Quality of Forum Replies

This entire post is ill conceived by a new comer who has not spent enough time here to understand the nature of this forum, nor apparently the rules for posting...

That was the reason I posted it in the "General Discussion" section. If the nature of the forum is not to find answers to questions then please explain what it really is. It seems a lot of the time that it dissolves to berating and denigration.

NO, IT'S NOT!!

This person just has the guts to bring up what 95% of the people who post on this forum feel. Face it, the kind of response you get to posts is predicated upon the number of posts and GA's you have (which are easily given to yourself, by the way). The fewer you have, the more likely you are to be berated and bullied.

Yeah, I'm posting anonymously, because I don't want to be blackballed!

I already blackballed you for posting ANON

This response also proves what I'm talking about - the first one posted was negative and belittling.

...as was the op....and it seems each subsequent post thereafter....and as it turns out many before as well....

I know I always enjoy it when someone puts the cuss into discussion.

I randomly replied to you SE because... why not?

I've been here for 5 years. No, it's not.

Maybe that's what I've been searching for all my life - an "Ignore Idiot" feature.

And yes, I agree that some of the posts are ill-conceived and could be answered with just a little extra effort on the part of the poster.

"And yes, I agree that some of the posts are ill-conceived and could be answered with just a little extra effort on the part of the poster."

Actually, that is the "Crux" of the problem roeblinggrid....

People post here with questions that a tiny bit of web-work would have answered.

They have obviously not done anything other than post a question on CR4. SIMPLY NOTHING!! and it is very obvious.

That is the first type of post(er) that gets "ragged".

The second is the poster who supplies no useful information that might allow a helpful hint or two. The classic one here is:- "my car won't start! Why?"......

This type of post will also draw nasty comments.

Lets face it, if anyone is so silly as to make these types of post, then sad to say, but I feel that they get what they deserve. If they cannot handle it, then they should please log-off for ever and find somewhere else to annoy.

Not start complaining about the quality of answers when my 3 year old Grandson could have written a better question!!

They certainly will never improve their thinking if they are not told what they did wrong. In fact, I sincerely believe they will simply get worse.

Also, homework questions from students, who should have listened better in school/college, should never be posted here. I have worked with Engineers who appear to have slept though their studies for 5 years or more and did not deserve to even take the name. Am I alone in such thinking, I think not!!

Also, if you make your question and information look and sound like homework, even if its not, then you will also get treated badly.....

In the future, anyone wanting a substantive help here should also tell us the reasons behind their question. But if it is to remain secret for patent reasons, go somewhere else please.....I want to be educated as well, not simply used!

We should run a small contest here, looking back on all previous initial posts and then vote on the most stupid one of all in our eyes. Anyone game?

Of course, the number of Off Topic posts will help guide us as well in many cases!!

Oh, man! It sucks to get caught out like that. Kind of kills the well-developed feeling of self-rightousness I had been working so hard to cultivate. On the other hand, I was replying to a replier's inanity and not the original poster so I feel somewhat vindicated.

Hear Hear !

I gave you a GA for not working henweigh or duckdo into your responses, so far.

I'm posting anonymously, keeping true to the spirit of 99% of anonymous posts that are pointless and seemingly without merit.

Oh, snap!

Due to the original question of asking about childhood problems I think it was a comment that could be made.

In the mirror we look the same but the complete opposite Doorman.

We call this typical guy right in our place KJ -Kill Joy and OS, Overly Sensitive.

What's the whining all about, though he is not enjoying the forum. Good laughs right here, who says C4 forum sucks?

Good laughs and learning, that should be this forum's all about. The hell with the political things on the job site and workplace.

There is no such thing as a "dumb question" , but there is definitely such a thing as a "stupid answer".

How true

balony

roeblinggrid, I don't want to leave my comment #12 hanging. In fact, I'm going to go back and mark it OT, so I don't profit one of these GA things you mention at your expense. I did, after all take a swipe at you.

Now, the reason I did so was not to have some sadistic fun, bullying you from an anonymous chair hundreds of miles from you. It's called 'Give-And-Take'. I've been around here long enough that I treat the forum like a discussion forum, as if we weren't miles apart but in the same room, the same table, having a coffee and discussing your issue. In such a conversation, we can size each other up, read the eyes, watch the body language... At the CR4 table I haven't got that luxury, so I will sometimes intentionally set someone back with an abrupt comment.

Without delving too deeply into the psychological landscape of it, we can learn much from someone's response to an abrupt comment. Your acquiescence to the comment, for example, tells me about you. It's a tough world out there, and because of that, to be quite honest, I usually won't offer a lot of grease for the skids to someone who whines, bitches and snivels about the way they are treated.

SavvyExacta has excellent advice (I'm gonna go give her a GA thingy). Participate. Give and take. Observe, and make observations. Maybe crack a joke. Be yourself. Get to know your neighbors, help when you can.

This forum is, after all, like the stove and cracker-barrel at the general store.

So, in response to "I guess what I am trying to say is that if you can't offer some useful advise to the people that are trying to reduce their level of ignorance - not to be confused with stupidity, which just might be what the useless repliers are exhibiting - why waste your time and the time of everyone else." I would say... Here, have a warm seat, some crackers and cheese, slow down a bit and explain things so maybe I understand a little better.

Instead of coffee, could we change the beverage to a nice beer instead?

See numerous previous threads on CR4 when this sort of question has been raised and we have answered it from our own points of view (including mine).

I really don't feel like going into it again and as you can see from some of the posts above neither do many others, but on the plus side you get to try out the CR4 search feature and delve into our previous discussions finding out what we think.

Short answer, GA's are not a true indication of good answers (not by a long shot), garbage question's in=unhelpful answers out (or requests for more information followed by silence from the original question poster) and I'm one of the positive ones.

Now I know why you post!!

I'd give you more GA's if I could, excellent reply. The OP's statement rates up there with starting a post as "(Dear Sir)"s" As most of us know, there are well educated women here too.

To the OP, stick around and you'll feel the frustrations that most of us feel when students, (want a be Engineer) ask, rather demand the answers to their "home work assignments". And the sad thing is, they spend waste more time looking through and reading answers to their post, than spend the same amount of time using a search engine and doing their research and Actually Learn Something on Their Own!!

OR, when someone comes here looking for answers to questions regarding working around electricity, over-head cranes, self-anchoring bridges or ...., when they have no clue what they are doing!

So, are some of us cynical? Yes. Why? Because people in today's age, are to damn (yes DAMN) Lazy to Do Their Own Work!! Is it because of robotics or is it they actually have to use their own brain to think for themselves and do key strokes? Either way, it's a sad state of affairs.

As the Heading states; "CR4 - The Engineer's Place for News and Discussion^®"

This is Not A Question and Answer Forum. That said, most of us will try and answer questions, legitimate questions, that will not put people's lives at stake. Tho, there are some here that feel compelled (thru self gratification) to guide these OP's (AP's) to harm themselves or other's.

Have a Great and Safe Day, where ever in the world you are

dj

You're right, there are a number of people who enjoy attacking posts but, amongst all of those there are also many thoughtful, incisive & informative answers that really get to the heart of the posters question. It's just a case of sorting the wood from the trees, if the posts take a nasty turn, just leave them but don't give up completely.

I joined this forum a number of years ago, and there was a lot of good interaction between the members and guests, I liked the idea of guests, to me an expression of free speech. But as I have learnt over the years, in any group you have people who have an opinion that they must uphold the standards of the group? Yes there are those that express their opinion like your self, and yes I sometimes don't agree, and the standard I would like for this forum is free speech. Welcome to the group.

Regards JD.

It's all about speaking loudly but carrying a small stick. Amateur psychoanalysis not needed.

--Sigmund Fraud

You forgot about Teddy Bear.

I guess the crux of the matter for me is to answer the genuinely worthwhile questions and then ignore (and don't waste your valuable time on) the ones that don't deserve a response. If people keep responding to these ill-conceived posts then people will keep posting ill-conceived posts. But then again, according to Solar Eagle this one was ill-conceived and probably displayed the hints of deep psychological issues.

"The supply of fools will always outstrip the demand"

Could be changed to read, "The supply of ill-conceived, poorly thought out, senseless, posts that would be far better answered by a Google search than coming here", will always outstrip the demand."

Performing a search means that the searcher has to make decisions about the quality and applicability of the responses they get. In other words, they have to think.

Getting a direct response to:

I just want to know,

1) Reliability "what does it means"

2) What is Equipment reliability?

3)What is plant reliability? frees the hapless, anonymous poster of any need to think. They just want the answer! Usually with justifications and examples.

You got to love it. It seems to only get better by the day

GA

Well put with good examples.....

Surprisingly I am the first, maybe nobody else understood you.....

I thought I did give Lyn a GAn but apparently it didn't register. They are fine examples of " you got to be joking, right?"

design by abaquse

You got give jhone some credit, he/she didn't post as an AP and didn't hide the fact that it's a home work assignment, it's straight out of the book

Lyn is not in a good mood this week, so give him one now to improve his demeanour!!

After reading through everything, there are a lot of good points. I somewhat agree with your gripes, but this is a learning forum. I think you just have to do as I do, and quickly scan(read) some of the comments and just shrug them off or forget them. Any one who posts should be giving the question an honest answer based on their past experiences.

Personally I like the old adage "you learn by your mistakes" and you can see that in some of my posts. I give some of the down sides because, face it, been there done that, hopefully there are lessons to be learned from other peoples mistakes as well.

Live, read and learn. As for the chit-chat and negative posts, either forget it or live with it.

I find the quality of the replies is directly proportional to the quality of the question.
Therefore, the quality of the replies on this forum is quite good!

You pose some questions, which I will answer.

Could it be that the negative repliers are possibly compensating for childhood feelings of inadequacy? No.

Could it be that they were bullied as children - this is, after all, an engineering forum - and are seizing on the opportunity to bully from the anonymity of the internet? No, and not all engineers fall into whatever sterotype you're making about being bullied.

Does that help? Let me know if I can assist further.

Since I have access to every crisis in the world, that doesn't mean I have to worry about every one of them. This is also known as knowing where the off button is.

The Internet is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn't understand, the largest experiment in anarchy that we have ever had.

Just 10 years ago, a top professor at MIT would not have had the knowledge at his fingertips that a ten year old kid in a fishing village in Bangladesh has today.

A wiser fella than myself once said; "Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear, …… well, he eats you."

Acknowledgements to Google Executive Eric Schmidt and The guy with the Cowboy thing going on in The Big Lebowski.

Hey. That's my handle!