Message Board Pet Peeve.

dhvd79a · Aug 27, 2003

I am a lurker more than a poster so take this with a grain of salt.

I find it very annoying when a person asks a question and the answer is "Well if you would use the search feature you would find....."

If you don't want to answer the question don't answer it. Someone will.

I am unimpressed with most seach facilities. They usually bring up a couple thousand hits on a board like this.

If you are one of those people who get annoyed when the same questions are asked repeatedly maybe you should reconsider using internet message boards. Your non-answer wastes bandwidth and disk space and won't prevent the same questions being asked.

Sorry for the tone but ...... Sheesh!!!!

Dave /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

bgott · Aug 28, 2003

I had the same thought myself. Glad to see someone had the guts to bring it up!

MikePA · Aug 28, 2003

Some people may not know there's a Search feature, so pointing it out informs them. Also, I have rarely, if ever, seen someone on TBN simply respond with just 'Do a search'. More often than not, people also provide either an answer or links to similar threads.

Gatorboy · Aug 28, 2003

As long as you brought up the subject of message board pet peeves, I'll throw in a couple of my own.

[*] During a discussion someone makes a post that says, "<username>, I sent you a Private Message". Uh, don't you think the person receiving the P.M. will know that when it arrives? No need to inform the general population of your "special" message.

[*] Responses to messages like, "Nice picture", "Good story", "LOL", etc. There is really no need to post just to show that you read a thread. Sometimes I think people are just trying to increase their Total Posts number any way possible.

[*] Not using the Edit feature. Many times I will see a post followed by a second or third post apologizing and correcting an error in their previous postings. Simply using the Edit feature works far better, and makes the thread much cleaner.

[*] My biggest peeve is posts written in ALL CAPS!

These are just some of my observations, and it is not intended to single out any one member of TBN.

Perhaps others have pet peeves /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif they will also share.

snowman · Aug 28, 2003

During a discussion someone makes a post that says, "<username>, I sent you a Private Message". Uh, don't you think the person receiving the P.M. will know that when it arrives? No need to inform the general population of your "special" message.


I've done that simply because I don't always log in when I'm here, hence I wouldn't necessarily know if someone pm'd me, so I assume the same for others.

Gatorboy · Aug 28, 2003

( I don't always log in when I'm here )

I'd say you are in the huge minority. Most members log-in and select the Remember me on each visit. option -- thus they are always logged in when they visit TBN. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Gomez · Aug 28, 2003

I'll second that. I know I've had PM sitting
for a few days before I noticed the flashing envelope.

Boondox · Aug 28, 2003

I disagree. I've never seen a reply that says words to the effect of "Get off your buns and do a search." Typically the responder will offer key words or even a link to a past thread dealing with the topic in question.

I guess I consider it part of the learning curve for newbies. And if you get thousands of results for your search, it would be entirely appropriate (and very courteous) to ask for help in narrowing down the search.

Pete

itsmecindi · Aug 28, 2003

It may be days for me too before I notice the flashing envelope. I don't know how many times I have had to apologize for 'being so long to reply'.

I can't stand the internet explorer search feature. If you put in 'cactus' for example it will give you about fifty places to buy cactus before it gives you any information on cactus itself. That's the one thing about AOL that I like. If your searching for information it's much better.

Pet peeves. I can't think of any really for a board like this one. It has the edit feature and I am a terrible speller, almost dyslexic so I can fix and refix as many times as I need. It gives you options to be invisible, which I like, that way people can't tell when I have to go back and refix and refix (grin) plus if you just want to read you can do so anonymously.

Rude people are everywhere, sometimes people who are direct are viewed as rude. I always give people the benfit of the doubt. I enjoy being challenged, it doesn't bother me a bit when someone says 'what the HECK were you thinking?'

If one person wants to know what the heck I was thinking then chances are there are others and I'd rather explain myself than have a bunch of people thinking I'm dumb as a stump. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Gatorboy · Aug 28, 2003

( That's the one thing about AOL that I like. If your searching for information it's much better. )

Google is the only way to go!

But with any search engine, knowing what keywords to use is also a skill. If you are looking for information on catcus -- using a 1-word search is going to get you overwhelmed quickly. Add in words you know to narrow what you are looking for, such as "cactus water sunglight" or something along those lines.

Search tools are like any tools you use around the house -- you need to know how to use them properly. You can nail a nail in with a hammer holding it close to the head, but it works must faster, and easier if you hold the handle at the other end. Perhaps that's not a good analogy, but I hope you understand my point.