I have been mostly very pleased with the responses in the forums here. Almost all people seem to be very patient and helpful, especially with the newbies like myself, that are hungry and need answers that cant be found in books sometimes.

However, I'm very disappointed at what I will call.. the LQ Police that seem to run around and chastize someone for posting in the wrong style, or posting in two different forums, or something like that. Have these people got nothing to do but be tacky and chime in some worthless dribble when someone needs help? I AM certain that they once asked for help.

Sometimes we, as newbies, dont always know the best place to put a question. There are overlaps. Likewise, not all people go through ALL the forums to check posts either. So a newbie question, might very well find a home in both the newbie forum, where possible someone has recently encountered the problem and solved it, or might also be equally as appropriate posted in the Hardware forum, if a particular hardware compatibility is suspected. I personally dont see anything wrong with that.

Now of course one shouldnt abuse that policy either, by posting their question in EVERY forum. But what really disturbs me, is that someone feels "compelled" to chastize someone in a reply...rather than just letting it go, or, possibly helping. I have seen several cases where a person literally ripped apart a question from a newbie, telling them it should be somewhere else, and then when the newbie put it there, he got ANOTHER rip for double posting. Isnt that a bit silly?

I'd ask for all people to be a little more tolerant. and help one another. Think twice before you rip into someone that just is hungry and wants an answer to an issue. They trust the people here and their knowledge. All you do by chatizing is prove yourself to be a grouch and unhelpful. Everyone is a newbie at one time or another. Lets help each other, and build each other up, not tear down.

Regards,
Kork

You know what disappoints me? When I spend 20 minutes typing out a thoughtful and helpful answer to someone's question only to find that the sodding b*st*rd already had the question answered in another forum because he posted twice..

BTW, this should be in either the General forum, or the Website Questions and Suggestions forum.

LOL.

Sorry, couldn't help myself there.

I see both your points. Can you see each others?

Well, my post[s] above were made with only half a straight face. Sure I remember being a noob, but it isn't to tough to post something in the right forum, and when you sign up here you agree to abide by a few simple rules such as not cross-posting. The mods here are constantly having to close duplicate posts, and move other posts because as few people can't be bothered to read them.

Thus is my point. This is not a publically owned forum, it is a privelege to use this great resource that Jeremy has created, not a right. If you start a private club, you can make whatever rules you want, and leave it to individuals to see if they want to live by those rules and join the club. If the mods here have to spend 10 hours a day here closing threads and enforcing the rules, which I remind you again, everyone agreed to by clicking "OK" when signing up here...then they may start thinking about more drastic measures to keep the forums orderly such as charging membership fees or somesuch...then LQ is ruined for all of us.

How hard is it really to post in the proper forum? They are described quite well on the main page, as to what should go where. I suspect that the majority of mis-postings are caused by sheer laziness or someone just not giving a sh*t rather than a noobie not being able to decide which forum to post in. Anyone with two brain cells to rub together can choose the proper forum to post in if they think about it for a few moments, besides, about the only time threads get moved is when someone posts something like "What's your opinion on the current state of gender-relations?" in the Linux-networking forum. I mean how obvious is that?

Besides, a "chastizing" and a "stern but polite reminder" can be the same thing to two different people. If you had to type "please don't cross post" 15 times a day you'd be pissed too.

Moved: Wrong forum. Please post in the most appropiate forum your question or discussions belong in. This has nothing to do with Linux but about the site, so its been moved to Website Questions and Suggestions.
Apparently you missed the sticky at the top of Linux - General: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=103564

Thank you Bulliver, I couldn't have said it any better. We try out best to have members follow the rules and by doing what we do, we make sure that everyone's experience here is the best. By these rules we imply and impose upon members, it only creates and makes the site better. It makes members post better and more helpful questions so members can answer more effeciently. Were not police, were just here to help everyone. I'm sure no one would want to come to a forum where every title reads, "Help me, Urgent!!!!!" and only be frustrated when they see someone post the same question in every forum cause they think its going to speed up their replies... and NO, it won't and its not needed either.

Also in the future, if you have a problem with a moderator or even another member, maybe you should try to contact the admin to resolve before posting long posts like this.

Regards.

Well, first of all, I appreciate the viewpoints, because I believe they are healthy to develop a good solid forum audience. Thank you all for your comments!

Second, I rest my case in a way, as the post got moved, and with a tacky warning, which I had written about This only proved my point that I was trying to make. I saw "General", so I felt that was the best place. No, I probably didnt take time to read the "sticky" at the top. AS about 90% of everyone else wont do either. Not saying that its right or wrong, just fact. But, could the post have been moved more with a comment like "We have moved your post to another forum for better response to your question, please see link.........", rather than such a arrogant, most untasteful post that leaves one with somewhat of a bad taste in one's mouth. Byt the way, this isnt a slam on trickykid or anyone, because I have seen their tremendous efforts to help people and respect their knowledge.

I can truly respect the efforst of the ladies and gentlemen that put forth their time to help those of us that are Linux-challenged at the moment. Believe me I have been the recipient of your wisdom many times, and probably wouldnt even be running today if it werent for people like bulliver and trickykid. My comments were simply an observation. Living as long as I have, I understand the priviledge of having such a great resource at our fingertips. But I also know, even from experience, that as you grow in knowledge, it is a continual battle to share that knowledge in a graceful, and willing way, without coming off arrogant and cynical. Those of you that have this tremendous knowledge know the importance of sharing it..otherwise Linux would not be where it is today. I am very grateful that you do. I only ask that perhaps an understanding of where you came from, perhaps years ago, be remembered.

It may not be as "easy" as you think to get the right answers. Perhaps you can enlighten me...when you get an error message, or have a difficult situation, and you are young in the ways of Linux, where IS the best place to post? Is it always in the NEWBIE forum? If so, am I getting the full effect of the resources that this site has to offer? Suppose the problem that I have is perceived by me as a "newbie" issue, but its really a very tricky hardware issue (which btw happened to me). Yes I double posted in both newbie and the hardware on that particular thing, mainly because I posted first in Newbie, but later thought that those people that visit the HARDWARE forum might be able to give me a better answer. I ended up needing BOTH answers to get a full resolution to the problem.

In any case, I dont want there to be bad feelings, and I never wrote this because of that. I realize that there will be a select few that will, on pupose, cross post things, which I dont agree with...thats abuse. I respect the moderator's jobs to moved those. But my point would be that it can be done in a kinder way, and with the spirit of helping, not badgering or otherwise tearing down the poster.

Thanks to all of you that DO make a difference here though, and that includes those that responded. I truly appreciate the hours that you spend in helping others!

With kind respect and reagard,
Kork

maybe you'd like to donate some money for server resources and bandwidth? then you might have a different view of the resources it takes to store and search through double posts and to find things when they're in the wrong forum. (= "put your money where your mouth is." )

I understand your reason and thoughts behind the way some moderators will respond to such posts, etc.

If you look thru my posts where I've moved a thread, or posted a notice that it was closed due to double posting, I will tend to be sort of blunt and strict. Why you ask? Well, I feel a more generic blunt response is taken more seriously and makes a bigger impact so the member won't do it again, knowing that we enforce our rules, not to let anyone run over us. I've tried the nicer approach before, only having members in the past do it again.

But in the end, most of the time your going to get a generic response though. We are actually working on ways to improve this, make it so each moderator will have the same response on different scenarios and such, so it looks more like a generic system response instead of a human telling them otherwise.

Questions and Suggestions are always welcome.

And, of course, let us not forget that we all are by and large strangers to each other. Whilst this is a very friendly place, I have never knowingly met any of you. This also goes for the Mods.

There are 73,345 people registered here at the time of writing. If the Mods (and other members) knew each other personally, you may get something along the lines of a note in your post saying "hey mate, noticed your post was in the wrong place so I moved it". But that isn't the case. Any Moderator here can only come across as efficient and businesslike. They give up their time to do this (and to give help in the forums). The non-cross posting rule is really, really easy to remember. It is this (in a boiled down form): only post a question once. And that's it.

As Bulliver said, it is really frustrating to research an answer, spend ages posting it and then to find that it's already been answered. That's a sure recipe for finding yourself on an ignore list. If that happens too often, the community spirit of the board breaks down.

To sum up, don't post more than once, if you think a newbie question should be a hardware question ask a Mod to move it, enjoy

Tricky and Xavier...thanks for your response. Fully understood and I think logical and reasonable for sure.

It IS a shame that more thoughtful lines of persuasion dont work. Perhaps its just me wanting people to get along and "play nice".

In response to the rather terse "put your money where your mouth is" comment, again I rest my case.

By the way, I have contributed and will continue to, but not because of the double posting issue. lol...that was a stretch !!

Cheers guys and I appreciate the civil, for the most part, dialougue

Thanks for the feedback. The interesting thing is that some people think we mod too much and other don't think we mod enough. It's hard to strike the delicate balance that sits between both extremes. I think we do a good job at being fair, consistent and polite but we are far from perfect and are always trying to improve. If you ever run across a specific example of something you think can be improved feel free to contact the mod in question and let him/her know. If that doesn't work to your liking you can always contact me.

--jeremy

It's also that we are all people. We have different moods on different days. I've very kindly answered questions that were duplicates of questions posted the day before, and in some cases, I've been very sarcastic (such as the time when someone wanted research done as to whether a certain system was officially supported under RH9, going so far as to want URLs to official statements). In general, I try to remember what it was like when I started learning Linux, and our local guru was a very acerbic soul.

I have yet to point out to anyone how bad their spelling is. (Or should I say, "Your not a very good speller their."?) I am a writer and editor, and cringe at what I see sometimes. (And I've studied some three dozen foreign languages, so when I post on German and Russian forums, I actually appreciate feedback on my language.)

I think the mod squad here does a very good job, and I thank them.

Steve

As I stated, I agree that the WAY grand majority of people here do a great job!! However, I am sure that if we all see the other's viewpoint, we will ALL be better for it, too. I would be the first to tell you that I would have little patience with someone that was as demanding as Steve indicated. I probably wouldnt rip them, but highly suggest in strong terms that they might search available literature. After all, thats how we all learn best...by doing and making mistakes.

I probably would never know if something was a duplicate post because I spent most of my time in the newbie forum, and I doubt there would be dual postings in the same forum (that is certainly inexcusable). Likewise, I would have NO tolerance for someone that spuriously posted their request in 10 forums. That is just an abuse of a fine resource and deserves no tolerance.

How can we, as a group, find a way to make sure a legitimate request, honestly made, gets answered, in the best way possible? Perhaps I am not completely savvy in how the moderators work. Do the major "gurus" monitor all forums for new posts? If I put a request up in the newbie forum, and its really something that could be better answered in the hardware forum, will a moderator see that and move it 100% of the time? Because, as a newbie, I might not know that its better answered there. Or I might think its a software issue, when its really a hardware issue. I am still probably quite ignorant of the process of the moderators?

Thank you guys for your candidness and willingness to help!

Kork

I personally and I can't speak for all the other mods but I scan all the forums. I don't usually view by new posts, but rather start in one forum and work my way up or down.
If I come across something that I'm not a moderator for, I report it to speed or help my fellow mods handle the situation.

I mainly look for double posts with new members, If I'm answering a members post in which I see he has a total of 2 or 3 posts, I'll usually just bring up his profile right quick to make sure the question I'm reading, they hadn't posted elsewhere as well.. and so on.

I think we all have our own style to moderate, but were always helping the others out.