to regulars and first time posters - Good alt.home.repair etiquette?

[No]

Hello - There are a lot of people who lure here, a lot of people who post a lot of good information, most replies are good, there is not a lot of noise.

My question is this - Why do some people post a question and never bother to respond to follow-up questions that regular posters may have? Are our first responses sooo comprehensive that no further discussion is required? How come sometime I feel like I'm posting to a black hole? To everyone - a simple thank you or acknowledgment of the response would be great. Some may complain that it just clutters things up. My contention is that it enhances the discussion. If a question is posted, a response is given, an acknowledgment that it works or doesn't would be of tremendous value to all. If the OP finds a different solution off board and posts it that would be great too! if someone asks about which this or that they should buy, the OP should then come back and describe what the decision was and why plus any impressions. Maybe even a long term use report a few months later would be a bit too much to ask.

I know some of us do this already. Thanks.

Is there an FAQ? Maybe some of these suggestions could be added there.

Done ranting

To regular posters - Keep up the good work, you know who you are.

[Norminn]

Behavior on this newsgroup stays relatively good. There are those of us who can't resist politics once in a while, those who are always predictably polite and helpful, a few who are predictably rude but helpful, etc. My wish is that folks who get a lot of answers to their question or problem would come back and let us all know what worked. There has been a minimum of trolling, advertising and cross-posting of garbage, so IMO ahr is ****. :o)

[The Reverend Natural Light]

Some posters might be expecting replies via email and never come back to look. Or they were flamed and gave up on usenet as a valuable discussion forum.

Is there a FAQ? It would be helpful.

-rev

[davefr]

Here's the 10 commandments of alt.home.repair. (I wrote them)

1. Thou shalt not post in HTML
2. Yee who posts a binary attachment will face the rath of HYH. Images are welcome (and helpful) as long as they are a link to a website.
3. It's a wise man that will search and groups.google.com before posting to A.H.R. ("How to strip wallpaper" and "How to stain my deck" have been asked at least once or twice before!!)
4. No commercial spam, no FA, and no FS posts. (these go in alt.marketplace). Mercy will be granted to those that answer a post with a commercial link that helps solve the posters original problem.
5. Thou shalt refrain from posting while inebriated. (This means you and your cat, Ben.)
6. Yee shalt refrain from profanity, p*rn, or personal assaults. Those who heed these warnings will be free from termites, lead paint, plumbing leaks, and long lines at Home Depot as long as yea shall live.
7. Be "NOT" fruitful and multiply. Keep crossposting limited.
8. Thou shalt strive to provide specific information in your questions.

1. On the 7th day, 50,000 other newsgroups were created. Consider taking your automotive, gardening, and chit chat posts elsewhere.

1. Yea who is too lazy to come back here to read the replies need not post. (don't expect a personalized email answer)

[Stretch]

AMEN Dav

Stretch

[The Dave©]

I would have to agree. Overall, this is one of the best, and most "on-topic" groups that I have come across.

[Doug Boulter]

I've been on home repair newsgroups since before there were newsgroups (in the early and mid-90s, the various services, like Prodigy and AOL, had home repair groups). That people who ask questions rarely provide feedback is a fact of life. It doesn't change, and wishing it would won't make it happen.

A FAQ is a double edged sword. If there were a FAQ, every time someone asked a question that's in the FAQ, 50 people would berate that poster for not reading the FAQ--and the newsgroup would fill up with a lot of totally useless posts. There will always be more new, one-time users coming with questions than there will be regular users who know about the FAQ, so this is another battle that we can't win. And a FAQ is a LOT of work for someone to maintain.

But you're absolutely right that not getting feedback is part of what burns out the good amateurs and pros who answer questions. the second part is having to answer the same question over and over. People burn out and move on, but there are always more to take their place.

[Bob]

After some judicious blocking of selected posters.

Bob

[No]

In keeping with my own suggestion I am responding to all the replies to my OP. Thanks for all the comments. Good suggestions. Keep up the good work.

-B