Etiquette about reposting a question

[John Welch]

Sometimes I post a question here and someone answers it quickly with an
answer like "well, I don't know much about this, but maybe such and such."
While I completely appreciate their effort, I might not get the answer I
need because then everyone else sees the thread as answered and leaves it
alone, and it drops down toward the bottom of the list. Is it ok to repost
the question in this situation? Or is there some way to mark a question as
"not quite answered"? I'm doing a thorough search of the newsgroup on google
before I ask in the first place.
thanks

[Lyle Fairfield]

John Welch wrote:

Sometimes I post a question here and someone answers it quickly with an
answer like "well, I don't know much about this, but maybe such and such."
While I completely appreciate their effort, I might not get the answer I
need because then everyone else sees the thread as answered and leaves it
alone, and it drops down toward the bottom of the list. Is it ok to repost
the question in this situation? Or is there some way to mark a question as
"not quite answered"? I'm doing a thorough search of the newsgroup on google
before I ask in the first place.
thanks

My recollection is that you recently asked a question; a response was
posted which I believe is wrong. I tried to find documentation that it
was wrong so that I could post that documentation; otherwise my response
saying, "No, that's not right." would be nothing more than my opinion. I
didn't fine the documentation. So I waited for others to post. So far,
no one has done so. I felt that your response indicated that you knew
the right answer, so, no harm would come from my not responding.

[Trevor Best]

John Welch wrote:

Sometimes I post a question here and someone answers it quickly with an
answer like "well, I don't know much about this, but maybe such and such."
While I completely appreciate their effort, I might not get the answer I
need because then everyone else sees the thread as answered and leaves it
alone, and it drops down toward the bottom of the list. Is it ok to repost
the question in this situation? Or is there some way to mark a question as
"not quite answered"? I'm doing a thorough search of the newsgroup on google
before I ask in the first place.
thanks

well, I don't know much about this, but maybe such and such.
--
[OO=00=OO]

[Trevor Best]

John Welch wrote:

Sometimes I post a question here and someone answers it quickly with an
answer like "well, I don't know much about this, but maybe such and such."
While I completely appreciate their effort, I might not get the answer I
need because then everyone else sees the thread as answered and leaves it
alone, and it drops down toward the bottom of the list. Is it ok to repost
the question in this situation? Or is there some way to mark a question as
"not quite answered"? I'm doing a thorough search of the newsgroup on google
before I ask in the first place.
thanks

I do tend to skip over posts that look like they've been answered but
that's only part of my selection criteria as I don't have time to read
*every* post. If the subject is interesting and there's a few followups
I still rtead the post and read the followups. I don't really know about
starting a new thread, probably not the best idea in looking how future
google searches will go. You could followup and change the subject line
and insert "still confused" or something similar into the subject line,
after that I'd start a new thread as the subject line would start
getting too long.

--
[OO=00=OO]

[polite person]

On Tue, 2 Aug 2005 08:45:52 -0700, "John Welch" <j+ohnw+elch@cal+central.com (remove +'s)> wrote:

Sometimes I post a question here and someone answers it quickly with an
answer like "well, I don't know much about this, but maybe such and such."
While I completely appreciate their effort, I might not get the answer I
need because then everyone else sees the thread as answered and leaves it
alone, and it drops down toward the bottom of the list. Is it ok to repost
the question in this situation? Or is there some way to mark a question as
"not quite answered"? I'm doing a thorough search of the newsgroup on google
before I ask in the first place.
thanks

Odd, the last time you answered your post yourself. That isn't the one you have in mind,
I assume.
I would post a reply to the reply in the first instance. Not everyone ignores posts which
already have a response, particularly if they disagree with it!

[John Welch]

Thanks Trevor, this was really helpful. (And I laughed a lot at your
previous joke post)
-John

"Trevor Best" <no****@besty.org.uk> wrote in message
news:42***********************@news.zen.co.uk...

I do tend to skip over posts that look like they've been answered but
that's only part of my selection criteria as I don't have time to read
*every* post. If the subject is interesting and there's a few followups I
still rtead the post and read the followups. I don't really know about
starting a new thread, probably not the best idea in looking how future
google searches will go. You could followup and change the subject line
and insert "still confused" or something similar into the subject line,
after that I'd start a new thread as the subject line would start getting
too long.

--
[OO=00=OO]

[Salad]

John Welch wrote:

Sometimes I post a question here and someone answers it quickly with an
answer like "well, I don't know much about this, but maybe such and such."
While I completely appreciate their effort, I might not get the answer I
need because then everyone else sees the thread as answered and leaves it
alone, and it drops down toward the bottom of the list. Is it ok to repost
the question in this situation? Or is there some way to mark a question as
"not quite answered"? I'm doing a thorough search of the newsgroup on google
before I ask in the first place.
thanks

I don't think many people go back more than 2 days in responses they've
made to check. I'd give a thread 3 days before reposting, and as Trevor
said, maybe change the subject line or use the "still confused"

It is true that if someone answers a question, you may not get many
other "hits" on it. Sometimes because the question is mundane or it's
so esoteric that only a few will bother to take a stab at it.

Basically, all the advice and help you get here is free. So you get
what you get.

I doubt anyone would get upset if you posted the message again. Those
that looked at it before may simply ignore it and you might get new hits.

[John Welch]

Lyle, I really appreciate that you took the time to research my question,
and also that you didn't answer if you weren't sure.
I hope I didn't sound like I was complaining that no one answered. I just
wanted to know how best to proceeed in this situation in general.
I don't know the answer to my original question - I just have a guess that I
wanted to get confirmed.
-John

"Lyle Fairfield" <ff*******@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:EJ**************@read1.cgocable.net...

John Welch wrote:

Sometimes I post a question here and someone answers it quickly with an
answer like "well, I don't know much about this, but maybe such and
such." While I completely appreciate their effort, I might not get the
answer I need because then everyone else sees the thread as answered and
leaves it alone, and it drops down toward the bottom of the list. Is it
ok to repost the question in this situation? Or is there some way to mark
a question as "not quite answered"? I'm doing a thorough search of the
newsgroup on google before I ask in the first place.
thanks

My recollection is that you recently asked a question; a response was
posted which I believe is wrong. I tried to find documentation that it was
wrong so that I could post that documentation; otherwise my response
saying, "No, that's not right." would be nothing more than my opinion. I
didn't fine the documentation. So I waited for others to post. So far, no
one has done so. I felt that your response indicated that you knew the
right answer, so, no harm would come from my not responding.

[lylefair]

Actually I was certain, I just couldn't find documentation to support
my "certaintly".

Here's something pretty close. It's a post by Michael Kaplan:
http://groups.google.ca/group/comp.d...d9aa50d6c774be
Michka says:
"The answer is that if the table is properly indexed for the column
used for the selection then the index is the only thing that goes
across the wire for processing. The only full records that go across
are the selected ones.
When I doubt, "show plan" is a great way to understand how Jet is
processing a query. Look out for the second most evil set of words in
relation to a Jet application --USE TABLE SCAN <grin> -- this means
that the entire table is going across the wire."

[Tim Marshall]

Lyle Fairfield wrote:

John Welch wrote:

My recollection is that you recently asked a question; a response was
posted which I believe is wrong.

I don't recall John's question, but lately, I've seen one or maybe two
enthusiastic Access newbies who are very new to Access judging from the
questions I seen them ask elsewhere who are trying very hard to also
contribute. Trouble is, much of the advice I've seen then post is dead
wrong or a bad way to do things. I know the FAQ says to say if one is
talking out one's butt or not, but what seems to have happened is
exactly what John has described.

That's my impression - I could be generalizing based on a very few posts
I've seen though.

--
Tim http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~tmarshal/
^o<
/#) "Burp-beep, burp-beep, burp-beep?" - Quaker Jake
/^^ "What's UP, Dittoooooo?" - Ditto

[Tim Marshall]

Lyle Fairfield wrote:

John Welch wrote:

My recollection is that you recently asked a question; a response was
posted which I believe is wrong.

I don't recall John's question, but lately, I've seen one or maybe two
enthusiastic Access newbies who are very new to Access judging from the
questions I seen them ask elsewhere who are trying very hard to also
contribute. Trouble is, much of the advice I've seen then post is dead
wrong or a bad way to do things. I know the FAQ says to say if one is
talking out one's butt or not, but what seems to have happened is
exactly what John has described.

That's my impression - I could be generalizing based on a very few posts
I've seen though.

--
Tim http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~tmarshal/
^o<
/#) "Burp-beep, burp-beep, burp-beep?" - Quaker Jake
/^^ "What's UP, Dittoooooo?" - Ditto

[David W. Fenton]

Tim Marshall <TI****@PurplePandaChasers.Moertherium> wrote in
news:dc**********@coranto.ucs.mun.ca:

Lyle Fairfield wrote:

John Welch wrote:

My recollection is that you recently asked a question; a response
was posted which I believe is wrong.

I don't recall John's question, but lately, I've seen one or maybe
two enthusiastic Access newbies who are very new to Access judging
from the questions I seen them ask elsewhere who are trying very
hard to also contribute. Trouble is, much of the advice I've seen
then post is dead wrong or a bad way to do things. I know the FAQ
says to say if one is talking out one's butt or not, but what
seems to have happened is exactly what John has described.

That's my impression - I could be generalizing based on a very few
posts I've seen though.

So, are you saying that you see these erroneous posts and don't
follow up on them correcting the errors?

Maybe *I* can't do that without being insulting, but surely most of
you can!

--
David W. Fenton http://www.bway.net/~dfenton
dfenton at bway dot net http://www.bway.net/~dfassoc

[David W. Fenton]

Tim Marshall <TI****@PurplePandaChasers.Moertherium> wrote in
news:dc**********@coranto.ucs.mun.ca:

Lyle Fairfield wrote:

John Welch wrote:

My recollection is that you recently asked a question; a response
was posted which I believe is wrong.

I don't recall John's question, but lately, I've seen one or maybe
two enthusiastic Access newbies who are very new to Access judging
from the questions I seen them ask elsewhere who are trying very
hard to also contribute. Trouble is, much of the advice I've seen
then post is dead wrong or a bad way to do things. I know the FAQ
says to say if one is talking out one's butt or not, but what
seems to have happened is exactly what John has described.

That's my impression - I could be generalizing based on a very few
posts I've seen though.

So, are you saying that you see these erroneous posts and don't
follow up on them correcting the errors?

Maybe *I* can't do that without being insulting, but surely most of
you can!

--
David W. Fenton http://www.bway.net/~dfenton
dfenton at bway dot net http://www.bway.net/~dfassoc

[Tim Marshall]

David W. Fenton wrote:

So, are you saying that you see these erroneous posts and don't
follow up on them correcting the errors?

Maybe *I* can't do that without being insulting, but surely most of
you can!

I don't believe I said that - I either respond or others have. What
worries me is often the OP does not respond to the corrections which
makes me think the OP may have run without the unadviseable method.
However, I do see that many of the big guns here such as yourself who's
advice I most often accept as being good to act on, may gloss past such
answers when they just see a response has been made, which is what the
OP of THIS thread is making a point about.
--
Tim http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~tmarshal/
^o<
/#) "Burp-beep, burp-beep, burp-beep?" - Quaker Jake
/^^ "What's UP, Dittoooooo?" - Ditto

[Tim Marshall]

David W. Fenton wrote:

So, are you saying that you see these erroneous posts and don't
follow up on them correcting the errors?

Maybe *I* can't do that without being insulting, but surely most of
you can!

I don't believe I said that - I either respond or others have. What
worries me is often the OP does not respond to the corrections which
makes me think the OP may have run without the unadviseable method.
However, I do see that many of the big guns here such as yourself who's
advice I most often accept as being good to act on, may gloss past such
answers when they just see a response has been made, which is what the
OP of THIS thread is making a point about.
--
Tim http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~tmarshal/
^o<
/#) "Burp-beep, burp-beep, burp-beep?" - Quaker Jake
/^^ "What's UP, Dittoooooo?" - Ditto

[Fred Zuckerman]

"Tim Marshall" <TI****@PurplePandaChasers.Moertherium> wrote in message
news:dc**********@coranto.ucs.mun.ca...

Lyle Fairfield wrote:

John Welch wrote:

My recollection is that you recently asked a question; a response was
posted which I believe is wrong.

I don't recall John's question, but lately, I've seen one or maybe two
enthusiastic Access newbies who are very new to Access judging from the
questions I seen them ask elsewhere who are trying very hard to also
contribute. Trouble is, much of the advice I've seen then post is dead
wrong or a bad way to do things. I know the FAQ says to say if one is
talking out one's butt or not, but what seems to have happened is
exactly what John has described.

That's my impression - I could be generalizing based on a very few posts
I've seen though.

--
Tim http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~tmarshal/
^o<
/#) "Burp-beep, burp-beep, burp-beep?" - Quaker Jake
/^^ "What's UP, Dittoooooo?" - Ditto

I'm a little nervous that Tim's post could relate to me. I've been a lurker
here for a few years. I occasionally post a question (and get quick & great
responses) and I feel obligated to "contribute" myself in order to "give
back". I can only respond to certain simple questions from others. But, when
I do respond, I ferverently hope that if my response is dead wrong (or even
subtly poor practice) then one of the gurus would chime in and educate me
(and the original poster). It is reasonable to assume that newbie posters
realize that they must continue to check back for at least a few days in
order to see ALL of the responses from the community. And thus see the
eventual corrections to bad responses.
Fred Zuckerman

[Fred Zuckerman]

"Tim Marshall" <TI****@PurplePandaChasers.Moertherium> wrote in message
news:dc**********@coranto.ucs.mun.ca...

Lyle Fairfield wrote:

John Welch wrote:

My recollection is that you recently asked a question; a response was
posted which I believe is wrong.

I don't recall John's question, but lately, I've seen one or maybe two
enthusiastic Access newbies who are very new to Access judging from the
questions I seen them ask elsewhere who are trying very hard to also
contribute. Trouble is, much of the advice I've seen then post is dead
wrong or a bad way to do things. I know the FAQ says to say if one is
talking out one's butt or not, but what seems to have happened is
exactly what John has described.

That's my impression - I could be generalizing based on a very few posts
I've seen though.

--
Tim http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~tmarshal/
^o<
/#) "Burp-beep, burp-beep, burp-beep?" - Quaker Jake
/^^ "What's UP, Dittoooooo?" - Ditto

I'm a little nervous that Tim's post could relate to me. I've been a lurker
here for a few years. I occasionally post a question (and get quick & great
responses) and I feel obligated to "contribute" myself in order to "give
back". I can only respond to certain simple questions from others. But, when
I do respond, I ferverently hope that if my response is dead wrong (or even
subtly poor practice) then one of the gurus would chime in and educate me
(and the original poster). It is reasonable to assume that newbie posters
realize that they must continue to check back for at least a few days in
order to see ALL of the responses from the community. And thus see the
eventual corrections to bad responses.
Fred Zuckerman

[David W. Fenton]

Tim Marshall <TI****@PurplePandaChasers.Moertherium> wrote in
news:dc**********@coranto.ucs.mun.ca:

David W. Fenton wrote:

So, are you saying that you see these erroneous posts and don't
follow up on them correcting the errors?

Maybe *I* can't do that without being insulting, but surely most
of you can!

I don't believe I said that - I either respond or others have.
What worries me is often the OP does not respond to the
corrections which makes me think the OP may have run without the
unadviseable method. However, I do see that many of the big guns
here such as yourself who's advice I most often accept as being
good to act on, may gloss past such answers when they just see a
response has been made, which is what the OP of THIS thread is
making a point about.

Well, I actually don't post to threads that aren't on topics that
interest me or already involve posters who are flagged as of
interest to me, so it's extremely likely that I won't see such wrong
answers.

The one topic that I have flagged and make an effort to respond to
all posts is REPLICATION, because there aren't very many people with
any experience in that.

Very little else gets my attention, unfortunately, as I have lots of
other things to do!

--
David W. Fenton http://www.bway.net/~dfenton
dfenton at bway dot net http://www.bway.net/~dfassoc

[David W. Fenton]

Tim Marshall <TI****@PurplePandaChasers.Moertherium> wrote in
news:dc**********@coranto.ucs.mun.ca:

David W. Fenton wrote:

So, are you saying that you see these erroneous posts and don't
follow up on them correcting the errors?

Maybe *I* can't do that without being insulting, but surely most
of you can!

I don't believe I said that - I either respond or others have.
What worries me is often the OP does not respond to the
corrections which makes me think the OP may have run without the
unadviseable method. However, I do see that many of the big guns
here such as yourself who's advice I most often accept as being
good to act on, may gloss past such answers when they just see a
response has been made, which is what the OP of THIS thread is
making a point about.

Well, I actually don't post to threads that aren't on topics that
interest me or already involve posters who are flagged as of
interest to me, so it's extremely likely that I won't see such wrong
answers.

The one topic that I have flagged and make an effort to respond to
all posts is REPLICATION, because there aren't very many people with
any experience in that.

Very little else gets my attention, unfortunately, as I have lots of
other things to do!

--
David W. Fenton http://www.bway.net/~dfenton
dfenton at bway dot net http://www.bway.net/~dfassoc

[Trevor Best]

Fred Zuckerman wrote:

I'm a little nervous that Tim's post could relate to me. I've been a lurker
here for a few years. I occasionally post a question (and get quick & great
responses) and I feel obligated to "contribute" myself in order to "give
back". I can only respond to certain simple questions from others. But, when
I do respond, I ferverently hope that if my response is dead wrong (or even
subtly poor practice) then one of the gurus would chime in and educate me
(and the original poster). It is reasonable to assume that newbie posters
realize that they must continue to check back for at least a few days in
order to see ALL of the responses from the community. And thus see the
eventual corrections to bad responses.
Fred Zuckerman

Don't worry, they'll be back after a bogus suggestion didn't work :-)

--
[OO=00=OO]

[Tim Marshall]

Fred Zuckerman wrote:

I'm a little nervous that Tim's post could relate to me.

Nope, not that I've seen, anyway. 8)
--
Tim http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~tmarshal/
^o<
/#) "Burp-beep, burp-beep, burp-beep?" - Quaker Jake
/^^ "What's UP, Dittoooooo?" - Ditto

[Larry Linson]

Don't assume that everyone will pass by every question that has some answer.
Some will, particularly if they are pressed for time; others will open the
thread and read, particularly if it is a subject in which they have an
interest or in which they have some expertise that they are here to share.

Don't assume that such questions will be "pushed down to the bottom of the
list" -- that will depend on your newsreader and the options you choose. In
Outlook Express, I have the "Sent" column selected with a down arrow -- that
shows all messages, most recent first, by date of original message.

Do assume that some people will not be happy at all if you repost simply
because your got an answer that didn't work for you. They would like to see
the entire exchange, what didn't work and what did work.

If the original message does not stay around long enough for a worthwhile
exchange, then you have your news reader set to toss messages far too soon.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP

P.S. Lyle's technical ability and memory of tech matters is good enough that
I'd have encouraged him to post an "as best I recall" answer.

"John Welch" <j+ohnw+elch@cal+central.com (remove +'s)> wrote in message
news:dc*********@enews2.newsguy.com...

Sometimes I post a question here and someone answers it quickly with an
answer like "well, I don't know much about this, but maybe such and such."
While I completely appreciate their effort, I might not get the answer I
need because then everyone else sees the thread as answered and leaves it
alone, and it drops down toward the bottom of the list. Is it ok to repost
the question in this situation? Or is there some way to mark a question as
"not quite answered"? I'm doing a thorough search of the newsgroup on
google before I ask in the first place.
thanks