Netiquette on this site

I think it is common courtesy to thank and ackknowledge those who submit replies and offer help.
Regards Cruiser

hi john and val
i hear what you are saying and yes your getting old and grumpy at times just like the rest of us ha ahaa ha ! lol
you have made a very valid assessment and comment and feel you should be acknowledged for it
i guess the admin staff could cut short some of the thread comments more often than they do where threads goes on and on just so certain ones can try to out do/and or have the last word as seems to be happening lately
bit like a boosey pub conversation ayh!
but as said by admin on numerous occasions they dont or can't read every thread and so it comes down to self restraint of the users and respect for others basicly
because yes i have stopped reading some of the threads for above reasons as it gets quiet boring when someone is grandstanding with over powering knowledge
but then isnt that just human nature to some people
hope i have made sense with my angle on this issue
cheers

I agree, a simple "thank you" or some acknowledgement of the help offered is only common courtesy.
The other thing I don't understand is why so many people give the same answer to a question, surely once is enough.

You're right - you're getting old and intolerant !



Cheers


Gazz

Hi John & Val,

As a non-member but a keen reader/learner and participant of the EO forum, I would agree with your sentiments above. (I'm also 'old'!!)

It's plain old common courtesy to respond or reply to a forum post or question that you have posted and it has been addressed by others on the forum, whether member or guests. Being polite never cost anything either but I have seen a lot of poor attitude and rudenessthi on so many other forums too, as well as here on the EO forum... unfortunately, there will always be those who have this 'bad attitude', be it this or any other forum - sad fact of life!!

I trust I am not included in the those rude non-members you speak of, John!!! LOL! ;)

Cheers,
Anne-Marie

I am only a recently new member to this great forum but I couldn't agree more John. Common courtesy is not so common any more. A quick thank you goes a long way. It would be a shame to have the tone of the forum lowered by just a few.
Its a bit like the one finger steering wheel wave when you meet a follow traveller on the road, a small gesture and it costs nothing!

Happy Travels Dave

Yep the forum has gone down big time in last couple of months.

Thank you for raising this. Without starting a moderation discussion lets just say that us Mods end up being labelled the bad guys when we moderate people for Personal Attack and Trolling. Moderation is meant to remove the rude exchange from view and give the poster a chance to reword their reply and send back to modsquad a rewrittern version but all we end up with is further abuse usually complaining we have singled them out or that we are unfair, or inconsistent etc. But the rules are there to encourage basic common curtesy and keep the rudeness out of the Forum. We can only act on posts that you alert us to so remember that please. As mazcan said - "it comes down to self restraint of the users and respect for others ".

I agree 3 things annoy me

Firstly the ones who wont use a screen name, as a while ago when we had two "name not found" asking similar questions.

Secondly those who ask for specific advice and then never acknowledge or post what the solution to the problem was.


If you have time to ask, you have time to respond.


Thirdly the threads that degenerate into chats between a few members (or not)

Sometimes completely off topic. A waste of the forums space.

Rant over

On John's behalf I wish to acknowledge and thank all the people that have contributed to his thread so far.

R.

Hi John & Val

Couldn't agree more, and also as is said above, some don't bother with google or a thread search.

The number of times I have replied to a question, referring the poster to your camping electricity blog is quite amazing, but rarely a 'thanks mate'. It also shows that they haven't bothered investigating the topic themselves.

I refuse to reply or offer advice to 'name not found' threads, if a person can't be bothered registering, well, they couldn't be too fair dinkum. I would have thought registering a screen name would have been mandatory before being allowed to post a thread.

Of course, my biggest hang up is the lack of the use of spell check. Most would know that I 'launched a campaign' to automatically have the spell checker start up, before a post could be submitted, and though we had a poll which 75% or so of the respondents agreed that this would be a good idea, nothing ever happened.

It makes one wonder why the word 'common', is in 'common sense', and common courtesy', when neither is 'common' any more.

Cheers, Dave

Thanks Rob for your wrapup!! and everyone else for comments. From this discussion I see emerging some unwritten principles. It's hard to write down unwritten principals, but from the above discussion I think they go like this:

1) Treat others with respect. You don't need to agree with them, but you should respect their opinion as you would hope they will respect yours. Treat them as well as you would like to be treated. This includes:

a) Don't be rude or offensive
b) Acknowledge and thank them for trying to help
c) Stick to the topic in the header - skirmishes on the sideline simply detract from the main event
d) Make sure your header is in fact what you want to talk about, so you don't waste other's time and patience in trying to respond.
e) Don't waste other's time and patience by engaging publicly in a private discussion.

2) Don't rely on the Modsquad to police breaches of the above. They perform a valued service in moderating excesses. We must ourselves manage our net behaviour.

Enough preaching for today!

Cheers

John

Just another point of view.

Sometimes I might say thanks in advance when posting in the first place and that depends on the post to a degree whether it is a simple thing or requires a detailed response.

I hate posts with several replies and then several followups saying the same thankyou to all the replies.

Sometimes people may say nothing nand then after the posts pretty much finish just thak everyone who replied.
This is my preferred one but must admit sometimes I have forgotten to go back and do this.

So it might be that people are not rude but mereley forgettful.

Most people on the forum that put posts up usually give replies to others so I think the gratitude is the feeling I get by giving back to the forum some usefull information rather than someone saying thankyou a hundred times.
Joy is the simplest form of gratitude and I get joy from giving.

David

I think placing your christian name at the bottom of posts would be nice!! A more personal touch to the forum. For some unknown reason, some dont feel the need to do so!!

Regards Michael.

Hi Guys,

All sorts of things can become a bit of a burr under your saddle, so to speak, if you let it. But life is a little short, well at this end it appears that way, so I think the ignorant ones are best left to their own devices.

I think the best approach is "Do your best and leave the rest to fortuousity" as the song goes.

Cheers all, Bruce.

Well said John. I don't pretend to be perfect, however it is worthwhile "trying" to be courteous and helpful when discussing topics. Maybe we should have a pre-submit button where you have to re-read your posting before submitting, thinking about what you are saying and what the receiver will interpret by your posting. :) (might need it right now LOL)

All in all, a worthwhile forum to gather information for getting out there. Thanks to the Mods for their voluntary efforts.

Andrew

Some of the threads touch on pretty contentious political and social subjects.
While people will disagree I think it is the adult thing to at least try to be polite and state your point of view as honestly as possible without deriding the other person for their beliefs.

There are a few members here who seem to think that anyone who disagrees with their point of view is a dangerous moron who should be insulted and ridiculed.

As for technical information a simple thank you reply should be common courtesy .

Note : Thanks to everyone who has offered help advice and suggestions to my questions :-)

Hi John,

Hope this finds you and your wife well.

No, I dont think you are getting old and intolerant, at 34 yrs old, I also find myself becoming more and more intolerant to certain situations.
Perhaps it may be that in my line of work, not a word of Thanks is ever offered and despite carrying those below me (keeping up their motivation) and trying very hard to please those above me, my intolerance comes from not a word of appreciation.
Our year around Aust later in the year is to gain once again our 'human spirit' by what you so often recieve in the country and also some quality time for ourselves. Perhaps working overseas for last 14 years, I am missing some Aussie hospitality.
Anyhow,
This is my second try to finish this reply, the first was cut short when my computer crashed. With perserverance and patience, I try again to add a few words from my point of view.
You and your wife have both contributed to my forum posts, both with positive response and also much appreciation from my behalf. As 'free' registered user, (soon to be full member upon returning home later in the year) I do note that there are 'paid' and 'unpaid' users. The full members have responded in a positive way to an unpaid member (myself) and note that it 'usually' doesnt matter to other forum posts that I also read avidly.
The forum postings, are a big help to us when planning and also for information gathering. I have contributed some small info for hopefully helping or educating others if at all possible, but have gained alot back in return.
I remain an avid reader of EO, usin the reply from a member of another thread, that EO is for those that want to explore Auste , and not 'car make/brand' threads which I enjoy. (we have a VW Kombi and hope to have a 'troopy' soon.
There are the old boys on here that offer infinite wisdom, those that are experienced in their specialised field and also then new ones like me that try to take as much information from those with more experience and knowledge than me.
I bypass the responses that do not benefit the thread and read on to those who have contributed to helping others.
Over time I have noted those members that are regular repliers of informative and helpful information or advice and those that do not contribute much but dribble.
I tend to bypass those as well.
Granted some replies do not warrant a reply to each and every individual thread, where a 'group thanks' is noted to a number of repliers under the same 'follow up' reply.
You can easily fill a thread page with repsonses back to each individual, though it takes nothing to say thanks to 'all' contributors by way of group response or even an personal thanks/follow up to the repliers who have taken the time to reply with a serious response of benefit.

I have always tried to repsond to each with my appreciation, and always ending my forum question with 'Thanks in Advance' and always tried to respond to each personal reply, even noting the name that they like to be referred to. Its a common courtesy John.
Unfortunately, a few small can ruin it for many others who are genuine.
I hope that it remains that those that do help and also that Want to help, continue to do so, despite a few who lack common decency.
My wife used to read EO with me, but got put off by what you have described and now calls it the 'old man whingers/bickering forum'.
The threads that have a lot of bickering between posters definitely tar it for the likes of my wife who used to enjoy reading the info from others and also asking me many questions of 'whats this/whats that'? 'thats good, we need one of those' etc etc
We are getting more and more excited each day of our inpending return home to begin our adventures travelling the great australia and my home!

EO is a great source of information and I feel even though I have been reading for a while, became a 'free' member only recently but plan to become a full member upon retruning home, I browse this site everyday, learning soemthing new. I hope to also be able to add my help to someone one day via this site and become one of the contributors of help in return.

I hope that those good contributors continue and remain doing so, not only for my benefit, but others out there starting out as well.
If someone has a different opinion, there is a nice and also human way to respond. perhaps internet is not personal, and sometimes just written words can be misunderstood, but surely a simple Thanks or acknowledgement is not hard to write either.

John , continue to add to the forum and dont be put off with a minor few. I for one appreciate the effort given from some people.

Thankyou
regards Paul

Good points John, however the first time I accessed the forum, two members where having a slanging match with personal abuse. Nothing has changed over the years, here, or on other forums I visit. The person who is rude or abusive is showing the world that he is a rude or abusive person – everyone sees only his rudeness and none of the other qualities he may have.

I too like some sort of reply when giving information or advice. Last year I advised a potential camper of a place to bush camp, and as we were travelling at the time with no reference to it with me and it was a few years since we found it, I was fairly vague with my directions. I later got a message of thanks from the person after they had found it and camped there, complete with GPS coordinates; that was an added nice touch.

This thread has certainly sparked interest with views and responses, and ideas coming out are good. Simple common sense things like; doing a search before posting (we are asked to do that by the system anyway), reading for errors before submitting (oh for a 15 minute edit function as the spelling error becomes obvious just after pressing submit), not duplicating what others have said (although sometimes with simultaneous replies this can’t be avoided), setting up a log in name (the system never used to allow posts from “name not found”), and using a good descriptive heading.

In addition to abusive, rude or arrogant behaviour be it against an individual, political leaning or race, I object to surreptitious advertising thinly disguised as an informative post. I have occasionally pressed Alert Moderator in these circumstances. I also don’t like to see someone putting up a criticising question about the forum when it would be better addressed to the owners direct.

I don’t believe people need to sign off with a real name; a nickname is fine, and often more memorable. After all, how many members are called John? A name such as Diesel ‘n Dust (picked at random from the membership list as an example) is far more memorable and individualistic. We are on the internet and open to the world, not just the members here, and I want to maintain my privacy.

Motherhen

Oh the IRONY!

A thread criticizing (among other things) repeated posts giving the same or similar answer.

And its half full of.....

:-)

As good as the internal search is on Exploroz - just a suggestion for people to help find prior postings that may be relevant to their query.

I find it easier to search exploroz using google. You can add the modifier "site:exploroz.com" to the end of your search in google to just search exploroz.

example:

bridgestone d693 site:exploroz.com

will bring up all posts relating to Bridgestone 693's.

I am sure many people are aware of this but some may not be.

Cheers,

Pete

Seems this thread has touched some raw nerves! Lots of responses confirming that concerns about the site are widespread, about 50 responses as I write (less than a day after the original post), a couple of tongue-in-cheeks, and only one expressing bitterness.

There have been some very thoughtful essays expanding on the original thoughts. One interesting one from Paul, who has been overseas for years, is a reminder that we do have a significant audience outside Australia. Some have pointed out that poor web manners are universal and certainly not confined to this forum.

I see no objection to different contributors saying much the same thing - it reinforces the validity of that particular viewpoint. Many interesting details have emerged above too.

Thank you everyone for sharing your thoughts. I think we've aired this one pretty fully!

Cheers

John

Hooray to the invention of 'pills', and may you all take yours.

Amen