12 hours rule

[Zorrro]

Suggestion for unanswered threads,
I think some senior posters/moderators/admins should take initiative when there is any thread without any reply for more than 12 hrs, they should consider to reply atleast something that will encourage poster and will make him/her to post more specific question. And 12 hrs are enough to get atleast one reply if it deserve a reply else seniors should guide the person to right track.
:)
Name it as "12hrs rule of Zorro" (Its a thing :D)

http://www.daniweb.com/software-development/csharp/threads/420676/how-to-create-database-and-connect-asp-page-to-c-code#post1798072

[Zorrro]

@Ardav
What about a smart tempelate to post after 12hrs? Something will better than nothing

[pritaeas]

Something will better than nothing

Some generic template will be pointless in most cases.

[TrustyTony]

generic template

Yes we have one, it is called membership rules, and is clearly available from top bar.

I see more problem on abandoned threads, where OP does not come back to read the answers and response to suggestions.

For unanswered messages there is Unanswered and even more relevantly Recommended links in down bar, which can give you list of messages unanswered that you may help. We organize., but all community contributes. And for posters ignoring own effort rule, better to show some effort and specific questions if they want answers.

[Zorrro]

And for posters ignoring own effort rule, better to show some effort and specific questions if they want answers.

My suggestion was concerned with newbies. Once they come to know how the process works, how to specify a question, what qustion will get response and what will not. So the idea is to helping them to convert a poorly thought question to a good, specific question. Once they learn, this will help everybody.

[VernonDozier]

The thread in question is a great example of a thread that SHOULD be ignored. The response that the first poster gave was a decent one in many respects, though I agree that it would have been better had the poster confined himself to simply explaining how the question needed to be ask in more detail. The "spamming" comment was uncalled for. The "spoonfeeding" comment could have been left off, but wasn't inappropriate IMO. She WAS asking to be spoonfed or at the least, any question answerer would have been forced to play "20 Questions". After a while the regulars get tired of that. The response by the OP was not good. It was a poorly phrased question and she should have simply rephrased it and ignored the rest of the responder's comment and perhaps she would have gotten an answer. Instead she lapsed into leet-speak, another no-no. And you commented "Nice reply". No, it wasn't.

As for teaching newbies how to ask good questions, refer your friend to this thread...

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

[Zorrro]

@VernonDozier
After having really great conversation with Ardav, I ended any further discussion on that thread. As I mentioned this thread was concerned with newbies not about that particular thread of my friend. Ardav handled it really nice, and solved the issue and we got back to the track by ending disputes.
Your reply seems to be concerned with that thread only, but it was suggestion only concerned with newbies.

Yes we have one, it is called membership rules, and is clearly available from top bar.

Unfortunately newbies dont know what exactly the forums are, how it works. So probability of their noticing and reading these rules is less. So atleast posting the member rules may help.

@Daniwebers
Maybe its not that easy the way I thought but it was just suggestion only concerned with newbies. Thanks for your replies. Marking it as solved.

[VernonDozier]

My reply was fairly generic, not specific to your friend. The thread was a decent example of a common, unsuccessful way that some newbies often start their career on Daniweb and other forums, so I used it. I could have linked other similar threads, but since that thread prompted this thread and was linked by ardav, I figured it was the appropriate thread to use. There have been a bunch of threads discussing various ways to force new members to read and agree to the member rules as part of the signup. To my knowledge, none have been implemented, though I could be wrong, not having registered in quite a while. I think it would be a good thing, but it's not my call.

It stinks writing a thread and getting no answers. No feedback means you don't know why your thread was ignored, so you don't know if you asked a bad question or no one knows the answer or no one saw the thread or what. WaltP has some "copy and paste" "boilerplate" responses to threads like that to get people to rephrase the question. That might have been a good response to that thread. Make that an automated e-mail after 12 hours with a link to the member rules? I suppose it's possible. Having the regulars / admins / mods respond to every single unanswered thread? I doubt many would go for that.

At any rate, forums require a fairly thick skin at times, so a newbie needs to simply listen to the responses, whether they find them rude or not, and try to phrase the question better the next time. If they do that, the probability of getting their question answered goes way up. More people screw up on their first forum post than don't, so the question answerers tend to be pretty forgiving. If your friend and any other newbie decides to come back, I imagine her next question will be answered.

[Zorrro]

It stinks writing a thread and getting no answers. No feedback means you don't know why your thread was ignored, so you don't know if you asked a bad question or no one knows the answer or no one saw the thread or what.

Ya we do agree somewhere, and thats what this thread was all about. When I posted my first thread it was just like this, older threads got responces, new threads got responces and my thread was at 0 replies. Then after bumping thread twice I got responce saying "you didnt ask objective, specific, technical question". And that was helpful somewhat. I rephrased my question and I got responces.

Make that an automated e-mail after 12 hours with a link to the member rules? I suppose it's possible.

Ya its something possible than replying each thread manually. What about making it in article update? That will make sense and people dont read rules until it comes to there way. It will make them to rethink on there post/question. Your opinion?

Ok now I can say to you nice reply :) And its true. Its good we agreed somewhere. Will be waiting for your reply.
Have a nice day :)

[VernonDozier]

As far as the rules go, I think the newbie should be expected to read them. They are right next to the "Log Out" button at the upper right of the screen. Also, when a new thread is started, there is a checklist that pops up telling you to read it before starting a new thread. Part of that checklist is a link to the rules. Within the rules, there are these two...

1. •Do not write in all uppercase or use "leet", "txt" or "chatroom" speak

2. •Do provide evidence of having done some work yourself if posting questions from school or work assignments

I know you don't want to re-hash the other thread and that's fine. I'll simply point out that both of these rules were not followed in that thread.

people don't read rules until it comes there way.

Well, they should, for the reasons listed above. It's clearly visible. If people, newbies included, are not willing to put in this small effort and follow simple directions, they're being lazy and should be called on it. These rules are reasonable, they're clearly linked whenever you start a new thread, so if someone can't be bothered to read and follow them, I can't be bothered to help them. No one here is getting paid.

Narue stickied a thread in the C++ section. It includes a link both to the link I posted and to WaltP's "boilerplate" post I mentioned. It's not in the rules, nor is it stickied in the C# forum. I think a link to Narue's thread should be attached to the rules. Also linked should be a detailed link explaining code tags and how to format, etc., so it's all in one place. Right now it isn't.

A lot of these suggestions are designed to FORCE people to do things they should be doing VOLUNTARILY and are catering to a low standard. We need to aim higher and start expecting people, newbies included, to read all of it before posting. If it was all in one spot, anyone who saw a violation of the rules could do a quick post with a link and the person could fix the post and then hopefully get helped.

[Zorrro]

:) Now I dont have anything in the reply, It was really nice conversation with you. Now I am in only listening mode, everything you said was correct from the point of senior poster. So I think just suggesting something is not appropriate. And ya my friend is lazy, I am really sorry.