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A comment about repeat questions and why they are OK

by cjed2061
20 replies
I'm going to get on my soapbox for a second here.

There seems to be a lot of irritation regarding people posting questions that have already been answered and/or discussed before. I don't have a problem with this...AT ALL. Yes, we should all become familiar with the search function because there is a TON of good info here on WF. But isn't discussion the whole reason for this forum? It could be said that all topics have probably been discussed at least once right? If we didn't talk about the same thing over and over again we wouldn't need a forum would we? It could all be archived on a static web site with a giant search button at the top.

I will come out and say this right now, I'm not ashamed to admit it: I post questions without first searching. OK? There! I said it! But then I also post questions after having using the allmighty search button too. Why do I do this? Because I want the discussion to focus on an aspect that I am interested in.

It also seems to me that if a newbie comes here and posts a repeat question and gets slapped by a more seasoned user that this might scare them off and they would be robbed of a fantastic source of information.

And don't we all put links to our favorite niche product in our signature line? The more posts you make the more people will see your products and the more clicks you get. That's kind of the name of the game here isn't it? More clicks=more sales?

So here's what I think should be done. If someone posts a question that has already been discussed answer it as completely as you want then at the very end mention that more info might be found by using the search function.

Ok, all done ranting
#comment #questions #repeat
  • Profile picture of the author ozduc
    I agree but instead of spending the time answering the question again, if a warrior feels the need to answer a post by saying "use the search function" then why not just include a link to the original post that answers the question. If you don't want to do that for someone or just answer them, then don't bother responding at all.
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    • Profile picture of the author craigc1980
      Originally Posted by ozduc View Post

      I agree but instead of spending the time answering the question again, if a warrior feels the need to answer a post by saying "use the search function" then why not just include a link to the original post that answers the question. If you don't want to do that for someone or just answer them, then don't bother responding at all.

      I second that motion.

      Actually its funny because i just saw this same thread somewhere else. j/k
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  • Profile picture of the author Laura B
    I agree - there's no way to NOT rehash old info in an active forum. What bugs me is those who post generic questions like "how do I get traffic to my site" when a search would give them enough reading material for weeks.

    It doesn't bother me if someone has a specific question like "I've been doing article marketing for 6 months but haven't seen much increase in traffic; how can I improve the effectiveness of my article marketing campaign?" Even if it's been asked before, previous discussions may not have answered his specific question.

    Speaking for myself as a question asker, I find the search function to be rather useless. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or what, but I almost always search before asking something, and all I ever get is a list of seemingly unrelated threads. It's kind of frustrating.

    If I do find an old thread that discusses the topic in question, it sometimes is so old that I have to wonder if the answers are still current. Or it's not exactly the same situation so it doesn't always answer my particular issue. So I don't feel bad posting my question in those cases.

    Bottom line for me is: If you can discern the intent of the person who posts the question (whether they're lazy and want everything handed to them or sincerely couldn't find the answer), great! But you can't always tell, so a little more patience and civility wouldn't be a bad idea.
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    • Profile picture of the author craigc1980
      Originally Posted by Laura B View Post

      Speaking for myself as a question asker, I find the search function to be rather useless. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or what, but I almost always search before asking something, and all I ever get is a list of seemingly unrelated threads. It's kind of frustrating.

      If I do find an old thread that discusses the topic in question, it sometimes is so old that I have to wonder if the answers are still current. Or it's not exactly the same situation so it doesn't always answer my particular issue. So I don't feel bad posting my question in those cases.
      I know where your coming from on that. I have used the search function on the warrior forum and the same thing goes for me. Mostly everything i search for is usually unrelated even when you search another members name. Alot of the time there not no where on the thread.

      Google works just fine so ill stick to searching there
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  • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
    Ok - I'm going to address the 'other' side of this.

    As someone who's been a member here for over 6 years and with over 6000 posts - I am obviously going to see a lot of questions asked that have been asked before.

    So, while I get where you're coming from and if someone searches and then asks something because they never found anything - that's great. No problems....

    You say that we should just answer every new recurrance of the question completely again?

    Do you know how much typing I've done here?

    I do NOT have the time that I used to have when I would research answers and post extensive replies - and why should I have to just because someone hasn't looked to see if it's been answered before?

    Sorry but it's not MY problem that people don't read previous responses.

    Now - the issue of it also being MY responsibility to trawl over 6000 posts just to find the previous times I've answered that question - just so I can post the link to save the person with the question having to do it.

    Sorry - but if YOU want the answer it's YOUR responsibility to check for it.

    Some of us have put a LOT of time and effort into helping people here for years and it's not reasonable to expect us to keep track of every question we've ever helped with just to make it easier for people asking it again.

    So that's my soapbox version of the reply

    Andy
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    • Profile picture of the author ozduc
      Originally Posted by Andyhenry View Post

      Ok - I'm going to address the 'other' side of this.

      As someone who's been a member here for over 6 years and with over 6000 posts - I am obviously going to see a lot of questions asked that have been asked before.

      So, while I get where you're coming from and if someone searches and then asks something because they never found anything - that's great. No problems....

      You say that we should just answer every new recurrance of the question completely again?

      Do you know how much typing I've done here?

      I do NOT have the time that I used to have when I would research answers and post extensive replies - and why should I have to just because someone hasn't looked to see if it's been answered before?

      Sorry but it's not MY problem that people don't read previous responses.

      Now - the issue of it also being MY responsibility to trawl over 6000 posts just to find the previous times I've answered that question - just so I can post the link to save the person with the question having to do it.

      Sorry - but if YOU want the answer it's YOUR responsibility to check for it.

      Some of us have put a LOT of time and effort into helping people here for years and it's not reasonable to expect us to keep track of every question we've ever helped with just to make it easier for people asking it again.

      So that's my soapbox version of the reply

      Andy
      I never said that you Andy should answer the question at all. in fact I said if you dont want to answer or post a link to the answer then dont bother responding. If you feel you have already answered that particular question and you dont want to type any more then move on to the next question.

      Better still, I have an idea. It's probably safe to say that every question to do with IM has been asked and answered here before, so why not just shut the forum down to all new questions (as they are not really new anyway), in fact shut it down to any questions and we can all just sit here searching old posts. Wont that be fun
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      • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
        Originally Posted by ozduc View Post

        I never said that you Andy should answer the question at all. in fact I said if you dont want to answer or post a link to the answer then dont bother responding. If you feel you have already answered that particular question and you dont want to type any more then move on to the next question.

        Better still, I have an idea. It's probably safe to say that every question to do with IM has been asked and answered here before, so why not just shut the forum down to all new questions (as they are not really new anyway), in fact shut it down to any questions and we can all just sit here searching old posts. Wont that be fun
        If not me - then who are you expecting to answer the questions? Someone has to do it for people to get any help. If we all stop answering because we've answered before - the only people answering will be people who haven't answered before - it won't be long before that means no-one.

        It's not difficult, actually Allen has helped address this with his 'best of' threads - if you search for those, most things have been answered and still are. That's the best place - even though, again I haven't responded to many of those because I've already answered the same questions here before and I don't have time to keep retyping my answers, so there will always be different people doing it.

        The point is - you may not like feeling guilty for asking questions without seeing if they've been answered - but then you only joined the forum a few months ago - some of us have been here answering those questions for years.

        So - we're not likely to all get what we want are we.
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        • Profile picture of the author ozduc
          Originally Posted by Andyhenry View Post

          If not me - then who are you expecting to answer the questions?
          You're right if you're not willing to answer a question......again, then I guess the other 180,000 members will feel the same way.

          Originally Posted by Andyhenry View Post


          The point is - you may not like feeling guilty for asking questions without seeing if they've been answered - but then you only joined the forum a few months ago - some of us have been here answering those questions for years.

          So - we're not likely to all get what we want are we.
          My point exactly. If you don't feel like answering again then just move on. You can complain and whine about it all you like but tomorrow someone new will join the forum and ask a question that you have already answered several times. It is just a plain and simple fact of internet forums. You will not change that fact no matter how much you complain. Although I only joined 8 months ago I have seen the same questions asked several times, so I am sure in your time here, you've probably seen it dozens if not hundreds of times. If you really feel the need to respond again, all I'm saying is rather then just respond with "use search function" why not keep a file of links to your previous answers and you can just post that link.
          Now before you scold me and say it is not your responsibility to search for someone else, notice I did say "IF you feel the need to respond". i am not saying you have to do anything.
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  • Profile picture of the author GarrieWilson
    If the OP would have used the search feature he would know that his little rant has been done many times before and accomplished nothing.

    Glad to know you are a meme.
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    • Profile picture of the author freudianslip27
      Originally Posted by GarrieWilson View Post

      If the OP would have used the search feature he would know that his little rant has been done many times before and accomplished nothing.

      Glad to know you are a meme.
      LOL, pretty funny point.

      I do agree that there is so much redundancy here, though they seem to be a lot of core issues. I wonder if the WarriorForum could have a section specifically for newbies? And some of the more typical questions could be pushed that way, along with a few valuable stickies?

      Matt
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    • Profile picture of the author ausslite
      Originally Posted by GarrieWilson View Post

      If the OP would have used the search feature he would know that his little rant has been done many times before and accomplished nothing.

      Glad to know you are a meme.

      amen brother

      LOL! this post is funny because it has so many repeats in the past.
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  • Profile picture of the author cashcow
    I think the real problem is that the first time (or couple of times, maybe) a question is asked the experienced folks (like Andy) come in and spend a lot of time typing in a good answer.

    After the 10th time of answering the same thing over and over again, they tend to get a little tired with answering and no longer post, or maybe make shorter one if they do bother.

    Therefore, the person asking the question for the billionth time doesn't really get a very good answer.

    Lee
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  • Profile picture of the author aandersen
    you know ths problem exists on every forum

    what is frustrating is that when a question is asked that has been asked with in the last couple pages of recent posts. sometimes on the same page.

    from time to time a question NEEDS to be reasked because things change in the world of IM. but 2 days later it doesn need to be asked again when 1 page back is a 5-page long thread on the subject.



    for example, the question "what is the best spinner" gets asked all the time and the answers pretty much are the same every time...

    now very recently thebestspinner came out

    so when the question got asked more recently many people's answer have changed to this new product and some still prefer their old ones and some still swear by spinners being useless

    in this case, the question being reasked is a good thing because it provides new useful information

    but 2 days later some new guy comes on, doesnt searh and posts "im thinking of getting a spinner, which one do you suggest"

    this is a waste of forum resources and will not provide anything new or useful and had they just read the previous thread where it was just discussed they could have got all the answers they were looking for and joined in on the conversation if they felt they needed to.


    this is my opinion
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
    Originally Posted by cjed2061 View Post


    I will come out and say this right now, I'm not ashamed to admit it: I post questions without first searching. OK? There! I said it!
    Now you did it. You have to be punished. Go stand in the corner until your called.
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    • Profile picture of the author cjed2061
      Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill View Post

      Now you did it. You have to be punished. Go stand in the corner until your called.
      Yeah, and I think I'll just stay there and keep my mouth shut for a while!
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      • Profile picture of the author craigc1980
        This is why forums can be so disappointing sometimes.

        I understand people get sick of posting the same answer all the time but why be so sarcastic and mean about it.

        Were supposed to be here to help other people on this forum not post some sarcastic comment saying go search yourself.

        This is very aggravating for some people especially to new marketers.

        Maybe they dont know how to search.

        Just because you know your way around the site doesnt mean everyone else does. (Im Talking About People In General)

        Just remember we all were new to internet marketing once before.

        The way i look at it is if your a jerk to someone that could of been someone that could of helped you out in the future or even had an avid follower.

        Don't mean to offend anyone and this wasn't to anyone in particular, i just thought this was a place to help people answer there question not ridicule them because they might not know how to do something.

        At least instead of being mean and if you don't want to write anything maybe just post the link to the thread and guide them in the right direction.

        Craig
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        • Profile picture of the author Kevin Riley
          I'll straddle the line here.

          One, I see nothing wrong with asking a question that's been asked before. There are always new people coming here, and it's not always easy to find what you're looking for in a search.

          Two, I do get annoyed seeing the same question appear 3,4,5 times on Page 1 of this board. That just shows laziness and a disregard for others.
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        • Profile picture of the author jennypitts
          Originally Posted by craigc1980 View Post

          This is why forums can be so disappointing sometimes.

          I understand people get sick of posting the same answer all the time but why be so sarcastic and mean about it.

          Were supposed to be here to help other people on this forum not post some sarcastic comment saying go search yourself.

          This is very aggravating for some people especially to new marketers.

          Maybe they dont know how to search.

          Just because you know your way around the site doesnt mean everyone else does. (Im Talking About People In General)

          Just remember we all were new to internet marketing once before.

          The way i look at it is if your a jerk to someone that could of been someone that could of helped you out in the future or even had an avid follower.

          Don't mean to offend anyone and this wasn't to anyone in particular, i just thought this was a place to help people answer there question not ridicule them because they might not know how to do something.

          At least instead of being mean and if you don't want to write anything maybe just post the link to the thread and guide them in the right direction.

          Craig
          Nicely said. I do not find anything wrong with helping out a newbie, because as you said, we ALL were at some point. So, repeat questions do not really bother me. WHAT does bother me is when a newbie asks questions that are obviously asked to drop a link. And I am not going to go into details about because that TOO has been discussed here before.:rolleyes:
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          • Profile picture of the author Kay King
            If you need to use the search function - try using the "advanced" search and search for the keyword or phrase "in title" rather than "in posts" and you are much more likely to find what you are looking for.

            kay
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