes

"I have it on good authority that Barry's name is a ruse. Both fist and last"

Hey, Kevin, I never really expected anybody to believe that "barry houdini" wasn't a pseudonym. The idea was to take the magic of houdini and combine it with something banal, a bit like "Reg Presley".

I certainly wasn't going to use my real name - my boss wouldn't have been too impressed....

I've been barry for 4 years and it almost feels real now, I almost signed a cheque that way last week.........

regards, barry

EVERYone knows it's really Larry...

Barry:

I don't mind what your name is or if it is real or isn't.  I am just glad you are here.  I needed a fresh mind to learn new tricks!  I happened to learn some new things recently from Dave and Rory.

Dave - Don't be a pretend newbie trying to show him up with a simple solution or feel the wrath from Down Under!

Rory - No matter how much I think I know there is always an intricacy of something that I didn't.

Welcome!  Now go out there and show me something more I didn't know.

Kindest Regards,

Jaes

As in Leisure Suit?  Really?  Awesome!

> Dave - Don't be a pretend newbie trying to show him up with a simple solution or feel the wrath from Down Under!

I was in the UK at the time

Far less grumpy now that I am back in Aus. Well thats my line anyhow

>...I am back in Aus

Somewhat earlier than expected. Extractive industries must be feeling the pinch at the moment. Perhaps they could no longer afford your expensive lifestyle in the UK...

Regards

Patrick

It just shows that one has to prove themselves in this forum of knowledge before they make the cut.  No Worries!

"EVERYone knows it's really Larry..."

Rory, somebody started a rumour to that effect.......oh, yeah, it was me.

My real name, of course, is barry potter, and I have a lightning shaped scar on my forehead.

Jaes, I do have a mind, but nobody has described it as "fresh" for some time now....what was your previous "incarnation" at EE?

barry/larry

Garry,
He used to be LoNeRaVeR9. Now he prefers to rave in company... :)

Barry:

I am still ranked in the top 20 in the EE Excel TA.  I was formerly LoNeRaVeR9.  I registered in 2006, answered a few questions and then forgot about the site.  I stumbled upon the site again in 2007 and started answering questions.  I made it up into the top 10 for the year and top 15 of all time.  Life happened and I took a year off.  When I returned last week I decided to start over with a new name that was more related to my skills, that was in lower-case like most the Experts here, that was easier to type and finally that matched my web site that is still under development.

Kindest Regards,

Jaes

I began working on this question http:Q_24191472.html, but it looks like a job for RegEx instead of VBA text manipulation.  Anyone want to take a stab at it?

Ladies and Gents,

We have a new expert: Bob Umlas, author of "This Isn't Excel, It's Magic!". He's a Microsoft Excel MVP.

   http:Q_24206555.html

Kevin

>Somewhat earlier than expected. Extractive industries must be feeling the pinch at the moment. Perhaps they could no longer afford your expensive lifestyle in the UK...

That's an understatement Patrick - the extractive industries bit that is.         I had a work trip to Aus coming up, so rather than travel, come back to London and then relocate at the end of March, we packed up and headed off within a couple of days. London was a great experience, but it's also great to be home, and drinking decent coffee again :)

> I began working on this question http:Q_24191472.html, but it looks like a job for RegEx instead of VBA text manipulation.  Anyone want to take a stab at it?

I'll take a look Jaes

and finally

>We have a new expert: Bob Umlas, author of "This Isn't Excel, It's Magic!". He's a Microsoft Excel MVP.

Welcome aboard Bob. :)

Cheers

Dave

Bob doesn't know about this thread...yet.

Gang,

Richard Schollar, another MVP, has started playing in our sandbox: http://www.experts-exchange.com/M_4822326.html

Let's give him and Bob a nice welcome :)

Note to Dave: are you in the vicinity of Sydney?  I'm arriving Tuesday morning and staying through Friday afternoon,
so a pint after work would be great :)

Patrick

Patrick,

I had forgotten that you were coming over :)

Nope, I'm Melbourne based ...... I don't suppose that there is any prospect of you having business down this way as well? Unfortunately it's not a good week for me workwise, else I'd use up some frequent flyer points and nick up to Sydney.

Cheers

Dave

Hi Guys

Great to be here :)

Richard

Let's see how you feel after a few bruising bouts of points competition! ;-)

Kevin

There goes the neighbourhood... ;)
Welcome, Richard - when can I have my DVD drive back? :)
Rory

I didn't think you were worried about the drive? Anyway - it's listed on eBay at the moment, so bid your heart out and you can pick it up in the week ;-)

I thought that item looked familiar! Carry on - if you make any decent money, we'll split it...

Kevin, Patrick (M) and Brad,

Greg (Truby) has just shared with me your messages of congratulations and , erm, 'support' from the Summit. Thanks! Rest assured I will endeavour to "get my drunk, Limey ass" to the next Summit, on the slim chance I get reawarded! :)

Rory

:-)

Hi All,

For those of you that like Regular Expressions, I have just posted this question:

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Office_Productivity/Office_Suites/MS_Office/Excel/Q_24215423.html

Patrick

An idea proposed for volunteer monetary compensation for answers that save time and money.

http:Q_24210919.html#a23855954

Comments?

Cash for answers...

It's a nice idea but that would mean that EE would need to keep our accounts unless they handed it over to say PayPal or a similar organisation. It would certainly be multi-currency. Not sure of the legal implications.

Might pose a problem for employers who allow their employees to use EE during working hours. I think as an employer I'd ban EE as people would be tempted to concentrate on that as a beer-money earner rather than doing their own job. Mind you I could do with a bit of beer money!

A slight twist would be to allow the recipients to direct their ill-gotten gains towards a charity they had previously named in their profile.

Patrick

While I would be fine with EE adding that functionality I can't see this generating much cashflow. I'm indifferent to this on a philosopical basis, as I don't think it would change the way that EE functions

Over the 3 or so years that my Duplicate Master addin was hosted at my web-site I had around 14,000 downloads (a number of which would have been repeats). The 'Donate Now' button was clicked around 20 times, Bob Phillips told me that he considered that a high donation rate

If people have serious queries then they will go to Rentacoder, which the possible exception of a need-it-now hail mary question here.

Duplicate Master...
1:700 is a much lower response rate than achieved through mailshots - they often achieve 1% success rate - so I'm told. Mind you I reckon that's wishful thinking...so perhaps 1:700 isn't too bad but I reckon your stomach would be touching your backbone by now if you had to rely on it as a source of income.

If Dave were relying on it as a source of income he would not have made it shareware ;-)

With regard to the "donations", if someone wants to give me $10, great, especially if the per unit cost is zero. It's better than nothing for a few minutes work that I have decided to do anyway. Employers are not going to notice. They are much more concerned about the amount of time spent not doing the job. Smart employers will realize that, as long as the expected results are produced, being involved in a community that overlaps the employee's job responsibilities is a net positive.

I have no problem handing over my PayPal or other account information. I have a greater chance of being killed on the street than having my account information misused. It happens. It's a risk. The man knows everything about me anyway. Big f*#king deal. We all need to elect responsible and conscientious government officials that will properly mind the store while we get a life and chill a little.

Have a nice day.

:-)

Dear Oh dear, someone's got out the wrong side of the bed today.

>If Dave were relying on it as a source of income he would not have made it shareware ;-)

Pretty self-evidently so...

>They are much more concerned about the amount of time spent not doing the job. Smart employers will realize that, as long as the expected results are produced, being involved in a community that overlaps the employee's job responsibilities is a net positive.

I'm afraid that not all employers view things like that.

>I have no problem handing over my PayPal or other account information. etc

That was not the point. The point is that EE would need to add overhead to the management of that aspect if was added. Perhaps it's not a great addition but in what way would benefit them. Not a lot would be my guess.

Cheer up Kevin, it'll soon be Friday.

Patrick

>I'm afraid that not all employers view things like that.

Are you suggesting that there is an employer out there that will flip from approval to disapproval if they knew their employee was getting a small donation every blue moon for answering a whole lot of questions? Hmmm...

>The point is that EE would need to add overhead to the management of that aspect if was added.

Word has it they are looking into doing a few different things to facilitate monetary payments to Experts and, if they do, they will be taking some of it. Sounds like a sound business model to me. Especially considering the extremely low ongoing overhead for running such a model within a larger preexisting space.

>Cheer up Kevin, it'll soon be Friday.

I'm OK. Cynical today, but OK.

Calm down - it's all taken far too seriously. I'm not going to respond further as the subject doesn't merit it.

Guys, guys, guys...  I didn't mean to cause a quarrel.  I just found it interesting that a person asking a question saw the monetary benefit of my assistance.

I realize that my assistance to those outside of my company during work hours takes away from work I could be doing for my employer, but the net benefit regardless of any monetary compensation is that my skills get better with each question I read, answer and get trumped by the likes of Barry.  If it weren't for Brad and Kevin providing better answers in my past, and Dave and Barry answering questions better in my present, I wouldn't continue to learn.  The more I learn, the more I am able to not only help those outside, but also those within my company.  That makes me more valuable both to my current employer and any potential employers.  It seems like a win-win on all fronts.

An extra ten-spot here and there would be nice, but I am here for the learning experence, the knowledge I gain for use elsewhere and for some recognition from my peers as an expert in Excel.  These are the reasons I returned and continue to participate.  Well, that and I really like you guys!

Jaes,
All of us get trumped by barryhoudini.
Brad

> but I am here for the learning experence

I have to say that I do like the new t-shirts ...... :)

Did you get one with the "XPRT" fist? It's bad!

Eric, was that your intended link or I am missing something?

> Did you get one with the "XPRT" fist? It's bad!

No .... a fisting expert shirt is a little too out ther for me.

If there's a ZAPE around, could they reopen this Q: http://Q_24226951.html please?

Rory - That link doesn't work for me - Patrick

Me neither! I'll stick to the Luddite version from now on: http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Office_Productivity/Office_Suites/MS_Office/Excel/Q_24226951.html

Don't use the slashes: http:Q_24226951.html

The question has been re-opened.

Kevin

It seems the OP in the thread I referenced has misunderstood and opened a new question referencing the old one! http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Office_Productivity/Office_Suites/MS_Office/Excel/Q_24227952.html

Cheers, Kevin. Can you delete the other one too?

Done.

Thank you kindly. :)

Have a good weekend.

There are nifty improvements coming down the pike for the question asking wizard. I've gotten good feedback from Patrick M, and would now appreciate comments from the other Excel Regulars on the italicized text below before I pass it on to EE for implementation.

One change will be text that helps Askers find the right zone to ask their question in. Done properly, we should get many fewer VBA questions in VB Script or Visual Basic zones. Here's my proposal for the Excel zone:

The only thing I can think of to add might be something like:

"If posting a workbook with a macro error, please specify the steps you take to produce the error."

 Brad,

Instead of this:

When asking an Excel question, please describe the issue in the title. It is essential to know which Excel version you use; instructions are much different for Excel 2007 than earlier versions, for example.

You might like to consider adopting this:

When asking an Excel question, please describe the issue in the title. It is essential to know which Excel version you use; this can change the answer you are given as instructions can be significantly different for Excel 2007 when compared to earlier versions.

Patrick

Patrick & Rory,
I've changed the text in the original comment to reflect your suggestions.

Thanks!

Brad

Brad,

Is there some way in which the title or the tags of a question could be parsed so that it suggested to the questioner the zones the question should be placed? Then giving the questioner the option to amend the question title or to change the zone.

I assumed that if one is asking a question from say the Excel zone that it would automatically place the question in that zone. It appears not to do that - personal experience of that yesterday. Unfortunately is was even worse than that, as it would not allow me to delete the inappropriate zones. In the event all was OK but was not as clean a process as it could have been.

Patrick

Patrick,
The new question wizard already looks at the title and suggests zones accordingly. The ZAPEs were asked to build a list of keywords for their zones several months back. I picked over 30 keywords to lead the wizard to suggest Excel as a zone. These lists replaced the ones that were chosen by analysis of the PAQ database. Some of the new keywords are uniquely associated with Excel. For those that are shared with other zones, the more of them that you use in the title, the more likely Excel will be suggested as the right zone.

The point of the first bit of text is to provide feedback when an Asker hovers the cursor over the name of the zone. The second bit (instructions for what information to include in the body of the question) would then appear after a primary zone had been chosen.

Brad

Text revised per Netminder's suggestion:

One change will be text that helps Askers find the right zone to ask their question in. Done properly, we should get many fewer VBA questions in VB Script or Visual Basic zones. Here's my proposal for the Excel zone:

Looks good to me.

And here I am...

Most excellent work. Eric is correct that Askers will not read anything unless they want to or it is so in their face and so brief that they have no choice. Also note that while this idea has been promoted a few times over the past year, it was only this past week that it received any serious attention from Experts Exchange as they happen to be currently revamping the question wizard. But the wizard is still in a state of flux and I am doubtful that we will see the description and instructions displayed any time soon...but I am hopeful because the potential impact in content quality is significant and I think they got that message this time.

The biggest hurdle to implementing a zone description and zone specific instructions will be getting them written for the majority of the over 900 zones. I believe that we have convinced Experts Exchange to add these fields to the same page on which the zone keywords are edited. Once we have this feature and a good number of zones are defined, then it will be much easier to push for the change to the wizard.

The other problematic feature of the question wizard is the zone suggestion function. The current function does not work. It is based on a complex function utilizing common search requests and results. We have been pushing for a rewrite based solely on the zone keywords versus existing content but the jury is still out on this one. They have a proposal that works much better than the current function but they are cautious and are testing a variety of ideas.

The current proposal for the instructions is to show generic instructions if no primary zone has been identified or the primary zone does not yet have instructions, and to show an abbreviated version of the zone's instructions for a second and third selected zone. The zone description will display in a popup when the mouse is moved over a zone in any zone selector or list.

That said, I have tweaked the description (removed "user interface") and added two commas in the series:

The Excel zone fields questions on formulas, formatting, protection, and other worksheet topics. It also covers questions on macros, user-defined functions, and other VBA code used with Excel workbooks.

The primary instructions are transformed into bullets:

You are asking an Excel question:
-    Specify the version(s) of Excel being used.
-    Specify if formulas or macros/VBA code is preferred.
-    List any problematic formulas or code and point out any shortcomings, error messages, and/or the specific line of code that is failing.
-    Post a sample workbook if possible after replacing any confidential information with fake data.

The secondary instructions will not be read very often and will probably only be displayed when Excel is secondary to the main problem (can be just about any imaginable scenario.) They must be very brief to avoid distracting from the primary zone's instructions.

If your question involves Excel please indicate the version of Excel and whether you want formulas or macros/VBA code. Include your current formulas or code and succinctly describe any problems and error messages. Post a sample workbook if possible.

Also keep in mind that we are encouraging them to keep the current generic instructions but trimmed a bit as they currently contain some not so helpful statements like "There are no "dumb" questions".

This thread is approaching 75K so we'll be starting a new one shortly.

Could we add "so please:" before the primary bullet points?

Pretty please...or we might get angry and ask you annoying questions...or not even look at your question...

There are some subtle design issues such as how the instructions are presented (introduction text, formatting) and creating some consistency across all the zones. We're working on that too.

If you are using the same approach across the site, then I hope that you fix the agreement between subject and verb:
-    Specify if formulas or macros/VBA code are preferred.

I never promoted myself as a good typist, speller, or "grammaticatian." That's Eric's job. I was using the loose rule that you use the nearest noun, i.e., "VBA code" as the influencing element.

How about "Specify if a formula or a macro/VBA code is preferred."

I don't think that many other zones will be asking the formula versus code question.

:-)

I was actually thinking about that one and going to mention that idea but, since we have bigger fish to fry, I didn't want to confuse the issue and get anyone upset ;-)

We have you.

Could we add "so please:" before the primary bullet points?

To keep Rory happy, I made one more pass through the text.


Zone description to be displayed when considering which zone to assign a question to:

That looks very 'clean' and to the point.

Whilst I am delighted I got my way ( 8^P) I only actually posted that "so please" comment once so I'm not sure how it got repeated a day later!

First bullet:

I avoided "you use" because the problem may be on someone elses box or have to run on multiple boxes. How about:

- State all versions of Excel with which the solution will be used.

Second bullet: nicely done.

Third bullet:

This is nitty and the rule states it can go either way but I prefer a second comma in lists of three, especially if the last subject is at all complex:

- List the formulas or code you tried, and point out any shortcomings, error messages, and the specific line of code that fails.

Fourth bullet: The reference to the "half page of data" is so subjective I don't think it adds much value and I can't recall any instances of not enough data. Additionally, most askers will be smart enough to realize we won't need all 50,000 records converted to fake data. And splitting the sentence with ", but do replace" versus "after replacing" makes it a little choppy and not as demanding (and we do want to be demanding, right?) How about:

- Post a sample workbook if possible, but only after replacing any confidential information with enough fake data to solve the problem.

With my comments above in mind, tweaks to the short instructions:

If your question involves Excel, please state all versions of Excel with which the solution will be used and whether you want formulas or macros as the solution. Include your current formulas/code and briefly describe any problems and error messages. Post a sample workbook if possible.

Brad,

This is very well written, good job

Even a frantic, time poor, caffeine-pumped user with the attention span of a goldfish - ie the average net user -should be able to quickly digest, and then apply the succinct but meaty advice above

Cheers

Dave

Dave,
Thanks!

I aimed the instructions at the neophyte with a problem to solve rather than a help desk person. The latter likely already knows what we need and would provide it without asking. It's the neophytes who ask most of the questions without specifying Excel version, claim that their macro "doesn't work", and offer a paragraph describing results without ever offering any data to manipulate.

Brad

I'm always intrigued by the people who provide pictures or word documents containing their code rather than a workbook! :)

>I'm always intrigued by the people who provide pictures or word documents containing their code rather than a workbook! :) :)

You mean like this - seems OK to me...:)

Yeah, like that - MUCH easier to debug as a pic! :)

I loved this question title here

"Word 2007 - Speel checker and Grammer undo"

It's obviously a pretty important feature for this fellow ;-)

Is anyone else having issues with the mobile site? Keeps telling me that I've "found a page that can't be found"!!

Hi Eric,
I was on an iPhone. Seemed to be OK about an hour ago when I typed the mobile address in manually.
Rory

Hi

You could use a SUMPRODUCT like the following:

=SUMPRODUCT(--($B$2:$B$11="Aaron"),--($A$2:$A$11<>"x"))

Here, the "Aaron" and "x" could be cell references holding these values.
Richard

Blast! That'll teach me to have two browser windows open at the same time :-(