How Do You Avoid Making People Annoyed?

[Roni Lee]

when you ask questions that you don't realize are dumb? I read a comment on this forum, that if you had researched this you would find this question has been asked a million times. Now what if you had already spent an hour reading all the threads and not understanding half of what you were reading and just decided to ask anyways? Maybe you could not find the question worded the way you were asking it and did not realize that you had missed it? When you get snapped at enough times you quit asking and go to another web host to try and do your best there.

[ahimsa]

Re: How do you avoid making people annoyed

i guess frustration comes as part of the website building process. i can only give you the benefit of my own personal experience: i came to BV/VodaHost with absolutely no idea of what to do to build a site. i took the advice of spending some (in my case considerable) time reading/watching all the tutorials. Like you, & many others, there were, nevertheless, some issues i could not understand. i used the search facility & read threads. 99% of my questions found answers. What i realised along the way was that all the people here answering questions from us ignorant newbies are volunteers. They receive no remuneration from VH - they give freely of their time and share their knowledge with us. (1 or 2 of them seem to do nothing else LOL)
It should therefore come as no big surprise when a newbie asks a question that has indeed been addressed in some thread or another a million times before that our knowledgeable friends get a little peeved!

Sometimes, starting your enquiry with "I'm sure this has been answered before & I'm sorry but I haven't been able to find the solution for this problem. Could you please help me?" goes a long way to getting a sympathetic response :)

don't give up - BlueVoda really is very hard to beat, all things considered,
david

[Collectors-info]

Re: How do you avoid making people annoyed

Roni, I must admit that half the questions would not have to be asked if users & contributors entered a search friendly title to the topics for the forum SE to find as suggested in the how to post a topic/question.

[Justallsorts]

Re: How do you avoid making people annoyed

I am glad someone else has noted the reactions one gets when asking for help.
It would be more pleasant for everyone if you can be directed to the threads were your answers can be found than to be insulted for your lach of knowledge, after all the majority of members are Begginers to all of this.

Please note though the majority of people on here are really helpfull and kind worded, so don't let a select odd one put you off, I nearly moved myself but decided not to.

[Karen Mac]

Re: How do you avoid making people annoyed

Ok... put the **** on the other foot...I only have so much time in a day and devote TOO much here to help. If people would even SCAN the threads in certain forum like SOHOLAUNCH you would see that particular question displayed over and over and over and over.

My view is this...yes new posts are important, but so is the ability to do some self learning. We arent here to give step by step assistance really, but in many cases do it.

Karen

[Vasili]

Re: How do you avoid making people annoyed

When you get snapped at enough times you quit asking and go to another web host to try and do your best there.

But that's just it: are you really doing "your best" before simply taking the easy way out to look for another place someone will hold your hand every step of the way?
If you prefer someone else do things for you, I along with a few other VodaHost Approved freelancers can certainly help you out, but there is nothing that can take the place of being able to say "I built that website myself" and Blue Voda is the most robust and easy-to-learn tool out there!
But, like anything else in life, you get out of things what you've put in.

...yes new posts are important, but so is the ability to do some self learning. We arent here to give step by step assistance really, but in many cases do it.

That is the essence of it all, really.

Nothing can help one new to web building, or one trying to get the hang of using Blue Voda (the reason these Forums are here) more than by doing the processes themselves -- getting the routines, the logic, and the linear procedures 'hard-wired' onto the brain .... "Learning By Doing" is much more effective than following steps without understanding the purpose or the context in which they are called for.

Often, replies are offered from well-intentioned Members, but may be incomplete or altogether incorrect, which is more likely than not a big contributor to frustration all around (how best to give the correct Solution without stepping on toes or 'correcting' another Member-Friend?)!

Becoming familiar with the Forums, how they are structured, and where things are that are of interest is the best way to find solutions and techniques that can help one avoid common pratfalls and obstacles to progress. If a BV User becomes familiar with the forums and threads, they will most likely find the solutions easily ... and for those particular issues not addressed elsewhere, then those new posts (properly made) offer the opportunity not only to address that particular issue, but to enrich all the other Members who might find it useful as well.

It's all a matter of perspective, really .... having the perponderance of posts be from new Members on repetitive things is just par for the course when dealing with an online Community: it takes a while for everyone to get on the same page on how to "interact" and to benefit from that interaction.

Answering innumberable pleas for "Help!!" and "I am a newbie, and just need instructions" gets old really, really fast ... especially when soooooo many tools, Rules, and Tips are sprinkled throughout every Forum: it shows how little respect for the Forums is being demonstrated, especially when 99% of those posts are not even formed as requested in order to actually offer help! (i.e.: How to ask for assistance)
"Damned if you do, damned if you don't"