Subject lines that just say HELP!
Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)
Posts: 23,514
Subject lines that just say "HELP!" or "(no subject)" are the bane of these forums. I wonder if it would be possible, when a person clicks New Topic, to have the subject line pre-filled in with the following: "Enter a phrase here that describes your topic. Please don't just say HELP!" I think we'd get better subject lines as a result.
Well, that's my rant for the day.
Thanks,
Phil
Well, that's my rant for the day.
Thanks,
Phil
Comments
Unless it's a newbie with a valid question, then the admin can change it for them and send them a PM.
But member when a member has dozens of posts...That is not acceptable.
Bean.
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I will see what I can do to start addressing these posts. The (no subject) ones are usually already taken care of although usually by the time I see them there are replies. I think if we were able to pre-fill the subject line with, “Enter a phrase here that describes your topic. Please don't just say HELP!" we would start seeing a lot of posts with that subject. I will see what I can do. And perhaps Paul can do that in the Propeller Forum and Bean in the SX Forum (if you get there first). Thanks for the feedback.
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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support
But, Chris, you're right about the pre-filled-in subject matter not getting changed. Perhaps a better solution would be to leave the subject line blank, as it is now, and pre-fill the text field with, "Please enter a phrase in the Subject box above that describes your topic. Posts with empty subject lines or those that just say "HELP" or "PROBLEMS" are less likely to get attention." That way it couldn't be ignored.
And if that doesn't work, also pre-filling the subject line with, "Please disregard this post. I couldn't make the effort to enter a subject.", should cure even the laziest posters.
-Phil
Sid
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Sid Weaver
Don't have VGA?
Newzed@aol.com
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lets see what this does... KA BOOM (note to self do not cross red and black)
As a side-note, posts with no subject and/or non-meaningful subjects come second to the number of cross-posts/duplicate posts and posts in the wrong forum. We’ll try harder to keep these under control. It would help also if replies weren't made to threads in the wrong forum or duplicates until we handle them. Once replies are made it is sometimes harder to correct it since moving a thread or deleting a duplicate thread with replies causes other issues. Thanks for all the feedback. Take care.
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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support
The challenge in not replying to duplicate or "wrong forum" posts, is that when we see posts, we don't necessarily know that they are duplicated, and in some instances don't recognize they are in the wrong place.
The duplicate issue is really hard to know about, as the natural way of doing things is to reply to the first thing you see, before checking all the other forums (including forums you might not normally visit).
The "wrong location" threads should be easier to not reply to, but can still be tough for two reasons. First, we don't always remember where we are, and just want to help. Second, some of the stuff is "marginal" on where the "right" place is.
On a more constructive note:
Is it helpful, or a pain, if we, as forum members do the follwoing:
* Post a reply that "this is a duplicate thread" see the same thread in the XXX forum.
* Post a reply that says "this should be in the YYY forum."
* Use the "Alert An Admin About This Post" button on either of the above.
The problems I can see with any of the above are:
* First, everyone's judgement is different.
* If two users both post "this is a duplicate thread, see the XXX forum"...
* If twenty users all use the "Alert" button, the poor admins now have to look at 20 messages about the same thing, taking time from other more significant issues.
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John R.
Click here to see my Nomad Build Log
Yes, I wasn’t asking for forum members to do those things, it was more an explanation of the problems inherent with when these things happen. It is funny you mentioned the message, “This is a duplicate thread. Please see the original at the following link”. Not exactly what you said, but you may have seen this in the past from me. I do that because it’s not an easy thing to remove the thread once there have been replies. Instead I refer to the original thread. I identify these sometimes because I just answered or read the same post in another forum. Sometimes I see that a new user has posted a question with no replies but has posts greater than 1. When that happens I right-click on the member ID and open it in a new window. This shows the last 5 posts. If I then see the same post in another forum (sometimes the same forum) I realize what has happened. There is no easy solution so I will just keep doing what I mentioned at the top and try to stay on top of this stuff in the main forums. With the help of Paul and Bean in the Propeller and SX Forums we should be able to stay on top of things. Take care.
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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support
Parallax Hardware (excluding microcontrollers & robots) ... or something to that effect.
Say I someone has Ping))) question, or an Emic question, or an HB-25 question -- the Stamp, SX and Prop forums are not the best choice, but that's where the post ends up if that's the controller being used. Or they go into the Sandbox, but they're not truly "miscellaneous" posts, and they relate directly to support issues for Parallax manufactured products.
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When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. -- HST
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Paul Baker
Propeller Applications Engineer
Parallax, Inc.
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When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. -- HST
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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support