What's the MOST important thing to include?

1) Helpful advice on the problem / situation.

2) Flame them for not searching.

3) Explain how they broke the law / committed a moral sin and it is their own fault.

Just curious

 

Banishment

 

 

Should that be one of the options???

 

Or is my poll inappropriate?

 

well you should have used the feedback forum...so directing the right forums seems to be important right now (or even general maxima discussion)

 

Well, I only use this forum and was speaking to the people specifically in here. Good point though.

 

I was only kidding even though it did make sense.

My theories are correct, if you don't add in a smiley, people on this board can't tell if you are joking or serious.

 

Exactly!!!

 

what you should do is .....see what the general consensus is.....then jump on the f*cking bandwagon...


no no no...the correct answer is...be as helpful as you can possibly
be but if you can't offer any words of wisdom, post up anyway to increase your post count.

 

That's how it works on Maxima.org.

 

Part of your problem is the obvious bias that underlies your possible responses, spta97. I don't FLAME people for not using the search function, but I aggressively encourage them to use it.

Org members who attempt to be helpful by posting answers to questions that have been asked and answered a thousand times do neither themselves nor their constituencies a service. And they waste org bandwidth and resources in the process. The correct answer to popular questions that have been asked repeatedly is to direct people to the FAQs and the search function. Org members who don't do that and have no new information to contribute to the dialog are only interested in aggrandizing themselves.

 

I actually added the "Tell them to search" as an after thought because I figured the majority of replies would have said that.

I don't have "A Problem", I was just seeing what people's opinions were. I've only been on the board for a month (active month ) but I see time and time again how poor people (including myself) get flamed for not doing the same thing as other board members would have done in that situation.

I agree with you that it clogs bandwidth to answer a question a million times, but I think it is even worse when people say "slow down" or "what do you expect" when the post is clearly not asking for their views but rather advice. I just seems like a lot of people (by no means all) would prefer to flame someone for their mistake rather than help out. I would rather help than say "I told you so".

 

No doubt about it, spta97. This is a public forum. And just like any other cross section of the public, we have our fair share of a$$holes around here.

I don't believe in flaming people who are new to the forum and who have not yet been directed to the tools this forum makes available for researching answers to commonly asked questions. But some people are just too damn lazy to do their own homework. In my opinion, those are the people that deserve a visit from the Official Thread Killer Crew.

 

i hate search *****!
Take the time to flame you but they cant help u...
takes longer to flame...

 

I hate people who hate search *****!
Think they have all the answers and know more than the combined wisdom of this entire community...
Think that telling people to use the search function does them more harm than good...
Encourage people to behave as they do and ignore the tools this forum makes available to them.

 

I hate people that hate people that hate search *****. They are no more than trolls.

How hard is it to keep it to yourself or help out? If you truly want to show the one seeking answer the "way of the search", use it and post a link to info that he/she seeks. "Show" that person how useful the search feature is.

I hate it when I perform a search for a topic and click on it just to see trolls telling people to use the search.

Yeah...I'm somewhat on the war path...bad day at work...

 

Nifty little dialog we have going here.

No doubt about it. There's plenty of garbage in the searches. But by using the search function, you can take sift through the garbage without wasting everyone else's time until you get to the good stuff. Otherwise, you may end up relying on the garbage you get in the new posts. And believe me, there's plenty of that to go around.

OK, let's cut to the chase. The vast majority of really useful information is locked up in the FAQs and in threads that have been posted by those who are tired of repeating themselves over and over again. You want the really good stuff? Do your homework. Otherwise, you deserve exactly what you get.

 

True, the FAQ is a very good source of info. You should definitely point towards it and inform the person seeking info in there first and then try a search.

If he doesn't want to do his homework and no one steps forward to give an answer, fine...he deserves it

But the truth of the matter is that most users asking for info that has been repeated over and over again are new to the org or don't visit it as often. I just think it's rude for someone new to receive such a rude reply when all they really need is a little info. If you must inform him to use the FAQ or the search feature, please do it in a civil way.

Be civil to all; sociable to many; familiar with few; friend to one; enemy to none.
--Benjamin Franklin

 

Agreed, Green_2. Using the FAQs and the search function is not intuitive. And slamming a newcomer who doesn't know how to use them IS rude. But it's a different story for those who have been around awhile and don't use the FAQs or the search function out of laziness or because they want to increase their status on the org. That's where I take exception.

Once upon a time, Jamie put up a banner that asked people to use the search function before posting questions. That banner was removed a long time ago, probably to make way for advertisements. But I, for one, regret its demise.