Please note that I'm posting this because it's interesting to me, not because of any problem in Nyx currently.
There are also Help Vampires in WoW. You know the type. The person who doesn't read the quest text or check any of the web sites like WoWhead.com or thottbot.com, but are quick to make ask for help with a quest in guild chat, and immediately asks for reinforcements from guildies after getting ganked. They can frequently be heard asking for runs through instances (for gear, quests, XP, etc.) instead of looking for groups at thier own level. Of course everybody needs to ask for help in guild chat from time to time so it's easy for Help Vampires to blend in. On the surface they seem harmless enough, but they end up sucking the life out of well meaning people that are inclined to help out others. The danger for a guild is that in the long run Help Vampires can burn out enough people that the guild becomes unhelpful. I have had experience with Help Vampires in a previous guild and it wasn't pretty.
The signs of a Help Vampire in WoW are similar to the ones listed in the blog.
Identifying Help Vampires can be tricky, because they look like any ordinary person (or internet user, whichever is lesser). But by closely observing an individual's behavior using this handy checklist, you too can identify Help Vampires in the field:
* Does he ask the same, tired questions others ask (at a rate of once or more per minute)?
* Does he clearly lack the ability or inclination to ask the almighty Google?
* Does he refuse to take the time to ask coherent, specific questions?
* Does he think helping him must be the high point of your day?
* Does he get offensive, as if you need to prove to him why he should use Ruby on Rails?
* Is he obviously just waiting for some poor, well-intentioned person to do all his thinking for him?
* Can you tell he really isn't interested in having his question answered, so much as getting someone else to do his work?
Note that I use 'he' here in the general sense even though Help Vampires are almost exclusively male. It appears that male Help Vampire, drawn as it is to shiny technology, occupies an evolutionary niche that females of the species simply do not find desirable.
Another key indicator for Help Vampires is the clearly stated but "impossible" question. These questions look reasonable on the surface, but in fact they are impossible to answer for a number of reasons. These questions include, for example, "How do I build a forum?" or "How can I make a chat site?" Their purpose is threefold:
* First, to identify a victim foolish enough to attempt to answer the impossible question
* Second, to distract the victim long enough to separate him from his fellows; and
* Lastly, to befuddle the victim's brain while their soul is being removed through the abdominal cavity by way of a standard-issue Bendy Straw.
This is autonomous behavior. Again, we shouldn't hate the Help Vampire. Or stake them. They know not what they do, only that they are driven to do it, and I believe they can be saved.
In WoW, the 'impossible question' is more likely to come in the form of 'how can I level?' or 'what profession should I learn?' or some other very vague question.
One point in her blog that I think is worth emphasizing is this:
... we shouldn't hate the Help Vampire. Or stake them. They know not what they do, only that they are driven to do it, and I believe they can be saved.
She goes on with suggestions on how those that enable Help Vampire behavior can encourage them to help themselves like referring them to Google, web sites, and other resources for self help. She has many more suggestions too. While her focus is specifically for people that need technical assistance, everything she lists has corresponding actions that can be done in the context of WoW.
If we discover we have a Help Vampire in our midst, hopefully we will be prepared to help them reform their vamperic ways.
