What can we do about unanswered posts?

[chickenraiser24]

I have noticed that there always seem to be a lot of unanswered threads. While I understand that some threads are unanswered for a reason, 99 percent of the time someone has a question they need answered. What could we do?

 

[Pork Pie]

I feel that sometimes, thread starters don't always take the time to search BYC for threads on the same topic before posting. It can get a little tedious for other members to keep responding on exactly the same topic.

Thats one side of the coin - for others the threads may address issues that other members have little knowledge of.

OK- here's a third side of the coin (mmm...) - some questions are not necessarily very clear, or they lack essential info that would assist other members to help out.

CT

 

[Michael OShay]

I feel that sometimes, thread starters don't always take the time to search BYC for threads on the same topic before posting. It can get a little tedious for other members to keep responding on exactly the same topic.

Thats one side of the coin - for others the threads may address issues that other members have little knowledge of.

OK- here's a third side of the coin (mmm...) - some questions are not necessarily very clear, or they lack essential info that would assist other members to help out.

CT

Agreed on all points. It's also amazing how many questions get asked that the thread starter could have very easily googled the answer to.

 

[N F C]

Agreed on all points. It's also amazing how many questions get asked that the thread starter could have very easily googled the answer to.

I've wondered about the "look it up yourself" thing too Michael. Maybe it's because they just want to have a conversation. Or maybe laziness. I try to give the benefit of the doubt up to a certain point.

Another reason is sometimes the spelling, grammar and punctuation are so bad I can't understand what the post is about. Or the OP rambles on forever, then I get impatient and move on.

Lots of reasons for unanswered posts I guess.

 

[drumstick diva]

I agree with NFC. I like to think everyone deserves an answer and try to do so. But, like others have said, sometimes it's impossible to figure out what they want to know. Or there are some very sarcastic posters - that are just looking for an argument - I try to avoid those.

I know some folks that have been on the new member thread for ages, and have many, many posts. They will keep coming back to ask questions easily found just by using the search box.. But they want to be fed the answers. It reminds me of a friend(?) I had years ago, he would ask me to read the book for him and tell him what it was about. Well I did it once!!.

Also get folks that say they don't have time to read so just tell them everything they need to know.

 

[Toddrick]

I have noticed that there always seem to be a lot of unanswered threads. While I understand that some threads are unanswered for a reason, 99 percent of the time someone has a question they need answered. What could we do?

The forum format should resolve these issues inherently if newer member hang out long enough. To me it sounds like this may not be happening. The easy/common questions are best addressed by new members because they haven't had to answer them a hundred times yet, and answering them will actually help them learn better. If new members are not hanging out long enough, and only visiting the site to ask their own questions then I think there is a problem with retention. Maybe the new members need more incentive to visit the site, like contests or an improved marketplace, for example. On the other hand, it could just be that this is the slow season, spring probably being the most active.

One thing that I've found in doing analytics on the Android app is that people click the Subscriptions button by far more than anything else. To me this means maybe they don't care to hang out, but rather just want to see if their posts have replies. It seems to me that the "New Posts" link is not very popular for some reason. Whenever I go to a forum I always click New Posts to jump in on new active conversations, and I frankly ignore any post that has more than a handful of replies because I figure they've already been answered.

 

[enola]

The sheer volume of the number of posts each day doesn't help the problem either.

And, I agree, the same questions get asked over and over. And the hard to understand posts are hard to do anything with.

And any one that states upfront that they don't have time to read all the info, but wants me to take my time to fill them in on all the info they need. . . . Well, not going there!

 

[Michael OShay]

In many cases it takes them a lot longer to type the post asking the question, and wait for someone to answer than it would take just to google the answer in the first place.

 

[N F C]

 

[IceAngel]

I think that sometimes people just want a quick answer. Maybe they have done a search and found so many posts on the subject that they don't want to read through all of them. I think I have been guilty of that myself.

But if every active member just answered one new post every time they signed in, it would do a lot to promote the site with newbies.