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Technical Q&A – No Thanks

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Maybe it’s just me, i have only just started helping people with problems in technical Q&A in techrepublic recently, but they don’t respond back, no “thank-you’s you fixed my problem” so other people can learn, no “i’m sorry that didn’t work anymore suggestions”, nothing. I help people on other forums and they always respond back letting you know if it solved their problems or not. I see so many excellent posts that would most likely solve the problems by highly experienced people but the question askers don’t post back, not even a thank-you??

And then there’s some people on Q&A who ask a question are given a excellent advise and they reject the possibilies suggested without even trying them and then make condescending comments to the person who is trying to help them.

It is so frustrating, i’m going to start adding to the end of every post i make, “post back with the results so others can learn”, maybe that will help i don’t know.

How many feel the same or if its just me but i would like to hear ur comments.

Topic

I said the same thing six months ago

In reply to Technical Q&A – No Thanks

Your post is very similar to one that I entered a while back. I don’t understand it either.

it doesn’t surpise me

In reply to I said the same thing six months ago

most other sites don’t have the same the problem, maybe it’s because they have moderators and they request that all posts be responded to.

It’s such a shame too because techrepublic have some of the best tech guru’s and i think they should atleast get a response back.

Snap

In reply to I said the same thing six months ago

So did I junkie, it has always amazed me how lacking in gratitude a lot of the questioners are.

Just not even a response, nothing.

Then the complaint will be “No one responds to my question at Tech republic – this is a crap site!!”

A simple thank you never hurts. I just wonder how they get to the stage of thinking that the world owes them an answer without any effort.

Alan

reflects society at large

In reply to Technical Q&A – No Thanks

I’ve been a member here for several years and you’re correctly observing a sad trend. Possibly with growth and general awareness that there are some very knowledgable people here, we’ve seen an increase in “homework questions”, and postings by people who are desperately seeking answers to do a job that they’re not qualified for. Some of these folks ask questions in such a way that we have to guess at significant details, which may make our answers incorrect. Many questioners are asking the same questions on multiple boards at once, and may not take the time to respond back. Don’t worry about them! There are a few who give feedback which helps us all…they make contributing worth the trouble.
Hang in there and continue to share,
—Will

It’s been like that for years – but don’t be discouraged

In reply to Technical Q&A – No Thanks

.
Here is my personal Answer Rating History:

Number of answers given 2148

Number of answers accepted 1088 (50%)

Number of answers rejected 715 (33%)

Number of answers not rated 345 (16%)

If I were to focus on those 1060 rejections or answers that were ignored, I would drive myself crazy. But I can be content with the fact that in the process, I might have learned a thing or two myself. Moreover, if you help enough people, it will, without a doubt, come back to be gratifying to you. And the ones that do show some gratitude outweigh, by leaps and bounds, those who do not.

I might suggest that you not be discouraged about it. On balance, based on my experience, about half of the people are okay, they’re thankful, and they understand the system, while the other half are just either plain rude or unfamiliar with proper protocol. Well, what else is new? How many “ignorant” drivers do you come across every day? How many “rude” drivers do you come across every day?

Whatever you do, don’t let those rude and ignorant drivers, whatever they may be “driving”, ruin your day. After all, in cases such as that, you really have no control over what other people may or may not do, but you do have the ultimate and final control over how it effects you. So simply make the choice to make it a positive, whatever that entails, or, in the very least, don’t let it turn into a negative for you.

I’ve been talking with a TechRepublic representative lately about some problems and issues that TechTepublic has been dealing with, and, if you have any suggestions, I might be able to put a bug in his ear. Based on your experience, what do you think could be done to improve it? Let me know, and I’ll pass it on. Hey, you never know, tell them what you think and someone just may be listening.

Is it Getting Worse?

In reply to It’s been like that for years – but don’t be discouraged

Max,

I’ve only been around a few months and my current stats are 177 of 316 answers not rated or 56%. Did questioners do better in previous years? I notice that you old pros don’t have nearly this high a percentage.

Part could be types of questions. My expertise is primarily hardware and desktop OS and these may be categories with greater numbers of new users and answer shoppers.

Prime gripe is time that it takes to answer some of these questions. Don’t mind when efforts are useful and appreciated, but it’s a real downer when they aren’t. I’m self employed and my time is my money.

As for suggestions, here’s some.

1. Since TR has e-mail addresses for users, send them a reminder when questions are not closed.

2. Boot off users who don’t close out questions.

3. Have a forum for answer experts, say those with over 5k or 10k points earned answering questions, to provide comments, concerns, and suggestions. After all, we are the backbone of this site and the pay is as low as it gets.

A further note. I also contribute to Experts Exchange and there are many more repetitive and useless answers on that site. But they do provide more incentive to rate answers. I’m there to earn free access to their Q&A database which complements info available on TR.

Regards,

Dalton

Funny you should mention it…

In reply to Is it Getting Worse?

“3. Have a forum for answer experts, say those with over 5k or 10k points earned answering questions, to provide comments, concerns, and suggestions. After all, we are the backbone of this site and the pay is as low as it gets.”

How about this: http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-6230-0.html?forumID=95&threadID=162212&start=0

An e-mail explanation will soon follow.

What is about

In reply to Funny you should mention it…

that link? It sends me to .. nowhere 🙂

Limited access

In reply to What is about

It looks like the Trivia Geek slipped up a bit.

The link he posted is to a limited access thread.

Go ahead and post any suggestions that you have for improvements to the Discussion Center, or Technical Q&A pages in this thread.

Chas

That’s the Point

In reply to Limited access

re:
The link he posted is to a limited access thread.
—- —- —- —- —-

I think that’s the point. The advertiser-sponsored Q&A pages are simply open forums where anyone can post anything about anything and noone monitors or moderates them. That’s troll-bait.

But the user-sponsored pages (paid TechRepublic membership) is a less troublesome. Trolls won’t pay to prey on members of those threads.

“post back so others can learn”

In reply to It’s been like that for years – but don’t be discouraged

thats my solution – perhaps if everyone added that to their posts it would help.

on a lot of the other forums i visit nearly everyone adds something like the above to the end of their post – perhaps if we all started adding that ourselves or perhaps Techrepublic could automatically add it to the end of each post it would help the problem.

also it would help cut down on the amount of posts for same problem, that have already solved.

I’ve Had Good Responses

In reply to Technical Q&A – No Thanks

Wow. I’ve been treated *great* by the folks who ask Tech Q&A. Some of the thank-yous have been downright gushy. One guy even gave me a 3 month contract after I helped him out with, what I thought was, a simple question.

I think the reason for this is that very few of the answers given are *complete* answers. Most start out with some kind of complaint that the asker didn’t provide enough information.

But if you’ve worked in the IT profession for more than a few years, you can probably guess that tune in 3 notes. You don’t need a complete breakdown and history of the problem – because you’ve seen it enough times.

Possibly

In reply to I’ve Had Good Responses

Probably right about the questions, Bucky, you can often pick it OK because you have seen it before, but the ones that really get me are the “My computer crashes – what is causing this” type of questions.

I mean, would they go to the doctor and when the doctor asks what is the problem say “I’m sick, why is it so?” and expect an answer?

I think Max hit it on the head above though, I have had enough people thank me for the information I have given, meagre though it sometimes is, to make me want to keep checking the Q&A forums out. I have also had some damn good replies from people when I have asked a question.

If we focus on the rude ones and ignore the good ones, it will be to the detriment of everyone.

Dr – Patient

In reply to Possibly

re:
I mean, would they go to the doctor and when the doctor asks what is the problem say “I’m sick, why is it so?” and expect an answer?
—– —– —– —– —–

That’s an *excellent* question – the answer is “yes”. In fact, often the patient is not even capable of saying “boo”.

I get your pointe, though. My way of dealing with questions I don’t feel I can answer is… not to answer them. Experience has taught me – if they can’t phrase the question well, they probably won’t understand the answer any better.

Joy of Giving

In reply to Technical Q&A – No Thanks

I take my joy in providing what I believe to be useful answers.

I try to forget about and ignore the few that do not respond.

I have made several friends from answering their questions.

I have gotten a little more selective in what questions I answer over time.

I try to avoid questions that look like someone asking for help with their homework.

I may avoid a question when it looks like the person posting the question does not understand what their problem is. If they don’t understand the problem, they very well may not be able to implement the solution.

When you get discouraged, check out this site:

http://www.rinkworks.com/stupid/

and realize that things could be a lot worse.

Chas

I, personally, would like to thank all Tech Helpers!

In reply to Technical Q&A – No Thanks

Thank You All!!!

I have been subscribed to techrepublic for over a year now & often come here for answers to my Questions! I am considered “the tech person” among my family members, the local senior centers, friends & friends of friends! *grin*

I am able to build systems & do a lot of repairs, mostly minor ones, & re-installs if needed, but I KNOW that I am not a “REAL TECH”.

It is only because I am mostly learning on my own – by asking questions of people that are much more knowledeable than I am or reading things that are posted either HERE or on XPNews – that I have been able to help others.

When needed, I refer people to “real” Tech’s that I am personally aware of & trust. I help people because I am just that way …. I don’t expect payment, but if they insist, I tell them to pay whatever they feel is appropiate or whatever they can afford. Many, especially seniors, cannot afford anything.

I truely appreciate the Techs in this site! If you really need a personal “Thank You” from the people who use it, you now have mine!

Also, maybe you could set up a “Live Chat”, where you can help people immediately, by asking the right questions & thereby being able to provide the appropiate answers. You would certainly get a personal “thank you” each time… Just a thought.

Have a great day!

P _ _ _ es me off too

In reply to Technical Q&A – No Thanks

I don’t know enough to help anyone but when I’m looking through the Q&A’s to find solutions to my own problems it would be nice to see what solutions worked

[Author]

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