FAQ section(s)

[K0k0shka]

Some questions get asked over and over and over... I don't know if people aren't using the search feature, or if it isn't pulling up relevant results, or what, but this gets tedious and turns people off from wanting to reply, if they have to repeat the same advice over and over. For example, every fall we get flooded with "how do I keep water from freezing" and "should I insulate/heat my coop". Around the time when chicks are growing up, we are bombarded with "what do I feed a mixed flock". Right now, in the feeding forum, 3 of the top 4 threads are asking this very question, asked on different days, so clearly not checking before posting. I don't know if there's a way to make people search before posting, but at least if we had a link to a FAQ section, we could post that instead of explaining the same thing every time. I know some parts of BYC have "sticky threads" or "pinned threads". Maybe we do a pinned FAQ at the top of each forum, and post a link to that on threads asking repeat questions? Can we do that? I remember aart once said that she had a personal doc with responses to common questions, that she copied and pasted when responding to avoid typing the same thing multiple times, but there's gotta be a more efficient and official way of doing that on a forum level...

 

[DuckLady]

It's perfectly ok for people to ask questions. It's also ok if you don't want to answer. There are plenty of other who will. We will never make people search for something before asking a question. We were all new to chickens once and new to the internet, too for that matter. We want to encourage participation, not make people feel they can't engage in our forum.

 

[Debbie292d]

In the new member's forum, some of us explain how to find articles about raising chicks and chickens, and how to search the Forums tab. I suppose we could also try explaining searching, but to be honest, if I'm searching for something in BYC, I'm sometimes better off using Google, as that'll give me the BYC threads about it.

I wouldn't expect someone who is frazzled to do the searching when they know there are people here who could help them. That's one thing that makes BYC so great.

 

[K0k0shka]

It's perfectly ok for people to ask questions. It's also ok if you don't want to answer. There are plenty of other who will. We will never make people search for something before asking a question. We were all new to chickens once and new to the internet, too for that matter. We want to encourage participation, not make people feel they can't engage in our forum.

My point wasn’t to make them search, but rather to have somewhere to point them to where the question has already been answered.

 

[Debbie292d]

My point wasn’t to make them search, but rather to have somewhere to point them to where the question has already been answered.

Many of us find threads or articles that answer their questions and post them. That's easiest, especially if it's a complex question, like some breeding questions can be. I think that's a subtle hint too, that the answer was already here.

I didn't go look at your examples, but if one thread answered a new OP's post, I'd be pasting a link to it and telling them, "This thread may help you." I think there's a learning curve here too as new people join every day. We know some search because they are usually who wake up those decade-old threads.

 

[N F C]

I have found the Learning Center has answers to a lot of frequently asked questions. I have bookmarked several of the articles that answer a lot of the most commonly asked questions. Bookmarking articles makes it fast for me to find the material needed and supply a link to the article for the person asking.