Forum Etiquette

Yes Fab you are right on the money, and is one reason I do not reply to posts as often as I use to. Damm right rude if you ask me. Mind you on a fishing forum I am a member of you can click on a THANK YOU icon, which brings up a thank you.
Cheers Pete

so the OP should reply with at least a yep to every comment in reply to a post??

Yer ... no! I dont think so

Hi Fab

Yes your are not alone on your thoughts. I have notice the trend and like you say, it is common curtsey to say thanks or words along those lines. I have also found that it is often the newer members or members that do not get on the forum very often.

Lets hope that they read your post and will know better in the future.


Cheers


Stephen

I can't but agree Fab - sometimes you can put some effort into these things and they don't get seen or acknowledged at all.

Overall this tends to reduce the quality of those efforts and it is this qualiity that ultimately has seperated this site from some others.

I totally agree

Far too many ask for info, frequently which is found by someone else doing the Googling for them and not a peep out of them as to whether they managed to fix the problem.

Also by inane requests as in Thread 84225 What the ++++ is that supposed to mean.

I note it got treated with the answers it deserved.

I rarely ask for help as I know that most can be found by searching but try to say thanks on the rare occasion I do.

Also far too many replicated requests.

EG Tyres Batteries etc.

Look through a few pages of threads Its all been asked before.

Also asking for opinions on legalities.

These are best directed to the relevant authority rather than getting sometimes uninformed answers on here which may point you towards the wrong side of the law.

Cheers


Let the jousting begin LOL

I notice a few Members or Past Members will acknowledge replies or input into threads to other members ect, probably it's as they say professional courtesy.

Cheers

G/Day Fab,.... You are right, But as mentioned a while ago the way posts are tuned upside down, read in a totally different way as to what they were intended to be ,is getting a real concern, the original poster just thinks " What the Hell", so what has he got to thank??. A lot have left this site for that reason alone,


Cheers Axle.

You are so right Fab.

On the few threads started I can assure all that I made sure when I had my answer to post a reply that everyone would see. Sometimes the threads had carried on with "chatter" amongst "themselves". Good on them.

Have you also noted the lack of acknowledgement with emails. Same thing. We don't exist once the information has been obtained. If you leave a message do the recipients call back. Not always hey.

Its turning into a not as it was rude world. And its this lack of physical contact that's doing it. Too casual and easy to "hide" and just walk out of the room. Read "forum".

With that I shall top and go and wash up after a top Thai Lemon Chicken and rice noodle dinner. Yum. And leftovers for tomorrow.

Cheers

Phil

The true giver is one who expecteth nothing in return, so says saint someone or other!

As well as a simple "thanks" it would be good if the OP let the people who assisted know the result, ie if there problem ws resolved or not.

Good post Fab,

Some info requests can be vague hence what they get may not be want they want - but a bit of appreciation doesn't hurt. Some respondees eg Stephen L go to a lot of trouble with photos, maps and info and often there's no thanks.

Makes you often think why bother responding. If the requestees get a phone message asking them to ring back do they ignore that too? What’s the diff here?

Maybe the powers that be could put a little reminder at the top of the front page of the forum eg

If requesting information please be courteous and at least acknowledge you’ve received it!

Cheers to all

Personally, I don't care if good advice is acknowledged by the original poster at all.

But, has anyone considered, that on many occasions, the myriad of advice, (sometimes conflicting) may have confused the original poster even more than before they submitted their query?


Bill.

Yes Fab, I too appreciate a thank you on the thread and even better a follow up to what worked for them. Manners don't hurt.

One of the best examples was when travelling, i saw someone wanting a free overnight stop in a certain area where we had found a nice gravel pit. As we were on the road i didn't have all the details but described it as i remembered it (some years before).

Apart from thanks at the time, after his trip, i got a message of thanks saying he found it, stayed there, and took the coordinates which he gave to me.
So nice to know my vague message was of value and get the feedback.

Motherhen

Hear what you are saying and as others have suggested it takes very little to post a ‘thanks’ to replies received , and I don’t think it need to be to every response, but a general acknowledgement at least gives feedback on whether problem is solved or anan swer has been found, or even still looking for it.

Having said that, the Australian Landrover Forum has a ‘thanks’ button that enables anyone reading a response to provide a vote of thanks for the post, and maybe the EO team could take a look at whether it is possible (or appropriate) to provide a similar mechanism.

I’m sure there are similar examples in other forums. I recall seeing one recently (not sure were) that you could click a ‘found the response helpful’ button. In itself that is a useful way of telling the respondent that his or her post was found useful by X number of people…..

Cheers, The Landy

OK.....suffering from writters cramp.... but what I did prove tonight is that
(A)... people do read interesting posts (over 500 hits in one night)
(B)... people do appreciate feedback, and
(C)... it really didn't take that much effort on my behalf to read and reply to almost everyone on here.

Considering many posts don't get the level of response I got tonight, it really isn't that hard to reply with a simple THANK YOU.

However...I feel I'm preeching to the converted here, considering the replies have all come from regualr posters that ALWAYS acknowledge a response.

For the regulars....Thank you for the stimulating converstaion.

For the passive Forumites...consider the art of Etiquette.

Good night and safe travels where ever you may be.....

Fab.

Could always look at the positive side. Take this post for instance there has been 559 hits with 37 replies/follow-ups. There are probably more people than we realise that have learnt from other peoples experience. I know I have.

Yes Fab, I had one not so long ago, like you I contacted my friends as I knew they had not long got back from the place in question, after consultation with my friends I forwarded their email along and I have not heard any more, didn't think about it til you mentioned it here but you are right, manners definitely seem to be going out the window. Sad really.

Cheers

D

It isn't only here, a few years ago we met some people at Birdsville that had taken some photos at Dalhousie Springs only to find that the SD card in their camera had become corrupted.
We were heading that way, so offered to take similar photos for them & email them to them when we got back home.
We did just that, & didn't even get a thank you reply!

Well, hallelujah - this is like old times. I don't have much time to be on EO at the moment but how nice to check out this morning and have a GREAT thread - and I totally agree about Forum Etiquette (or lack thereof).
Although I have people talking AT me all the time at work you would think I would not be interested in CONVERSATION when I come home but I miss in my daily life my daily does of informative conversation I had become used to on EO over the many years- it has most certainly been missing.
Thank you I can go to work now feeling a little more upbeat. Keep up the good conversation please.

The lack of any response from a poster after giving time and thought to a comprehensive reply is something that really irks me. Maybe I'm just grumpy.

I note that Fab's post appeared about 12 hours ago and has scored 3 or 4 times as many views as other posts at around that time, and many more responses than usual. I conclude that I'm not alone!

I've largely given up trying to help those who clearly won't be able to tackle the learning curve that I see ahead of them. I've largely given up on those who obviously need help in just defining their problem. If I spend half an hour on a decent response, I reckon at the least I can expect a one line acknowledgment. I'd be against a "thankyou" button to provide a one click response - it would probably be too hard for most to click anyway!

While it doesn't solve the etiquette issue, it can save a lot of writing to simply point to a blog or site where the information sought is already available. Rob D's recent tyre blog (here) for example points to some very well researched information and will answer many of the more complex tyre questions.

If we can't expect at least some acknowledgement that our words have been read, maybe we just cut down on words.

Cheers

Who cares!

Hi Fab,

Agreed, some acknowledgment would be nice.Even a more generalized "Thank you for the reply's" at the bottom of the thread a day or 2 later would be sufficient if the original poster didn't have time to thank individuals.

Cheers Wilko

Certainly I feel it's nice to be thanked for responding to help someone but what I find more important is an acknowledgement that it was worth my going to some time and trouble to respond to a request for assistance.

What is even worse is offering information based on my competence only to have it challenged by someone else. You then have to defend yourself and you feel that you wished you had not assisted in the first place. The poor person making the enquiry finds their thread embroiled in an argument of egos. This behaviour is the pits in forum etiquette.

But don't be too hard on all those who do not respond with gratitude. It can be that circumstances have prevented them from getting back to the forum thread.

Forum Etiquette and manners are pretty much the same thing. If someone helps me via these forums a big thankyou is always forthcoming. The cyberworld is a crazy place sometimes, these forums are very powerful in so many ways. Well said Fab72.

Hi Fab72
Funny isn't?
Some posters, you ever only see them once to ask a question yet they will acknowledge every reply to their question and some times ask more and that's fantastic, Well done.

Others post a question and you never see them post again,

maybe they are traveling and can't because of lack of internet availability. I realize that sometimes some replies can be a bit short and rude and some people don't seem to posses tact in the way they give answers and maybe this has something to do with why some don't thank others, who knows
Then there are others that skip replies then thank the next poster that has given the exact same answer

but maybe not as detailed as the previous ones.

Hmmm, I guess this is what makes the world go round.

There are also some who post replies without reading the previous ones.

Recently I posted a reply to have it repeated by several following ones.


Either they didnt read the thread and just triped away or ?????

Cheers

I think the point here is this.

I would guess that a large %age of replies are Googled, or someone actually did a search on this site for the info, therefore did the work for the OP.

So in getting no response would be to some and is to me annoying.

Now on the other hand, on many occasions someone has been admonished for suggesting to either Do a Search or Google it yourself, so one guesses that either way you can't win.

Oh well my info is free and you can do with it what you will, but just remember this if the OP asking the question acknowledges the info to confirm a solution to a problem, I wounder if we would have less repeat questions here, or is that just wishful thinking.

I pretty much disagree with the majority here.
Ive been on here for close to ten years with a number of names and have been a member on and off.
I couldn't care less if someone doesn't thank me but in the early days I would always reply. It was smaller then and had a better feel about the place, even went on a few gatherings.
It was once a hang out of 4x4 enthusiasts, now it seems to be dominated buy huge caravan towing nomads.
Muffin Man

Fab, You ask ... "What ever happened to manners?"

Well I guess they went the same way as the ability to spell or use reasonable grammar. Probably due to laziness and the lack of concern for others.

I am aware that there was a period when our education system failed a generation of students but I am surprised that those same do not have a "penny-drop" when they read text and do not have their curiosity aroused at reading for example "their" when they themselves have only known "there". Do they not wonder at the use of "their" and consult a dictionary. Seems not..... possibly too (or is it to?) lazy and uncaring of the recipient reader. Etiquette?

Even when a responder spells the word correctly the original poster still does not twig and repeats the error. Helloooo?

Why should we expect people to say thanks when they cannot be bothered to observe and learn correct spelling of even very basic and common words?

's'truth.

After reading all of the above, I feel stressed out.

It's midnight, I can't sleep.

Particularly because I've nothing to offer that already hasn't been said!

I'd appreciate a suggestion for a new line of attack on this one.

I hope that someone responds to this reply by the time I get up today.

Frustrated.

Morning John

hi fab72
well its been a long and drawn out and also very interesting discussion on this topic and i've come to a general consensis//conclushion
and that 'ish' :/
pobody's nerfect
thay just haff the pursunel riot too beeleave they arrrr
chears
bary

Hi Fab

Some people still have not taken head of what you have just posted. If you check out a post, a few above yours from an "Ex member" who should know better, post 84251, there are still no "thank you" replies for the question that he asked days later.

As one of our TV personalities would say, Shame, Shame, Shame.


Cheers


Stephen