Place (bin) for inconsistent questions

[Grossel]

Hi.

Exept from spam posts, there is another type of post that I think should be worth cleaning up.

From time to time I see people asking questions without leaving us a fair chance to answer. Not until somebody here is patient enough to make threadstarter (TS for short) specify the problem so it is possible to give a reasonable answer (typically for first time posters, or students that apparently doesn't give any effort to understand their homeworks).
A typically scenario is when TS have a question for a specific circuit, but doesn't upload any schematic or provide link or any neccesary info.

I have the following idea how to meet this posts on a reasonable way:

• There should be a button in aditional to "report post". This button might have almost the same icon, just put a ? instead of the ! sign.
• When somebody hit that button, the TS get a notification mail shortly after with a brief explanation that the post must be rewritten because problem is inconclusive or schematic missing.
• The forum user that HIT this button would get some options regarding the post. Missing schematic, question is not understandable (or some few more options)

And to even improve this feature:

If the TS doesn't answer t.ex within 20 days then the post is moved to a sort of bin (need suggestion what to name it). Much like recycle bin in windows. Purpose is that this thread would not be listed up among other threads or searches in the forum.

If TS add a post to he's thread, then the thread will not belong in the bin anymore (remove marking), but act just like any other post. That is because either TS might have uploaded a chematic OR added a sentence that clearify the question.
If threadstarter still wasn't capable to provide any usefull information, any member could just hit the same button again and the procedure mentioned in bullet list above repeats.

This way my idea is about sorting out threads that doesn't cannot being answered as they appear.
A forum user as me, interrresting in electronics shouldn't have to feel to giving a answer that typically includes wizarda, magic etc to explain the need of uploading schematic to TS.

I assume there is a dosen of other ways to sort this out. A clue to this is that this function should not lead to increased workload for moderators team, it should "live their own life" sort of.


Thanks


[edit]
From time to time I got some wild ideas. Frankly I'm fishing a bit to see if somebody might be agree with me or if this is such a radical suggestion that it's not even a subject for further discussion.

 

[JimB]

I understand your frustration.

It is quite common that people will ask a very ambiguous question with no background information.

The idea of a "button" to send some ready prepared questions to try and extract some more info is quite good, however, most of the time this will just result in more meaningless waffle from the OP.

All in all, probably not worth the effort, unless of course Electromaster feels he wants to rise to the task of producing such a button?

JimB

 

[ElectroMaster]

It's a very interesting idea and the type of threads you are referring to (i.e. with very little detail) are a real concern. Unfortunately I have very little time to allocate to the forum at the moment but, I will watch and would like as many ideas as possible from members.

Another idea is to have a select group of members to have permissions to move such threads straight in to a 'bin'. then have a pm sent to them notifying why. They could then re-write the post again in the original forum.

Regards,
EM

 

[transistor495]

By clicking on a button, threads goes to a bin, cool

That said, PM'ing is better than e-mailing...with contents as like:

Man, this isn't the way of writing a query, please be more specific and elaborated because we forum members are not mind readers. Good luck and be good.

*) Did you forget to post necessary links enriching your contents?
*) How about attaching photos by the way?
*) Have you got it spelled correctly?
*) Have you removed txtspeak which is difficult to follow for others?
*) Don't repeat it anymore..
Link to the bin: .............

Once he edit and save by sitting in the bin it automatically comes back alive at previous position, cool idea

 

[atferrari]

Send the threads to a limbo...

Yes! Addressing this problem in an organized way, will have the benefit that if the OP doesn't bother in adding additional data, it could be discarded, eliminating clutter, saving bandwith and saving frustration for future searches. How MANY threads like that you found when searching in a forum?

Qualified "moderators"? would send the threads to a limbo where they will wait for additional data requested via a standard reply, selected from a list (which should fit exactly the actual lack of whatever).

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

Not a bad idea. Now the post could get binned and re-written by the OP and posted again or binned where the OP must fix it and then it's placed in moderation until approved.

I doubt specifics of the post need to be passed to the OP, just the generalizations. In some respects you could allow binning to members with over x posts with either exclusions or exceptions. Over 500 posts, but not x, y or z member. If < 500 then they must be a member of g's group.

 

[carbonzit]

I share people's frustration with this behavior, and with another type of post I see a lot of here: someone asking a question in the middle of a thread either completely unrelated to, or off on a tangent to, the topic(s) being discussed. Such questions should be in their own threads.

However, I'm going to disagree that the way to handle such problems is to have a magic button that will Presto! make such posts disappear, for a couple of reasons:

1. Some users here--especially newbies--may find this strange and upsetting. Where the hell did my post go?
2. Such a scheme will become a major pain in the butt to administer, believe me.

If there's going to be a button, I would suggest one that simply flags the post, with the reason for flagging (short & sweet) posted, but leaves the message in place (or perhaps gives the person who posted it the chance to move it elsewhere). Otherwise, people are free to leave comments about such deviant posts, or (what a concept!) just ignore them.

 

[Grossel]

I share people's frustration with this behavior, and with another type of post I see a lot of here: someone asking a question in the middle of a thread either completely unrelated to, or off on a tangent to, the topic(s) being discussed. Such questions should be in their own threads.

However, I'm going to disagree that the way to handle such problems is to have a magic button that will Presto! make such posts disappear, for a couple of reasons:

1. Some users here--especially newbies--may find this strange and upsetting. Where the hell did my post go?

Hi. User shall be warned both by email notification AND possible also a pop up window that appears next time he logs in that redirect the user to hes post.

2. Such a scheme will become a major pain in the butt to administer, believe me.

Could be. I have no experience running any forum. You may explain a little to clearify that one to me.

If there's going to be a button, I would suggest one that simply flags the post, with the reason for flagging (short & sweet) posted, but leaves the message in place (or perhaps gives the person who posted it the chance to move it elsewhere). Otherwise, people are free to leave comments about such deviant posts, or (what a concept!) just ignore them.

Hi. Could you be more specific on how you think those flags will behave? Do you intend to have the flags being just a visual icon in the tread list, or should they also have another function as well?

 

[DerStrom8]

I like the idea, overall. Perhaps it would be a good idea to "flag" it and hide it, perhaps having a notification on the original thread saying "post hidden" or something like that, followed by a reason. Then, a PM will be sent to the TS stating the reason and requesting a re-write. If someone wishes to open the question anyway, he or she may do so. If someone asks an un-related question in the middle of someone else's thread, it too may be flagged (and hidden) and the same process will take place---A request will be made via PM that the poster move the question elsewhere.
Der Strom

 

[OlPhart]

From what little I've seen, the vast majority of said posts fall into a short list of categories. As such, a short list of "boiler plate" responses would lessen the admin overhead.

> "we don't do other peoples' homework"
> "pose a question about a design, not to be given one"
> "you need more study on the problem to pose a question that can be answered" (my favorite)

A private peeve is the "I need ....." and "desperately" (in Many spelling variants). 'Minds me of "an emergency on your part doesn't constitute one on mine".

I haunt this forum to point where the fishing poles are & even teach some fishing (to properly respectful) candidates willing to Learn. I stoutly back some method of this threads' topic be tried. If one doesn't work well: tweak and continue.

The only downside is the frequency of my mirth, at the cost of the patently clueless. :') <<<)))

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

I'll go along with the private pieve such as a nondescripive title such as "Help!"