Why do people suddenly stop helping - an explanation for newbies

[wjcampbe]

You post a question, and someone starts answering you - you are not making good progress, and suddenly the other person stops answering.

What is going on?

Long term users of the forum know that the Actinic folks on here focus on posts where the original poster is the last to post, and it has been a couple of days since that post. If we are posting and cannot solve the problem we will drop out and let the post age --- so that the Actinic folks will pick it up.

[pinbrook]

Either the person helping out feels the problem needs to ne escalated to Actinic

or the person helping is busy doing other things and hasn't the time to see it through

or the person helping has run out of ideas and hopes someone else will butt in

Remember - the person helping is helping voluntarily and can exercise the right to withdraw help for many reasons. They may have just stepped out of the office and been run over by a bus

Was there a reason why you started this thread Bill?

[jont]

Was there a reason why you started this thread Bill?

My thoughts also.

Some newbies do seem to demand a reply within 5 minutes of posting or get a little annoyed when the person helping suddenly stops... or ... pinging a thread after just 30 minutes ... my favourite

[NormanRouxel]

If I have run out of ideas and have to give up I usually say so and mention that I hope that others will be able to help.

We all have our own foibles. I'm tolerant of bad English (it may not be your first language after all), but choose not to reply to people (thankfully few) who post in txt msg spk.

My main tip for new posters would be to read your own post before submitting it and ask yourself - "Would someone who knows nothing about my situation have enough information to understand what I'm asking?".

[completerookie]

as a note,
PLEASE PLEASE make the title of the thread meaningful.

when the title says "HELP ! I'm having a problem", its much moremeaningful to say "problems with upload of site for the first time" or something like that.

I often skim down the titles looking for quick ideas about what the probelm actual is about.

[wjcampbe]

Was there a reason why you started this thread Bill?

1. To help new posters understand why any one of us can suddenly pull out - leaving them feeling abandonned, when, in fact, allowing the post to sit is the best way to help them.

I tend not to post that I can't help further. If the OP does not reply, I worry that Actinic will see my post was last and not look further.

2. To see if we, collectively, can come up with a better way of highlighting to Actinic when a thread needs their involvement. For a user, the silence can be dispiriting, just when they most need help.

3. In the hope that further tips for new users (like Norman's check for completeness of information) would be gathered in this thread. It could then be culled by Actinic and added to the Read before Posting sticky guidance for new users.

[pinbrook]

Yep a sticky thread could be useful...

including please post your url

[jont]

... and theme

[leehack]

and.......IQ

Maybe a better solution would be to have a form or template where these standard fields had to be selected or inputted, 30% of posts on here must be for further information, theme, version, url etc.

My particular pet hate is when it is so clear that the poster could not be bothered to search the forum and wants someone to just tell them directly. They will happily sit for 45 minutes clicking "F5" waiting for a reply, than spend 10 minutes searching previous posts.

Hows about a sticky where common issues were listed under particular headings, such as:

JAVASCRIPT ERRORS

Thread Link

Thread Link

Thread Link

CSS ERRORS

Thread Link

Thread Link

Thread Link

Just an idea.....

[jont]

To be fair to some of the new thread starters the search facility on the forum does leave a bit to be desired - I often can only find something when I know I have read the tread and with certain members replying - otherwise it can be a little hit-or-miss.... especially if you are unsure on the terminology being used.

But yes - it is often easier to ask than go looking for yourself hence the high number of many duplicated threads

[wjcampbe]

jont said;
does leave a bit to be desired

Going for most diplomatic post are we?

[pinbrook]

alot of duplicated thread do get the response, please search the forum or are given threads to go to

You will never stop people from asking the same old question... these are the same people who wouldn't read an overly complicated how to thread.

I often tell people to search but I sometimes give them a keyword to search with

my motto, help people to help themselves

[jont]

Going for most diplomatic post are we?

That was the diluted version

[wjcampbe]

pinbrook said
I often tell people to search but I sometimes give them a keyword to search with

my motto, help people to help themselves

I tend to do something similar. I try the search myself to see if anything relevant comes up (refer to jont's #10 & 13) and give the search term I used and often the apperently most relevant post.

[jont]

Mods - would it be possible to allow users to put the theme and version used as part of the avatar info?

This could cut down on a lot of posts requesting themes or replies that are not specific to that theme or version number and help with speedier replies.