No Response Back

[Kevin Cooper]

It amazes me how many will post that they have some issue of something that’s not working and ask for help. After numerous possibilities are posted to help resolve the issue, “Crickets” from the original poster.
I thought I would get in my yearly rant early this year!
Have a wonderful year everyone! Best Wishes, Kevin

[dwaynebmsg]

If you ask for help, it is just common courtesy to say "Thank You". You might even mention what you did to solve your problem.

[norty1]

It happens a lot on many other forums also, I just chalk it up to human nature. I do always think when I see a thread like this, "How Rude" to ask for help then never even look or comment on it.

[Riich]

I think my biggest peeve is the guys that don't bother to thoroughly read through a thread before posting. Some of them don't even read the original poster's post thoroughly. For example, a guy may be having electrical issues and has already done several things to try to solve on his own. Right there in black and white you will see "I changed the breaker and it is still tripping". A page later and guys are still telling him his breaker might be weak and he should change it. This happens a lot in here with all kinds of issues.

Please read before posting. Save yourself some embarrassment.

[TaftCoach]

It seems to be the "one thread wonders" that do that the most. They set up an account to solve their problems and never return unless they have another problem.

That's obviously fine, it continues to build the usefulness of the site and of course leads to the "have you done any research?" pet peeve.

[RoadieWingZ]

It happens a lot, several times a week, on the Harley forum I frequent. First post is asking to solve a problem, then crickets. Annoying in some ways for people who are truly invested in the community, but seems to be a global phenomenon that’s unlikely to change any time soon.

[pconroy]

Originally Posted by norty1

It happens a lot on many other forums also, I just chalk it up to human nature. I do always think when I see a thread like this, "How Rude" to ask for help then never even look or comment on it.

I agree Norty - I too see it a lot.

I suspect that when something breaks, and they're a newbie, stress levels are high and they may "shotgun" their requests for help to several places.

Hopefully, for them, their issue is solved. Yeah, it would be better if they came back with a Thanks, but as long as they got their problem fixed.

That does make me wonder, if there's a correlation between these posts and first-time RVers?

[Old and soft]

Make sure to let us know how you resolved this problem.

[JimD]

Could it be they are embarrassed because the fix was totally obvious? Hey, I dropped my fork on the floor, what do I do?

I see many posts where people ask for the exact cause of a problem without doing any checks before posting the help request. No lights, well did you check the fuses? No power, did you check anything?

I personally very much enjoy helping people if I have a leg up on the problem. I will put in my 2.5 cents worth even if they have not done anything or appear totally clueless. I will NEVER criticize them for asking for help or make them feel bad. But yes, whatever the fix that solves the problem was, it should be added to the thread. It adds to the database in our heads of the possible sources of problems when the issue pops up again.

Boy, do I need to shut up and go do the chores my wife has scheduled for me.

[norty1]

Another thing I am guilty of is discussing things rv using my experience and knowledge. I have embarrassed myself a number of times after finding out that my knowledge is outdated as the technology has changed and I am talking about they way it used to be.

Point example is telling someone how to bypass a water heater and finding out that the industry uses 2-3 way valves instead of 3-2 way valves. You can find that and other configurations still in use so you can lead someone astray unless you know what they have.

Same way with troubleshooting electricity. One bad test or measurement can send you off on a tangent that you may never find your way back!

[Kevin Cooper]

I was the go to ask questions electrical guy by the PM’s at the contractors office. My boss came yelling at me one day and told me to stop asking so many questions before answering their question. I looked him in the eye and said, without knowing exactly what they are asking, I will not answer their question. You know VP griping to another VP, then to me. Three months later my VP boss came in my office and looking at the floor said, “You were right”. “What about” said I. “Answering questions”. “So, how many code violations were done because you answered?” “50 times” said he. He got extremely lucky! We were doing 3D design and building very very large electrical projects right after that. One mistake in answering a question incorrectly could cause 10,000 NEC violations. I made one mistake not checking deep enough and two conduits got swapped. Electrically, no issue. But someone else would have to change some numbers in their program. They couldn’t handle that so, because it was a clean room, everything had to be wiped down and cleaned before going inside. So swapping 6 pairs of conduits in the 3 rooms cost $70,000.