Ignoring Advice and Help

[jramshu]

Seems to me that newer members completely ignore advice from a lot of people based on number of posts or simply because a "staff member" or "moderator" happens to chime in. What frustrates me is when a member gives the exact same advice before as the above mentioned(higher poster/staff/mod).

Personally, I am debating on whether to even give any advice/help at all anymore. I am not the best help, but when what I say is exactly the same but is completely ignored it tends to make me think that I am really not helping at all, and really just wasting my time typing in a reply.

I'll probably get ripped to shreds on this and that will probably be the "tipping point" where I just say the heck with it and just quit posting. I mean, why bother giving advice or helping when what you say is ignored due to a member with a ton of posts or a mod/staff member post says the exact same thing after you.(I do totally understand when two people reply at the exact same time.) Another thing I don't understand, wouldn't it be easier to just go along the lines of "Yeah, what he said." Why repeat the exact same thing?

I'm not saying it only happens with me, it happens to a lot of folks.
Maybe I'm the only one who thinks this way. And no, I'm not looking for any recognition.

[haqking]

Well we are all volunteers here and give help freely whether people choose to take it or not.

If you are here to help then help, who cares if someone follows your advice or not, if you are here for recognition or beans or status or reverie then it is the wrong place.

I have had infractions, threads closed, people squablling over things i say, at end of day it is just a forum for the dissemination of knowledge and occasionally an interesting discussion, take it light heartedly and only respond to threads that interest you or where you want to engage someone into discussion and dont worry too much.

it is all simple light fun, for the most part it is anonymous and it is just about sharing information.

besides if you stop helping then you wont get status and so people will always ignore your posts and so the cycle continues to your disdain ;-)

peace

[forrestcupp]

Maybe I'm the only one who thinks this way. And no, I'm not looking for any recognition.
You hit the nail on the head. A lot of people are looking for recognition, and that's why they repeat the same thing.

What you're saying is right on. You don't have to have a lot of time and posts to have experience that can help people. The truth is that newer people have probably been through these experiences more recently than older people, so it's still fresh on their minds.

But people are always going to trust seniority, so what are you going to do? One thing that would help would be if we could force everyone to only post when they actually know the answer. :)

[haqking]

i get ignored all the time only to find 3 pages on someone says the same thing i did on first page and then the OP follows it and thanks them.

its all good, the OP got it fixed thats the important thing i guess.

Though i do scream to myself some times " I JUST SAID THAT" ;-)

mind you i am probably wrong some times too ! thats life

[Bandit]

I agree with Forrestcupp.

IMHO they should do away with public post counts all together and let someone post be judged by its accuracy other then its beno count..

[Frogs Hair]

Often new members have been using Linux for a very long time and are only new to Ubuntu . So it would be unwise for me to overlook any answer . What you are saying is true in my experience on computer forums in general that display a rank of some sort . Tom's Hardware and the Nvidia Forums come to mind .

[haqking]

I agree with Forrestcupp.

IMHO they should do away with public post counts all together and let someone post be judged by its accuracy other then its beno count..


well as you know beans can be turned off from displaying.

also how does a newbie know what is accurate or not until he follows the advice ?

I dont think there is anyway to judge a post until it has been carried out and that wont reflect ?

As long as people understand it is free opinions and not paid for support or guaranteed advice. If they want that canonical offers pay for support plans.

personally i dont care either way, i enjoy it here, its a giggle sometimes , frusttrating at other times, informative sometimes, and full of rubbish at others...it is a virtual IT department for sure ;-)

[ajgreeny]

Something I find a bit annoying is the lack of response from an OP after I have given an answer that I might be almost 100% certain is right, (not often that it happens but it has been known).

I would have expected is an acknowledgement that tye solution offered worked, or for some reason didn't, or that the OP found another way to sort the problem.

That really is ignoring advice, and the advisor.

Not a crime, I agree, but a quick "Thank you" would be nice.

[XubuRoxMySox]

Sometimes it isn't what we say, but how we say it.

When I was a brand newbie I asked a question and four people answered it - all offered the exact same solution, but one was put in terms that I could easily understand and quickly implement.

I don't think it's bad when two or more posters offer the same advice, especially to newbies, just because there's a better chance that someone will put the answer in terms that make sense to the OP.

Big words and Linux-lingo still scare me away, lol, even after two years on Linux now! So I may repeat your completely accurate answer, but put it in terms that I think are simpler for beginners to understand and implement. It's no insult to you nor competition with you, if I repeat your advice using small words and simple language. I just remember how I felt as a newbie, so scared and feeling kinda lost when I poured over replies with strange, unfamiliar terms and commands and stuff. M'kay?

Still a newbie at heart,
Robin

[3Miro]

Sometimes it isn't what we say, but how we say it.

When I was a brand newbie I asked a question and four people answered it - all offered the exact same solution, but one was put in terms that I could easily understand and quickly implement.

I don't think it's bad when two or more posters offer the same advice, especially to newbies, just because there's a better chance that someone will put the answer in terms that make sense to the OP.

Big words and Linux-lingo still scare me away, lol, even after two years on Linux now! So I may repeat your completely accurate answer, but put it in terms that I think are simpler for beginners to understand and implement. It's no insult to you nor competition with you, if I repeat your advice using small words and simple language. I just remember how I felt as a newbie, so scared and feeling kinda lost when I poured over replies with strange, unfamiliar terms and commands and stuff. M'kay?

Still a newbie at heart,
Robin

+1. I don't think novices really look at beans, sometimes they just don't understand what you are trying to say. Without looking at your posts (I have no way of doing that), an example would be:

Question: I have a problem with partitions.

Person A: what does "sudo fdisk -l" give you.

Person B: go to Apps -> Accesories -> Terminal and type

sudo fdisk -l
copy and paste the results here.

Both Person A and Person B are correct, but a novice would only understand person B.