rating answers, follow up questions

[Susan C.]

I couldn't find the proper place for this question. When we're saying "do
this post answer the question" sometimes I'd like to say "yes" because it is
a good option to try, however it doesn't actually fix my problem. Do I still
click "yes"?

And how long does it take for follow up questions to be answered? I have
one from 3/31 and one from 4/17
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/co...83e0910&cat=&lang=en&cr=US&sloc=en-us&m=1&p=1

Don't like to be impatient, it's just that new questions are answered at
lightning speed.

And if there are a few different questions that may be interrelated or might
not, do we separate them into different discussion groups or crosspost?
There is a cross-post option, but it seems a little rude to me to be
littering up the boards.

thanks
Susan C.

 

[Mick Murphy]

Susan, no one gets paid for posting replies to questions here; and no one
knows all the answers to all the questions!

If you have unanswered questions, maybe at that point in time, the people
coming here did not know the answer to your problem.

It is hit and miss!
I use the web interface, and I don't click back on earlier pages to see
earlier questions.

And what is rude is when people post the same question in different
Newsgroups(not cross-posting), as the answers only appear in that particular
Newsgroup, not all the Thread entries.

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi Susan,

The question is there so that others can find the answer to similar
situations. If a response does not resolve the issue, you should mark "no".

Some questions do not get answered. This is peer to peer support with no
guarantees of timeliness or correctness. There can be several reasons you
did not get any response. It could be no one knows. It could be that the
right person never read it. Most of the regular responders come in and hit
the newest questions first, and few read all of them, there are simply too
many for any one individual. This is why it seems that new ones get
immediate answers.

It is not inappropriate to repost a question if it has gone 2-3 days without
an answer. Simply copy/paste the old one into a new message, and at the top
or in the subject line add text to indicate that it is a repost.

As to using multiple groups the proper method is to crosspost, where the
same message is posted simultaneously to two or three relevant groups, but
you can't do that through the web interface. You'd have to use a newsreader,
such as Windows Mail or Forte Agent (you can read more on this at
http://rickrogers.org/setupoe.htm). Multi-posting, or separately reposting
the same message to several groups, is considered bad form and may get you
several responses addressing this unwanted behavior rather than responding
to your question.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Susan C.]

Thank you all! (especially Rick with a great explanation and suggestion).

I've noticed before (and when I clicked "yes" to your replies) that the next
time around, the same question appears, as if I hadn't clicked "yes" or "no."
Does this just mean I should just answer right away since I won't be able to
tell if I already clicked it in the past?

Oh, and I almost forgot: one time I just posted "thanks for the suggestion
I'll try it" so I deleted all the info that came before it, since it involved
a huge list of my specs and several replies. But I was told to include
earlier stuff so people could what I was talking about. Should I just use my
judgment and include maybe the last message or two? I hate scrolling through
all that stuff to see if there's something at the end.

thanks again,
Susan

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi Susan,

I've noticed before (and when I clicked "yes" to your replies) that the
next
time around, the same question appears, as if I hadn't clicked "yes" or
"no."
Does this just mean I should just answer right away since I won't be able
to
tell if I already clicked it in the past?

Only if you are sure of your response. This is one of the many faults with
the web interface.

Oh, and I almost forgot: one time I just posted "thanks for the suggestion
I'll try it" so I deleted all the info that came before it, since it
involved
a huge list of my specs and several replies. But I was told to include
earlier stuff so people could what I was talking about. Should I just use
my
judgment and include maybe the last message or two? I hate scrolling
through
all that stuff to see if there's something at the end.

So do I. Trimming to only the relevant portions is quite appropriate for
lengthy posts.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

<snip>

 

[Susan C.]

Hi Susan,


Only if you are sure of your response. This is one of the many faults with
the web interface.


So do I. Trimming to only the relevant portions is quite appropriate for
lengthy posts.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

<snip>