Don’t use #SQLHelp to promote your blog. Congratulations on writing an informative post, and we’re sure it’s got some useful information in it, but the #SQLHelp hash tag is for people who are asking questions.  Unless your blog post was written to answer a question currently live on #SQLHelp, please refrain from tweeting about your blog.

Do answer a #SQLHelp question with a product if that’s the solution. Vendors build products to solve pain points, and sometimes those pain points surface as #SQLHelp questions.  If the answer is a product – whether it’s a free one or a paid one – then feel free to mention it and provide a link.  If you’ve got personal experience with the product, that’s even better.  If you’re a vendor, you might wanna disclose that in your tweet.

Don’t demo #SQLHelp at conferences by saying, “Say hello, #SQLHelp!” Immediately, dozens of users around the world will reply to you, and the #SQLHelp hash tag will become unusable for half an hour or more.  Rather than saying Hello World, ask the audience to give you a question, and then post that question on #SQLHelp.

Do suggest that long discussions move to a Q&A web site. Sometimes questions need a lot more detail than we can get in 140 characters.  If you notice a discussion turning into a long back-and-forth conversation, helpfully suggest that the questioner read my tips on writing a good question and then create a post on whatever site you prefer.

• StackOverflow.com for T-SQL programming questions
• ServerFault.com for systems administration questions
• DBA.StackExchange.com for DBA-specific questions that might need cross-platform expertise
• SQLServerCentral.com for general SQL Server stuff

Don’t post jobs to #SQLHelp. Use the #SQLJobs hash tag instead.

Do thank people who give you #SQLHelp. This is a group of volunteers who love to lend a helping hand.  It’s like getting consulting help for free around the clock.  High five ‘em if they helped you get through your day easier.

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Upcoming free webcasts: SQL and SSDs: A Valentine's Day Love Story and Anatomy of the SQL Server Log File.

Brent Ozar

Brent specializes in performance tuning for SQL Server, VMware, and storage. He's one of the very few Microsoft Certified Masters of SQL Server, a published author, and a Microsoft MVP. He likes travel, Jeeps, Apple gear, jokes, and writing about himself in the third person. Read more and contact Brent.

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These days, I love watching questions – and answers – trickle through #SQLHelp at all hours of the day.  It’s just another example of how the SQL Server community is vibrant, helpful, and everywhere.

If you’re on Twitter, join me in thanking @SQLVariant not just for #SQLHelp, but for everything he does for the SQL Server, PowerShell, and SQLSaturday communities.

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Upcoming free webcasts: SQL and SSDs: A Valentine's Day Love Story and Anatomy of the SQL Server Log File.

Brent Ozar

Brent specializes in performance tuning for SQL Server, VMware, and storage. He's one of the very few Microsoft Certified Masters of SQL Server, a published author, and a Microsoft MVP. He likes travel, Jeeps, Apple gear, jokes, and writing about himself in the third person. Read more and contact Brent.

Website - Twitter - Facebook - More Posts

No, not Radio Shack – Twitter.  Right now, no matter when you’re reading this, there are people on Twitter who can answer quick questions for you.  Thanks to an excellent idea by Aaron Nelson (Blog – @SQLVariant), it’s even easier now.  In this post, I’ll show how to ask questions and how to answer them.

How to Ask #SQLHelp Questions

Sign up for a Twitter account.  You don’t have to follow anyone, but if you want to, I’d suggest following my SQL Server Twitter list instead of individual people.  I’ve got a post on how to use Twitter lists, but in a nutshell, they let you keep in touch with a lot of people who focus on a particular topic.  The cool part is that their tweets don’t clutter up your main Twitter page, which is important because there’s several hundred SQL Server folks on Twitter as of this writing.

When you need help, write a tweet and include #SQLHelp in the tweet, like this:

Asking a #SQLHelp Question

If your question involves more than 140 characters, you’ve got a few options:

• Post a question to StackOverflow if it’s a programming question, to ServerFault if it’s an infrastructure question, or DBA.StackExchange.com if it’s a SQL question.  Tweet the link to your question.
• Upload screenshots to TwitPic.  It’s a free service that tweets the images you upload.  When you write the description, make sure to include #SQLHelp so that the smart folks see it.
• Upload files to FileDropper.com and tweet the link to the file.  Remember that anything you upload is public – don’t upload your databases.  It’s a great way to show query execution plans though.

After you click Update to post your question, click on the @YourName link on the right side of your Twitter home page.  For me, it says @BrentO, because that’s my Twitter name.  This page is your replies page – it shows anyone who’s mentioned your name.  Then sit tight – as people reply to you, you’ll see the new tweets on this page.

When you reply back to users, the default Twitter action is to put their @Name at the beginning of the tweet.  Edit the tweet first and put a period and a space before their name, like this:

Public Replies on Twitter

This is because if you just start the tweet with @Mike_Walsh, then the only people who will see it are the folks who follow both you and Mike.  If you start the tweet with anything other than an @ sign, then anyone who follows you will see your reply – regardless of whether or not they’re following Mike.

Don’t include the #SQLHelp tag in the reply, either.  That just helps keep the #SQLHelp search cleaner.

When you get your final answer, post it a thank-you back to #SQLHelp, like this:

Got My #SQLHelp Answer

That way people know when your question is answered.  If your question hasn’t been answered within an hour, you can repeat it again, but please don’t repeat it in less than an hour.

How to Answer #SQLHelp Questions

Set up a search in your Twitter client for #SQLHelp, or use one of these alternate methods:

• Search.Twitter.com results for #SQLHelp
• RSS Feed for #SQLHelp tweets
• Sit next to Paul Randal and wait for him to start typing excitedly

As you’re interacting with the questioner, remember that they’re probably new to Twitter, and that you’re probably not the only one working with them.  I open up two web pages – Search.Twitter.com with a search for the questioner’s username (so I can see who’s replying to them) and the questioner’s Twitter page (so I can see everything they respond back).  That way you can keep duplicate interactions to a minimum.

Thanks again to Aaron Nelson (Blog – @SQLVariant) for suggesting this!  I think it’s a great way for the community to get even more involved in real time.

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Upcoming free webcasts: SQL and SSDs: A Valentine's Day Love Story and Anatomy of the SQL Server Log File.

Brent Ozar

Brent specializes in performance tuning for SQL Server, VMware, and storage. He's one of the very few Microsoft Certified Masters of SQL Server, a published author, and a Microsoft MVP. He likes travel, Jeeps, Apple gear, jokes, and writing about himself in the third person. Read more and contact Brent.

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I use Tweet-SQL to cache and analyze a lot of things from Twitter.  This database isn’t the actual one I use, but it’s just an export of a subset of tables:

• Users – the tweeps.  The “id” field is Twitter’s internal number for you, not my own – comes from their API.  The cached_* and subscription_* fields are my own, not Twitter’s.
• UsersHistory – whenever I fetch results from the Twitter API and someone’s information has changed, I store the old version of their profile in this table.  Typically, the field that’s changing is their followers_count.  The “id” field is my own identity number, not from Twitter’s API.
• Statuses – the tweets (and yes, Twitter calls them Statuses).  The “id” field is from Twitter’s API.

Sample Queries

This will give you the most loudmouthed tweeps:

SELECT s.user_id, u.screen_name, COUNT(*) AS tweets
FROM dbo.Statuses s
INNER JOIN dbo.Users u ON s.user_id = u.id
GROUP BY s.user_id, u.screen_name
ORDER BY COUNT(*) DESC

Resulting in:

Top 10 Loudmouths

And this query gives you the hours when people tweet the most (in Central time):

SELECT DATEPART(hh, created_at) AS TweetHour, COUNT(*) AS RECS
FROM dbo.Statuses
GROUP BY DATEPART(hh, created_at)
ORDER BY COUNT(*) DESC

Resulting in:

Lively Times of Day

Things to Know About the Data

There’s some holes in the data when my server bombed or the Twitter API didn’t return data correctly, and unfortunately, a lot of those holes are around the PASS Summit.  I wanted to refetch that data before giving you this database, but I’m running out of time and I’ve got other things on my plate, so I figured I’d just let this loose as is.

The database doesn’t include people with protected tweets, and it only includes things I’d see on my home page.  If someone mentioned me but I’m not following them, you won’t see it in this database export.

You can download the SQL Server database backup and restore it onto a SQL 2005 (or newer) server.  If you find anything interesting in the backup, post it here in the comments.  I’d love to see what you find!  And of course, I’d highly recommend Tweet-SQL – it’s a fun little tool if you’d like to analyze Twitter data like who’s following who, who gets retweeted the most, or what you’re missing when you’re gone.

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Upcoming free webcasts: SQL and SSDs: A Valentine's Day Love Story and Anatomy of the SQL Server Log File.

Brent Ozar

Brent specializes in performance tuning for SQL Server, VMware, and storage. He's one of the very few Microsoft Certified Masters of SQL Server, a published author, and a Microsoft MVP. He likes travel, Jeeps, Apple gear, jokes, and writing about himself in the third person. Read more and contact Brent.

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