Hello - There are a lot of people who lure here, a lot of people who
post a lot of good information, most replies are good, there is not a
lot of noise.

My question is this - Why do some people post a question and never
bother to respond to follow-up questions that regular posters may have?
Are our first responses sooo comprehensive that no further discussion
is required? How come sometime I feel like I'm posting to a black hole?
To everyone - a simple thank you or acknowledgment of the response
would be great. Some may complain that it just clutters things up. My
contention is that it enhances the discussion. If a question is posted,
a response is given, an acknowledgment that it works or doesn't would
be of tremendous value to all. If the OP finds a different solution off
board and posts it that would be great too! if someone asks about which
this or that they should buy, the OP should then come back and describe
what the decision was and why plus any impressions. Maybe even a long
term use report a few months later would be a bit too much to ask.

I know some of us do this already. Thanks.

Is there an FAQ? Maybe some of these suggestions could be added there.


Done ranting

To regular posters - Keep up the good work, you know who you are.

No wrote:

Hello - There are a lot of people who lure here, a lot of people who
post a lot of good information, most replies are good, there is not a
lot of noise.

My question is this - Why do some people post a question and never
bother to respond to follow-up questions that regular posters may have?

Behavior on this newsgroup stays relatively good. There are those of us
who can't resist politics once in a while, those who are always
predictably polite and helpful, a few who are predictably rude but
helpful, etc. My wish is that folks who get a lot of answers to their
question or problem would come back and let us all know what worked.
There has been a minimum of trolling, advertising and cross-posting of
garbage, so IMO ahr is ****. )

Some posters might be expecting replies via email and never come back
to look. Or they were flamed and gave up on usenet as a valuable
discussion forum.

Is there a FAQ? It would be helpful.


-rev

Here's the 10 commandments of alt.home.repair. (I wrote them)

1. Thou shalt not post in HTML
2. Yee who posts a binary attachment will face the rath of HYH. Images
are
welcome (and helpful) as long as they are a link to a website.
3. It's a wise man that will search www.google.com and
groups.google.com before
posting to A.H.R. ("How to strip wallpaper" and "How to stain my deck"
have
been asked at least once or twice before!!)
4. No commercial spam, no FA, and no FS posts. (these go in
alt.marketplace).
Mercy will be granted to those that answer a post with a commercial
link that
helps solve the posters original problem.
5. Thou shalt refrain from posting while inebriated. (This means you
and your
cat, Ben.)
6. Yee shalt refrain from profanity, porn, or personal assaults. Those
who heed
these warnings will be free from termites, lead paint, plumbing leaks,
and long
lines at Home Depot as long as yea shall live.
7. Be "NOT" fruitful and multiply. Keep crossposting limited.
8. Thou shalt strive to provide specific information in your questions.

9. On the 7th day, 50,000 other newsgroups were created. Consider
taking your
automotive, gardening, and chit chat posts elsewhere.
10. Yea who is too lazy to come back here to read the replies need not
post.
(don't expect a personalized email answer)

AMEN Dav

Stretch

Norminn wrote:
Behavior on this newsgroup stays relatively good.

I would have to agree. Overall, this is one of the best, and most
"on-topic" groups that I have come across.

--
"I ain't evil, I'm just good lookin'..."

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

To reply by e-mail, remove the obvious word from the e-mail address

"The Dave©" wrote in message ...
Norminn wrote:
Behavior on this newsgroup stays relatively good.

I would have to agree. Overall, this is one of the best, and most
"on-topic" groups that I have come across.

After some judicious blocking of selected posters.

Bob

In keeping with my own suggestion I am responding to all the replies to
my OP. Thanks for all the comments. Good suggestions. Keep up the good
work.
-B