Originally Posted by Pill
It may be true that people can find answers to their questions that way, Ratach, but it's ALSO true that this is not just a FAQ, it's a FORUM. It should be a place for dialogue, not for monologues that users read silently.
Both of you have valid positions on the matter. I try for a happy medium. Over the years there has been much discussion on the very popular concerns that people can research and find answers to quicker than by waiting for someone somewhere in the world to reply to often hours later. This is point one.
Point two is that the site provides two search engines that new users especially do not use.
Point three is more often than not complete answers require time and effort to prepare and type. My observation over the years has been that a person desiring to reply gets only one shot more often than not. Very few original posters respond back with additional information when asked, so I choose to give long-winded responses that often times provide background information.
Point four has to do with bandwidth, resource storage, and, clutter. This got out of hand a couple of years ago with one topic: The size of my penis is X, is this normal. My responses evolved into a Sticky post that I keep referring to because it became tiring, annoying, and required much of my time to essentially peat and repeat the information over and over thus reducing resources, adding clutter, and increasing the time it took for the original poster to receive an answer.
Brandye, EvilEvilKitten, and I, have authored many articles in the hope that we can provide needed information in a timely manner. In order to make these articles easier to find I began compiling links for those of a non-medical nature into what has now become a two page Index.
There should be discussion, not only for the purpose of answering questions, but for the purpose of making people comfortable here.
I frequently try to make new users feel at ease by welcoming each and sometimes closing my replies with the following: "I hope this is of help. Got questions?"
I think it's obvious from the abundance of such questions that most people come here hoping for people to actually talk to them in response, and I think it's worth expending a few seconds of our time to answer them personally and make them feel WELCOME, which is what I feel is lacking around here.
I agree that some replies are a bit curt, and I have been frustrated on occasion, also. Why? Partly do to the fact that we expect people to avail themselves of the resources already in place before posting. The site's administrators have revamped the look and feel of the forums a couple of times recently in order to make navigation easier, yet, all too often people jump right in without even seeing the blue navigation bar at the top of the screen or spending time to learn how to best utilize the forums and home page information--or even realizing that there is this entire other section to the facility.
I welcome discussions as do many others as evidenced by the length of some threads. I believe discussions for common concerns in particular should begin after the o/p has done some "homework", first.
What makes a forum a useful place isn't just the availability of information, but the helpfulness of the forum's denizens.
Many of the people who come here and ask such questions are teenagers.
YES, teenagers will ask repetitive questions that they could find the answers to elsewhere.
YES, teenagers will not read carefully sometimes.
YES, teenagers will sometimes act or speak in an immature fashion. They're TEENAGERS.
Those same young people are also among the most likely to be scared off by unwelcoming replies to their questions! I recently saw that a longtime member had told a 14 year old girl "you know next to nothing!"
I have to say that I simply do not agree that this is an appropriate way to respond to a question from a person who is probably insecure (aren't all teenagers?) and skittish. This may be part of why so few of these users post more than a few times.
Be patient, correct them GENTLY, and help them learn the things that they need to know. They are the people who need places like this forum the most.
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