To Reply, Start a new Thread, Bump, or attempt personal message for follow up question. Clarification or opinions please.

[DocAElstein]

Re:- To Reply, Start a new Thread, Bump, or attempt personal message for follow up question. Clarification or opinions please.

Hi.
. I would appreciate clarity or opinions on the above
. I personally find MrExcel an amazing source of good Information. And so many good questions have been answered before, So much that you can often answer a question without starting a new thread by doing the Google Site MrExcel thing (As in my signature below). I personally have a ratio of about 10 to every one new Thread I have to start to find the answer I need. With Normal Googling of course the ratio increases further. It can take a while and starting a new thread can be quicker. (Especially as a “new member” – But I am somewhat suspicious of how many of them the Board has lurking about….. http://www.mrexcel.com/forum/lounge-v-2-0/805892-lot-new-member-posts=1-today.html ….)

. A problem I find is when you have questions that suits nicely as a follow up question in an existing thread. I have had conflicting advice on that one. There is often advice saying to try to reduce duplicate threads… (I personally find many Duplicates when I am googling). But I have also had advice to the contrary along the lines of “Don’t hijack a thread with “new questions” “ – The problem here is that it can be a fine distinction between a “new question” and one very similar or relevant to one something already asked or discussed. Some clarity would be welcome here. Or is it here just a case of different regulars and moderators having different opinions on this one.

. One problem with a follow up question in an existing thread is that it gets lost very quickly because the thread immediately shows (often many) replies. ( I have about a 1 in 10 success rate with this one!). A new thread of course almost always gets attention, especially if it is from a new member, which is one reason why I am a bit suspicious of the one or zero post members ( which accounts for almost half the members on this Board: (…http://www.mrexcel.com/forum/lounge-v-2-0/805892-lot-new-member-posts=1-today.html…) )

. Personally I prefer to avoid Bumping, and in the past have sometimes waited a very long time before doing this. I feel that bumping could annoy many people who work very hard as a volunteer on the board and are therefore very busy. On the other hand I still find it a better option to the “new member” or “new thread” trick. Any opinions on that one?

. Some prominent members do not receive personal messages and I can understand that they may otherwise be bombarded with follow up questions. I have set myself a personal limit of 1 personal message (With a question in it) of 1 per year. So I really use it as last resort (unless I am “invited” to ask more per personal message..)


. Just trying to clarify things a bit or get opinions.

Alan Elston

P.s. I tossed a coin on whether to put this in “The lounge “ or “About this Board”.

 

[Jerry Sullivan]

Hi Alan,

I think "About this Board" is a good forum for your questions.

Some of those points are addressed explicitly in the http://www.mrexcel.com/forum/board-announcements/99490-forum-rules.html....while others fall into a "gray area". IMO, the Moderators of this Board do a great job at the difficult task of enforcing the rules without being heavy-handed or over-zealous.

Here's are some applicable excerpts from the Forum Rules....

Rule #7:
All new questions should be posted to new threads on the Public Forums. Members should not use the Private Message system, or other members' threads, to request specific assistance with questions posted in the forum.

Do not invite another member to take the question off the forum (i.e. do not suggest that they post to a different forum and do not suggest that they email or private message you the problem).

Rule #9:
Do not post duplicate questions. Posts of a duplicate nature will be deleted or locked. All related follow-ups, be they further related questions, clarifications or bumps, should be posted back to the original thread.

We advise you not to bump your posts too quickly after posting, unless you are posting some sort of clarification. Since bumped threads have replies, they will no longer appear in the "Zero Reply Posts" listing, which many members use to look for unanswered questions.

I'll offer my opinion on a few gray areas and welcome the Moderators to advise me if I've misinterpreted the Board's views.

On duplicate questions: Rule #9 addresses the practice of the same member starting a new thread asking essentially the same question that they have previously asked. That original thread might have had no replies, or replies that the OP feels didn't answer that question. That's clearly not allowed. That's different however than someone asking a question that has been previously asked by another user. Members are encouraged to search first before posting a question. If a user starts a new thread for a question that has previously answered, they aren't violating Forum Rules. (They may not get replies if it's obvious they haven't done any work on their own).

On "hijacking" threads: Asking a closely-related follow up question on an earlier thread that someone else started isn't against the rules or the culture of MrExcel. Asking a completely unrelated question is clearly against Rule #7. Somewhere in between those extremes is a gray area. I agree with your observation that adding a post to an old thread is less likely to get an responses. For that reason, I think it's better to start a new thread which includes a link to the related thread.

On Bumping: Forum Rule #9 pretty much mirrors your comments...

We advise you not to bump your posts too quickly after posting, unless you are posting some sort of clarification. Since bumped threads have replies, they will no longer appear in the "Zero Reply Posts" listing, which many members use to look for unanswered questions.

 

[RoryA]

Personally I would suggest that you start a new thread and link to an old one if it's relevant (assuming the old thread isn't yours). That way you can provide context for your question whilst having the benefit of a new thread.

 

[DocAElstein]

Personally I would suggest that you start a new thread and link to an old one if it's relevant ……..
…That way you can provide context for your question whilst having the benefit of a new thread …

Hi RoryA, Thanks for that . As I expect the Gray area’s could be down to interpretation of the moderators. As Jerry I fully agree that the moderators do a great job and therefore have every right to see the things as they do. So also as Jerry I think it would be great to get more moderators’ opinions on the gray Areas. –I say that as I think with time you can possibly see how to ask questions to suit a moderator or board regular that may because of his field of interest want to answer one’s question (or not!).

…. start a new thread and link to an old one if it's relevant (assuming the old thread isn't yours). ……..

. Can you explain your thinking behind that one? I ask because I think follow up questions can often be on one’s own Thread. One concern I have is that by staying too long, that is to say, replying to one’s own thread can sometimes take the thing into a slightly different area which does not match the title. In this case your statement generally “ I would suggest that you start a new thread and link to an old one if it's relevant ……That way you can provide context for your question whilst having the benefit of a new thread “ fits nicely. Have you a particular reason for suggesting that people do not reference their own threads?

……..

Some of those points are addressed explicitly in the http://www.mrexcel.com/forum/board-announcements/99490-forum-rules.html....while others fall into a "gray area". IMO, the Moderators of this Board do a great job ……….

I'll offer my opinion on a few gray areas and welcome the Moderators to advise me if I've misinterpreted the Board's views.

On …..etc.
...

. Thanks for taking the time to reply


. I have made a point of studying all the forum Rules and I think it is reasonable that anyone using and benefiting from the wealth of info and help in the board should also do so.
. Like everyone initially one tends to dive in and not check the small print initially, or one forgets the exact rules.. so the Reminders as you gave them are always useful.
. (I guess in an ideal world that reading the rules should someway be a requirement of being in the board as well as requiring some credibility to the geniality of a member to avoid what I expect is the use sometimes of the “new member none or one post scenario thing” that may be used to get attention and therefore a better / quicker response. But I guess that is totally practically impossible. (And there may be good reasons well outside my right to question regarding getting the number of members up!) )

Alan Elston
Doc.AElstein
(As always up here in Bavaria in Germany at my main Email address….

 

[RoryA]

Can you explain your thinking behind that one?

It's another of those grey areas. It's a fine line between what people consider a duplicate thread, and what is just "feature creep". At the end of the day the likelihood is there will be differing opinions whichever you do, but my feeling is that if you have a follow-up to one of your own threads which would involve linking to it if you started a new thread, you should probably just carry on in that thread, unless whoever is replying to you tells you otherwise.

Either way, the worst that is likely to happen is your post being moved - unless you're a serial duplicate poster, which can annoy the moderators.

 

[DocAElstein]

It's another of those grey areas. It's a fine line between what people consider a duplicate thread, and what is just "feature creep". At the end of the day the likelihood is there will be differing opinions whichever you do, but my feeling is that if you have a follow-up to one of your own threads which would involve linking to it if you started a new thread, you should probably just carry on in that thread, unless whoever is replying to you tells you otherwise.

Either way, the worst that is likely to happen is your post being moved - unless you're a serial duplicate poster, which can annoy the moderators.

OK. Thanks! (I don’t think I am a feature creeping spammer duplicate poster or whatever?.. just trying to help keep the Board efficient and give a little back when I can)

Alan

P.s. While I am here… just a very quick question a bit relevant here maybe.. ((oops ..sorry repeat question) I put in a reply that got “lost”)……..( I will not reference the Thread.. – it was one of mine!)…

…… Question is (was) on the test Board. (I use it a lot. It is particularly helpful with me to check different browser and editor quirks especially when dealing as I must between German and English Excel…)
. Question is (was) if it is OK for me to do that… I assume as they are frequently deleted I do not annoy anyone with my repeated ramblings there?


Hope I handled that one in a good compromise way for a grey area thing… ; ) , )

 

[RoryA]

That's what it's for - ramble away.

 

[DocAElstein]

That's what it's for - ramble away.

Danke, und Servus, - muss jetzt quatsch eine bisschen im Test Forum über ihren Mega “………” Code
Thanks, bye, must do a bit of rambling now in Test Forum on your Mega “………..” Code