How do you deal with lazy forum members on your own forums?

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  • ApexSpeed
    Member
    • Dec 2004
    • 59
    • 3.8.x

    How do you deal with lazy forum members on your own forums?

    Over the years, I've developed a lot of patience with the general population of my forums, but in the last couple of months, I have received THREE e-mails from forum members that had the same question.

    "How do I make a post in the forum?"



    Now, I try to be patient with my member's stupid questions (usually because people refuse to read directions or instructions), but this one makes me flip out every time it arrives. I understand that there are a few individuals on my forums who may not be tech savvy, but if you are using a computer and browsing a discussion board with an intent to post a Classified ad selling an expensive item on the web, should you not also be remotely bright enough to figure out how to hit the "New Post" button?

    Would you feel guilty ignoring the questions like this?


    Ugh.





    The laziness and stupidity of people NEVER ceases to amaze me.
  • Wayne Luke
    vBulletin Technical Support Lead
    • Aug 2000
    • 73981

    #2
    Maybe you should make a "Help" forum with some basics such as How to Post. Then your other members will relieve you of this horrible burden.
    Translations provided by Google.

    Wayne Luke
    The Rabid Badger - a vBulletin Cloud demonstration site.
    vBulletin 5 API

    Comment

    • ApexSpeed
      Member
      • Dec 2004
      • 59
      • 3.8.x

      #3
      Thanks for the sarcasm.

      For as snide and short as programmers and IT guys usually are with Customer Service, I would have thought that there would be a BIT of understanding.



      Comment

      • Cromulent
        Senior Member
        • Oct 2005
        • 627
        • 3.8.x

        #4
        Bah I'm an idiot .

        Comment

        • peterska2
          Senior Member
          • Oct 2003
          • 8869
          • 3.7.x

          #5
          I get the odd how to post one, but the most common (and frustrating) one is emails through sendmessage.php asking how to register. I get about 3 or 4 of them a week. I'm sure more people email me than actually register without my help.

          On one of my sites we set up a help forum and put a couple of threads in about the very basic stuff. On another I expanded the FAQ a bit for some things, but need to expand the registration and posting parts of it still.

          Comment

          • forumguy
            Senior Member
            • Nov 2006
            • 248
            • 3.6.x

            #6
            Originally posted by Kerry-Anne
            I get the odd how to post one, but the most common (and frustrating) one is emails through sendmessage.php asking how to register. I get about 3 or 4 of them a week. I'm sure more people email me than actually register without my help.

            On one of my sites we set up a help forum and put a couple of threads in about the very basic stuff. On another I expanded the FAQ a bit for some things, but need to expand the registration and posting parts of it still.
            Ha ha ha ha!! What do you say?

            "Uhm click the 'register' link, maybe?"
            vBulletin 5.0 coming soon... :confused:
            Visit my site today!

            Comment

            • peterska2
              Senior Member
              • Oct 2003
              • 8869
              • 3.7.x

              #7
              How did you guess?

              But yes, thats pretty much what I say. I give them the link to register.php too then they can click it in the email.

              I guess it explains why not to many of my users actually post - they get stuck registering so don't even try posting.

              Comment

              • MRGTB
                Senior Member
                • May 2005
                • 5454

                #8
                Originally posted by ApexSpeed
                Thanks for the sarcasm.

                For as snide and short as programmers and IT guys usually are with Customer Service, I would have thought that there would be a BIT of understanding.



                I don't think he was being sarcastic. Thats exactly what I would have said also. In fact I would have said create a FAQ section. And do a Questions and Answers there. To answer these type of questions to help members get used to using the forums.

                Comment

                • forumguy
                  Senior Member
                  • Nov 2006
                  • 248
                  • 3.6.x

                  #9
                  But considering the person can't post. How are they gonna navigate to the FAQs?
                  vBulletin 5.0 coming soon... :confused:
                  Visit my site today!

                  Comment

                  • MRGTB
                    Senior Member
                    • May 2005
                    • 5454

                    #10
                    Theres a bit of a difference between not knowing how to make a post and clicking a simple link on the forums that leads to a FAQ section on a forum board.

                    I don't mean the FAQ section that comes with vbulletin

                    Comment

                    • forumguy
                      Senior Member
                      • Nov 2006
                      • 248
                      • 3.6.x

                      #11
                      But really. Clicking the "post reply" button. And clicking an FAQ link are the same. What FAQs do you mean?
                      vBulletin 5.0 coming soon... :confused:
                      Visit my site today!

                      Comment

                      • MRGTB
                        Senior Member
                        • May 2005
                        • 5454

                        #12
                        Originally posted by forumguy
                        But really. Clicking the "post reply" button. And clicking an FAQ link are the same. What FAQs do you mean?
                        OK, I guess they are just as easy as each other. Guess there's no hope for the dude then.

                        Comment

                        • forumguy
                          Senior Member
                          • Nov 2006
                          • 248
                          • 3.6.x

                          #13
                          Exactly. Why would you want to register on a forum and not know how to use it?
                          vBulletin 5.0 coming soon... :confused:
                          Visit my site today!

                          Comment

                          • Wayne Luke
                            vBulletin Technical Support Lead
                            • Aug 2000
                            • 73981

                            #14
                            Originally posted by forumguy
                            Exactly. Why would you want to register on a forum and not know how to use it?
                            I have seen styles out there that make it more difficult to figure out how to post and some people like using small micro-fonts on their buttons that make them very 'leet but practically unuseable at the same time. It also depends on your target audience and whether they know what a thread is or would topic be better? Or if you even show the "post reply" button. Is the quote button the reply and what are those two buttons on the side of that? Or "How do I enable the quick reply?"... etc.

                            On my site I have quick reply without requiring to click.. I would say 99% of my users have never even looked at the "Advanced Editor" and don't know how to add polls, attachments and such. Very few of them actually create new threads either but reply quickly and often when a new thread is created.
                            Translations provided by Google.

                            Wayne Luke
                            The Rabid Badger - a vBulletin Cloud demonstration site.
                            vBulletin 5 API

                            Comment

                            • WurkAnimal
                              Senior Member
                              • Aug 2005
                              • 2538
                              • 3.5.x

                              #15
                              I send them the faq links!

                              Comment

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