have i been blacklisted? my quesitons rarely get answers anymore

[AliGW]

A lot of the time if you bump you get ignored....

People assume that question is being answered without entering the thread. If you notice there is a 'zero reply posts' button at the top of the forum. A bumped thread disappears from this list.

It's really easy to spot a bumped thread that has received no answer - it has one reply and that was by the original poster. I look out for these, actually, because it often means that they need help framing their query.

 

[MARK858]

... and if they Bump it twice is it so easy and removing it from the zero replies is still the main issue with bumping.

 

[hiker95]

oldmanwilly,

You may want to consider some of the following information, that should help you with your threads:


Please see the Forum Use Guidelines in the following link:

http://www.mrexcel.com/forum/board-announcements/127080-guidelines-forum-use.html


See reply #2 at the next link, if you want to show small screenshots, of the raw data, and, what the results should look like.

http://www.mrexcel.com/forum/about-board/508133-attachments.html#post2507729


Or, you can post your workbook/worksheets to the following free site (sensitive data changed), mark the workbook for sharing, and, provide us with a link to your workbook:

https://dropbox.com

 

[AliGW]

... and if they Bump it twice is it so easy and removing it from the zero replies is still the main issue with bumping.

To be honest, I look at as many posts as I can during a visit, regardless of whether they are zero reply posts or not. I use the new posts view almost exclusively. Nonetheless, on busy forums, some posts will (and clearly do - wink, wink) get overlooked.

 

[wideboydixon]

It's a matter of pride for me that once I've posted on a thread, I like to see the solution through to the end. To that end, if I see posts that are vague or where the requirements are unintelligible I often just ignore and move on because I don't want to get embroiled in a long back-and-forth requirements definition exercise. I also generally avoid posts where the subject is an area where I have less expertise than others.

The posts I look at first are usually the ones with zero replies on the first page of the new posts; I must admit I don't often use the "Zero Replies" list. Since I'm doing this voluntarily I think I get to "pick and choose" the threads that I respond to Your best bet of getting a response from me is to make sure your requirements are well-defined and you've included as much information and data as possible.

WBD

 

[Joe4]

no problem i'll just take it as hit and miss if the answer is I haven't been blacklisted?

To answer your question, there is no public "blacklist" here. There is nothing here for members to see that says, "Hey, don't answer any threads from this guy!". It simply does not exist.
The closest thing would be if you made some really obnoxious posts that turn people off so much that they would not respond to them. I don't think that is the case here.

The main reasons why I see posts not get answered are:
- Too vague (as previously mentioned)
- Too complicated (someone is expecting someone to do a project for them, something that you would normally expect a paid consultant to do, for free)
- Its obvious that a person has posted homework or a test and wants someone to do it for them
- The tone or attitude in the post is very off-putting
- They bumped the thread too quickly (there is a list of "Zero Reply Posts" that many people use to locate unanswered threads to answer, once a reply has been made to that thread, it no longer shows on that list)

Here are a few links which give some guidelines on how to maximize your chances of getting replies:
http://www.mrexcel.com/forum/board-announcements/127080-guidelines-forum-use.html
http://www.mrexcel.com/forum/board-announcements/685723-help-us-help-you.html

 

[AliGW]

There is one other thing that some people find off-putting, and that is the use of "Urgent" or "Need this by tomorrow" in the thread title or opening post: it immediately shows a lack of understanding about the nature of the forum and raises unrealistic expectations.

 

[wideboydixon]

Also ...

If InStr(threadTitle, "!!") > 0 Then
    IgnoreThread
    MoveToNext
End If

WBD

 

[RoryA]

I only had a quick glance through your prior posts, but I didn't see many with no replies. Did I miss something?

FWIW, I think everyone has their own bugbears that will cause them to ignore posts (besides the ones that clearly are outside their sphere of knowledge). In no particular order, for me those would include:

1. Any sort of rudeness. - you've got people spending their own time trying to help you, so the least you can do is be nice.
2. Certain phrases in titles:
   • 'Help!'
   • 'Urgent'
   • 'Challenge'
   • 'Probably easy for you'
3. Bad grammar or 'text speak'. - Im 2 old n lifes 2 shrt.
4. See attached. - We don't allow attachments, so you obviously copied and pasted this from somewhere else with no thought.
5. Increasingly I see posts claiming to be 'advanced questions' and/or insisting that only certain kinds of replies are acceptable. - "Get over yourself" is the only reply you would be likely to get from me, which would be rude, so I tend to simply skip these.
6. "Doesn't work." - If you say this more than once, with no further information, you're on your own.
7. Bumping your own thread every 15 minutes. - If it's that urgent, you can pay a MrExcel consultant.

To be clear: none of the above are forum policy, merely my own point of view.

And finally, remember that everyone here is a real person, with other things going on in their lives. So things like weekends, holiday seasons and time of day will all affect response times. I haven't reviewed statistics but I'd certainly guess that posts made over weekends or on Mondays are probably less likely to get quick responses simply due to who is available.