How to help first-time posters

[Domski]

I'm sort of getting ahead of myself here, but how do you look at the questions witout looking at the topic. I assume you mean you just read the thread regardless of the topic?

I look first for unanswered threads, then bumped ones (one post with reply by OP). Lastly I'll have a browse through the rest to see who's replied, if it's one of the gurus I'll generally leave it be otherwise I might have a look to see if I can suggest anything. Other than that I'll have a browsed through threads to see what I can learn.

Dom

 

[SuperFerret]

I just generally have a browse through the first couple of pages on the Excel questions board, if something interests me I'll have a look, especially if it looks like a question I would be likely to ask.

I try to subtly suggest improvements if I'm already replying to a question and I can see an unhelpful title or excessive bumping. As many people have said though sometimes they acknowledge and improve, and other times they just ignore.

You can take a horse to water...

 

[Joe4]

Here's a little tip that everyone may not know about that I often use with "bad thread titles". When browsing the forums, if you hover over any thread title, it shows the first few sentences of the post. So you can sneak a peak at what the thread is about without even going into it.

 

[Taul]

if it's one of the gurus I'll generally leave it be

This point raises the issue of forum etiquette.

Is it “the done thing” to leave posts alone if one of the MVP’s has already responded?
If so, then I have committed a few sins already.

 

[Joe4]

Is it “the done thing” to leave posts alone if one of the MVP’s has already responded?

Absolutely not! If you have something of value to add to a post, please feel free to post it, regardless of who may have responded.

I, myself, am a MrExcel MVP, but not a MS MVP. Many a non-MVP has posted solutions in threads that I have responded to with answers better than mine.

That is one of the great things about this forum - not only do I get to help others, but I also learn a lot along the way from other users.

 

[SuperFerret]

Here's a little tip that everyone may not know about that I often use with "bad thread titles". When browsing the forums, if you hover over any thread title, it shows the first few sentences of the post. So you can sneak a peak at what the thread is about without even going into it.

I have used this before, but have found that some particularly badly/unusually laid out questions just bring up a lot of gibberish (if they've used a table/screenshot/smiley) or they start with background about themselves/their problem which means you have to go in anyway

Although noticing this has helped me change how I write new Threads so as to display better in this 'bubble'

 

[Domski]

Is it “the done thing” to leave posts alone if one of the MVP’s has already responded?

Hell no, they need bringing down a peg or two

Dom

 

[arkusM]

I found/find that it is really difficult to ask a question sometime because I don't know what I don't know, therefore don't even know what to ask. The more I learn the better my questions become. But the first few questions are tough because my knowledge level was so low...
If I could say something to new posters is try to describe what you are trying to accomplish, not the steps but the end result.

Getting people to adopt a behavior is notoriously difficult. One way to try is to educate them into asking better questions, but that requires patient experts to coax the info out of the OP and show them the benefit of details. Sometimes when people can see the benefit of asking better questions they are more likely to try and ask the questions better. Not universally true of course.

I would say to those who answer questions; keep up the good work, take the thanks when it comes, try not to get offended when it doesn't. Know that your contributions are valuable, I am sure I speak for many who owe so much of what we know to you.

 

[scottylad2]

An indicator that a poster was new from the message board screen might help give a little more time, or patience maybe.
there are other forums where your thread gets a halt on it if your description doesn't make the grade and I'd hope this forum never goes down that route. The whole idea of a forum is an idea/learning/discussion sharing community which lets us all tap into some of the greatest Excelers on the planet, where there is an abundance of assistance and wealth of knowledge given out free of charge and in most cases lightning quick time.

So even if the descriptions don't work for everyone all of the time, there's people on here that will still try and coax the correct question.....even if the poster doesn't properly know what they are looking for.

 

[Joe4]

As many of you know, this thread turned a bit ugly yesterday, so it was temporarily removed and sections of the thread were removed. It has now been moved back.

However, I must again, point out this sticky here about posting in the Lounge here: http://www.mrexcel.com/forum/showthread.php?t=512003

Let's keep things civil and respectful of other users on this board, else it will be removed permanently.