Forum use methodology ... ?

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LoudMusic

LoudMusic

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I am confused about something. This seems to have become a standard procedure on web forums, but I'd like some opinions / discussions on the situation.

It seems to me that the majority of users, web wide, have become lazy information seekers. I always thought of bulletinboards and web forums as places to share opinions and discuss topics, not as places to use the members as your personal search tools. Starting a thread where you simply ask for information which you could find on your own with a little time on Google or searching the very forum you're posting in doesn't seem appropriate. "How much power does an RX-8 have?" or "I need help finding a shark port. I wanna know how much it would cost?" don't seem like forum oriented topics. Search Google, figure it out for yourself, don't be so %@#$ lazy.

Am I weird? Or does this seem inappropriate to you as well?

Perhaps it's just their approach that bothers me. If they were to lead into the request with information of their own I would not be so annoyed. "I found a sharkport for $80. Does that seem right or am I getting ripped off?" Ah! Asking an opinion. You could still have searched for more sources, but at least you did some work on your own.

But again, the people who need this explained to them are not about to go reading long posts like this.

Good night, I'm going home to my ill father.
 
Best of wishes to your father, LM.

Well, I think back back in 90's, forums where probably used for "Company Online Support" type of thing.

You know, if the "Hosting" was going alright. If there were any problem's with the product. But know it's basically a "free chat" room kind of thing.
 
I pretty much agree with you. Wholeheartedly to a certain extent. But sometimes it's necessary for questions to be asked more than once. One example is dsmtalk , where they have a "newbie forum." It's perfect for people that don't want to search for 3 hours to find out what the difference between the two Walboro fuel pumps, or what FPR is getting the best results. But for something like "how much horsepower does a stock R34 GT-R make... google it for goodness' sake! Typing in "R34 GTR stock horsepower" is not too hard.

I figure, if the person looking for an answer can find it in 3 hours, or can bother someone for 5 minutes, then bother someone for 5 minutes. But if researching will take less than 30 minutes, save the bandwidth and other people's sanity.

Good luck with your father man.
 
Oh, you guys are over reacting. He's just got a little bug - puking and stuff (:

Yeah, I figure there are instances where searching can proof fruitless. So search for 15, maybe 20 minutes then ask for some assistance. Bah, I just get grumpy sometimes.
 
Well, then screw your dad if he's just vomiting. ;)

It irritates me greatly when people ask stupid questions that can be easily answered using google. It takes less effort to use google, even.

By the way, how much does a 3-gallon container of Hellman's Mayonnaise cost in US dollars?
 
Well, i agree, but i don't see how it's such a bad thing. Half the time once someone starts a topic with a question, it ends up getting answered, but it also starts a whole 'nother conversation over that specific topic.

EX: Klos' question about the Mayonnaise. I'll bet someone would ask why he wanted to know, and then there'd be a response, etc etc...

Bah, I dont know, i'm just rambling. Forgive me all. :p
 
But generally the person who answers the question does a search for it anyway.

So seriously, someone find out how much 3 gallons of Hellman's Mayonnaise costs because now I'm really curious.
 
Originally posted by LoudMusic
It seems to me that the majority of users, web wide, have become lazy information seekers. I always thought of bulletinboards and web forums as places to share opinions and discuss topics, not as places to use the members as your personal search tools. Starting a thread where you simply ask for information which you could find on your own with a little time on Google or searching the very forum you're posting in doesn't seem appropriate.
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They haven't "become" lazy. It's always been that way. On the other site I admin/moderate, www.neons.org, we had a number of aftermarket parts developers and retailers as part of the community. Each has its own website, and contact information readily available, yet people routinely - routinely - post threads like "What's Howell Automotive charging for their underdrive pulley?" It's incredibly annoying.

I love it when people like that here post a line like "don't give me a link or tell me to search, just give me the information". That gives me an excuse to reply with both barrels full of rock salt.
 
well, yeah, I do see that alot. The laziness trend is not fun to have to deal with, and I think there's something about looking before you ask in one of the "rules" pages on GTP. So, I have a message for people posting questions that they could easily get the answers to: USE GOOGLE!!!!! you can go to Google and look up just about anything you want...
 
Exactly, it would take less time to not be lazy and look it up yourself rather than taking the time to post it here, then wait for a response while other people look it up for you.
 
Originally posted by Zrow
Exactly, it would take less time to not be lazy and look it up yourself rather than taking the time to post it here, then wait for a responce while other people look it up for you.
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I think that stresses my point the strongest. Along with the other comments you guys have made, of course (:
 
What annoys me is when people toss out questions like "how do you make a nuclear bomb?" in exactly the same vein as "how much horsepower does an R34 make?", then react all stroppy when you don't give them a decent answer. It's like they know that they're asking about a complex subject, but they just want the "Cliff Notes" version. They probably even don't have the patience to listen to, or understand the answer. I get this a lot on IT topics.

I only ever ask a question if I have already searched for it or thought about it.
 
More so, I don't think I have the patience to post a question on a message board, then wait around for a pseudo-decent answer.

It's a huge waste of time.
 
Having just asked a question in the Computers and Electronics forum a few days ago, I guess I am now guilty of this. I was really just looking for what a certain thing (turned out to be post error beeps) was called so I'd have a starting point in looking on my own. I ended up with a link that answered everything I wanted to know, and may or may not have found on my own.

So does that make me lazy?
 
Not particularly. Personnally I would have started by going to the manufacturer's website and visited their Support / Help section. Beep errors are standard and are excellent methods used to define what the problem is.

To 'the common man' what you did is normal. To the guys who usually answer the question it sounds more like "my computer is broke. fix it." We just want users to spend a little time researching an issue on their own before they come looking for us.
 
This is my opinion. I have gotten hell from all the members and you know what I have to say, whats the point of a furom then...I mean its kind of human nature to learn off the more wise and older people in the community,I just dont see why, if no one has anythign better to type about, let them talk
 
Originally posted by Kyle2k
This is my opinion. I have gotten hell from all the members and you know what I have to say, whats the point of a furom then...I mean its kind of human nature to learn off the more wise and older people in the community,I just dont see why, if no one has anythign better to type about, let them talk
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The point is this: you need to make a little effort to help yourself beyond simply typing your question.

Yes, a forum is a great place to learn things. But don't expect people to be happy to share their knowledge, if you expect to be spoon fed everything in neat little portions. Re-read the first post in this thread and make an effort to understand what he's saying.
 
Originally posted by Kyle2k
This is my opinion. I have gotten hell from all the members and you know what I have to say, whats the point of a furom then...I mean its kind of human nature to learn off the more wise and older people in the community,I just dont see why, if no one has anythign better to type about, let them talk
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But if I give you a fish, I feed you today.
If I give you a fishing pole, and some instruction on it's use, you can feed your own damn self.:irked:

I've said it before, and now I'm saying it again.
For a lot of people, it's a good thing breathing is an autonomic function. Otherwise, if the batteries in the walkman (with a voice reminding you "Breathe in, (pause) Breathe out.") ever died, so would you.

It's not hard to look for something for yourself first. It's more than a little annoying for the same question to come up 2-3 days apart.
It's not that you won't get help here. But tell us what you've done to help yourself first.
A: That will keep us from telling you to use the "Search" function.
B: It will keep us from covering the same ground you did in your search. (giving you the benefit of the doubt, of course).

So as the Eagles said on Hell Freezes Over "Get over it!"

I actually think that ought to be the theme song we refer non-searching, nonsense thread starting, lazy-ass people to.

*edit*
I think I'm gonna start posting according to Loud Music's current sig:
"Don't be stupid or I'll make fun of you"
 
I guess my other complaint, which has no possible fix, is that generally the people who understand the problem(s) are not the ones causing the problem. And those who don't understand are causing the problem. But ... that's natural.

People expect to be spoon fed. You are correct Neon Duke. I attribute this quality to poor upbringing by the parents. Just because you do everything for your children doesn't mean you are a good parent. In fact, in many cases, it's quite the opposite.
 
Well, I was always of the belief that you should read first, and then ask questions. There's a good chance your question has been answered, or if you sit and cogitate for a moment, you may actually figure out the answer. What bugs me rotten is that I thought the internet's pupose was to provide readable content for consumers. When these consumers become users, and don't even want to read, I think there's not much that can be said for them. They're just parasites on a site's bandwidth.

I've been to forums, and I check around with what's available. Some one with a dial-up service versus a DSL connection may find the search engine tougher to picjk apart, but it's still there. The tough part is getting your queries to yield usable results; sometimes you may search for prize cars, or information about MP3 players, but if the search engine isn't used properly, or the right wordss aren't applied, you can find yourself with nothing worth looking at.

I admit, that I've asked a few simple questions about GT3 recently, but I always used the search feature, but couldn't get the answers I needed. Nobody flamed me for two reasons: I've been here for 2 years, and nobody seems to worry about me flaming the staff and other members, or is it that I actually asked a question that hadn't been asked before? Let's not forget that I respect most questions, no matter how many times they've been asked, when they show up in the gT2 forum, because I actually don't mind helping people out. In return, people rave about my GT2 website, and mention it, and even thank me. Job well done!

However, see it from an economic perpresective: Someone goes out to buy a computer, purchases software for it, and pays for a internet service. With all that money spent, the average user is probably going to be annoyed that Google didn't find their answer in a few minutes!

I'm not saying this behavior is okay, it's just that some people demand an answer, some people demand attention, and some people demand respect. Which category do you fall under?
 
Originally posted by pupik
I'm not saying this behavior is okay, it's just that some people demand an answer, some people demand attention, and some people demand respect. Which category do you fall under?
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I try not to fall under any of those three. Of course, I can't tell from here how well I succeed, but I try.
 

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