I've been on home repair newsgroups since before there were
newsgroups (in the early and mid-90s, the various services, like
Prodigy and AOL, had home repair groups). That people who ask
questions rarely provide feedback is a fact of life. It doesn't
change, and wishing it would won't make it happen.

A FAQ is a double edged sword. If there were a FAQ, every time
someone asked a question that's in the FAQ, 50 people would berate
that poster for not reading the FAQ--and the newsgroup would fill
up with a lot of totally useless posts. There will always be more
new, one-time users coming with questions than there will be
regular users who know about the FAQ, so this is another battle
that we can't win. And a FAQ is a LOT of work for someone to
maintain.

But you're absolutely right that not getting feedback is part of
what burns out the good amateurs and pros who answer questions.
the second part is having to answer the same question over and
over. People burn out and move on, but there are always more to
take their place.

--
Doug Boulter

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