[jcsganga34]

I've been deciding on whether to post on this or not, but people are getting out of control with the search option on this site. I've been a member for a long time, and things were not like this early on this site. While this site is probably one of the most useful on the web and one of the most mature, people need to relax with the search button comments. Sometimes people search and don't find the correct keywords, or sometimes they don't know the search button exists. No need to make off the cuff comments about it, I don't think it does anything except ruffle feathers. If you know an answer about something that has been answered before and its short, I would just post the answer and then politely tell them that the search function exists. Also, providing links and how you got them is also useful. While I understand multiple threads about the same thing is harmful in many ways(bandwidth+its already been answered) I don't think people are handling it properly all the time. Just my .02. Happy New Year!

 

[joey]

I agree, answering with "use the search" is not constructive or helpful.
We should be more helpful, or say nothing at all.

If someone thinks the search button/feature is the way to go, then they should take the effort to run the search and post the search results.

Someone recently was looking for pictures of Lava Red.
If we want to be helpful, we should run the search ourselves and then provide the link to the search results, such as this one with LAVA.
http://www.300cforums.com/search.php?searchid=66629

The person asking the question will feel helped, and they will also learn the forum tools.

 

[HEMEEE]

jcsganga34, I agree that there is no need for rude and condescending comments. In a recent thread, I saw a reply by an older member that was disturbing, and as if that wasn't bad enough, it was then compounded by a newer member... just mean and unnecessary IMO. I will not reference the thread, they know who they are.

joey, you did reference the Lava Red thread in your reply and I have the feeling you were referring to my post?? Just so there is no misunderstanding, I didn't have the time to run the search myself but I was willing to provide a lead and stated that pics could be found by searching the profiles of the 2 members named as having Lava Red. If I thought my reply could be misconstrued as rude I would not have posted it. I was trying to be helpful, you obviously just did a better job of it than I did . BTW, your link above is broken, so not really all that helpful...

All in all I feel if we try to tell members how they should, or should not, respond when they are tying to be helpful we will instead discourage them from responding. It wouldn't take long for the forum to collapse if that happened... As of today we have 1,170 members but you'll notice the majority of the posts are still by only a handful of same members. I still find this to be the best forum I have visited, in terms of friendliness, courtesy, advice, information and humor. I really look forward to my visits here every day!

 

[joey]

joey, you did reference the Lava Red thread in your reply and I have the feeling you were referring to my post?? Just so there is no misunderstanding, I didn't have the time to run the search myself but I was willing to provide a lead and stated that pics could be found by searching the profiles of the 2 members named as having Lava Red. If I thought my reply could be misconstrued as rude I would not have posted it. I was trying to be helpful, you obviously just did a better job of it than I did . BTW, your link above is broken, so not really all that helpful...
QUOTE]

Half the time I don't even notice who is writing. Rereading the Lava thread, I now see you suggested searching on Herminio's profile/posts. That was not rude at all and normally would be very helpful. But if they don't know how to use the Search feature, then searching for Herminio would even be more complicated.
My assumption is, when someone posts a general question they are newcomers and need a little help learning the ropes and website tools. I tend to try to over explain (just ask my wife )

Funny thing about that Search Link I posted becoming invalid. Originally it worked, because I tested it. It appears the Search ID numbers become invalid after a short period of time. So my suggestion of posting a search result won't work on this forum.