Why do folks here get so upset when someone posts a topic that can be found elsewhere? The second post on the Gun Silencer topic got me going. I think it was uncalled for. Part of the fun of this site is that even though a topic may have an answer that is easily, usually the discussion will bring up other points of interest and questions. Or maybe the other site doesn’t have enough information.
Lighten up!
because anything that can be posted in the second thread can also be posted in the original thread. thus not needing a second thread.
You just missed a great (good?) thread on bumping old treads - adding to old threads and when it is better to start new ones.
If you have been on the board a long time (over a month?) you’ll see some of the same questions coming up again and again. Giving a new person the old thread’s answer can save having to type the same old same old all over again.
If you have come up with a new wrinkle on an old topic and someone pastes the old thread’s address just keep on going! If someone wants to bring up a new point, they still can.
Personally I’d rather you started new than drag out an old thread - they get too long too fast and then take forever to pull up.
Hey, this place is a reminder that we should put prozac in the water!
Are you driving with your eyes open or are you using The Force? - A. Foley
I was referring more to information that could be found on other sites.
I am new to this message board but on the othe boards that I visit the samething happens. The same topics come up again and again. It doesn’t bother me because it is someone elses opinion and maybe the will offer something completely different.
Well, oblong, to quote Cecil, “I don’t want your freakin’ opinions, I want FACTS!”
I think the main reason is that it’s irratating when people ask for answers that could easily be found in a thousand different locations on the net. It’s like walking into a library and asking the person behind the desk, “Can you tell me something about the works of Mark Twain?” I’m sure she could, but you’ll learn more if you do the work yourself.
The true purpose of these boards is to help people who have looked and can’t find the answer.
I thought the purpose of this board was to provide entertainment for the people who read the threads and receive revenue from the people who advertise in the upper left corner of the pages?
ATTguy, the board does not make a profit. The people who work on it volunteer.
People should have the courtesy to search first otherwise the board gets real big & if you didn’t notice, it goes offline.
Why are you getting so upset just because someone provided you with a site that answered your question?
Which is pretty much what happened in that thread. Someone gave you a compete answer to a question and discussion ensued on other aspects of silencer usage.
So what’s the problem?
Gypsy: Tom, I don’t get you.
Tom Servo: Nobody does. I’m the wind, baby.
The purpose of this board, like all other boards and websites, is to amuse me. If it fails in that function, it will cease to exist in the Fideliusverse.
I can go both ways. Some questions seem to get asked over and over and it gets a little tiresome. On the other hand, a gentle link to an existing post is better than belittling someone and calling them lazy for not having found it themselves. As for existing information on the net, I dare say that if each and every person looked up all their info exhaustively on the net before asking, Cecil would be out of a job. I can’t say how many times I’ve read a SD column and thought “Didn’t I just read this in Snopes a month ago?”
Still, as has been said, half the fun in asking is getting new opinions and stories about the topic. I remember asking a question about the merchant marines before that got a nasty “look in the dictionary” response and then a bunch of colorful stories and information that served me much more than a 3 line entry in the OED would have.
“I guess one person can make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”
Whether the people who work on the board get paid or not, it doesn’t change the fact that there are ads and they make a profit for someone.
If space is such a problem, why have a BBQ Pit or MPSIMS since they certainly take space that “doesn’t fight ignorance”?
No one likes trolls or total idiots, but there is lots of room for everyone else here.
In this world, you must be oh-so smart, or oh-so pleasant. For years I was smart. I recommend pleasant.
Some topics are worth repeating, however, because the nature of the topic changes with time. Like favorite web sites.
I didn’t say profit, I said revenue.
Oblong, it’s mainly just that some of us are less tolerant than others of people (especially newbies with like 1 or 2 posts) who log onto the SDMB just to ask questions that they could find out elsewhere, like “when will [rock band]'s new CD be out?”
It also depends on the time of day, what we had for breakfast, whether we’ve had our coffee yet, and how many times that week we’ve already told a fewer-than-five-posts newbie when [rock band]'s new CD would be out.
Until you personally get the hang of it, of knowing what kind of questions it pleases us to answer, then every time you post a General Question, you’re just going to have to accept that it’s gonna be kind of a crap shoot, whether someone fries you in the first response with a link, or whether you get a long, thoughtful discussion.
I thought the gun silencer question was a good one, but hindsight being 20/20, of course, you could have looked it up yourself. But then again, until I joined the SDMB, I myself was completely unaware, for example, that there even WAS a website called “how stuff works”. And it’s mainly to avoid having my head snapped off in the first response that I now think more carefully before I post a question.
“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!” - the White Queen