What's worse?

I have to say that it's more annoying to have someone post a "try searching you ____" comment.

I understand that the search feature is here to help people, and I agree that it should be used. However, I think some people want a more personal answer to their questions.

That being said, I think people should use the search functionality [I know I've been guilty in the past] but others should lay off on the offensive rebuttals.

 

For me, i tend to start off a reply with something along the lines of "this question has been beaten more than a dead horse... try looking around a bit before asking in the future", then i'll provide links to other posts that asked the question and were answered.

As far as i'm concerned, i think it's worse asking a common question than it is replying without answering the question. I'm a frequent member on several rather technical boards (a great way to get help with problems at work, and to help others with stuff i've learned on the job), and it's generally accepted chat room protocol on those boards to do a search before asking any question.

 

It's hard to say. I guess it's like the saying that if you give someone a fish (i.e. give an answer) they are fed for a day. Teach someone to fish (i.e. let them know about the search function) they are fed for a lifetime. But the word there is "teach." If you just say "catch your own fish," without explaining how, that wouldn't work.

 

Perhaps if we just reply "read stickies" or something like that it would refer them up to the top of the page <shrug> If it's something like how to turn off the reverse beep, which requires a detailed answer, that would be best. If it's a quick answer then I might be inclined to answer it again.

 

In defense of asking stupid questions:

1. Sometimes a search, even for a common subject, can come up empty. A poorly worded query, or a lack of enough depth of knowledge to even come up with a reasonable query can sometimes result in failed or stalled searches.

2. Panic or confusion. Someone is so flustered by a problem that they just want to ask someone else the question. Even though they're obiously computer-savvy enough to log in search for the answer, there's still a primal need for us to communicate directly with each other, and I think that instinct kicks in sometimes when a search would often do better.

3. It keeps the forum active. I know we're not struggling to fill air-time here at PriusChat, but I bet you that for every dumb/common question that gets asked, the answers provided will deflect 10 of the same. Personally I've been grateful to people's answers to other people's dumb questions once in a while. I pretty much exclusively browse PC by clicking "View All New Posts," so I don't see the dumb answers to dumb questions unless someone asks... then I get to say "hmm... I wasn't in a rush to find out about that, but I didn't know, and now I don't need to ask or search for that later."

As Efusco says, if you don't like it, ignore it, and leave it to someone else to give the easy answer or the link to someone else's in-depth answer.

 

A big factor-- and one that's often impossible to know-- is whether the user posting the question did indeed try to search, or if they just jumped-in and asked. To be honest, the search feature on the forum totally bites, and misleads users into thinking they've searched. The biggest problem is that it always searches on phrases when multiple words are used; few users, especially newbies, are going to expect that when they have become used to using engines such as Google.

It was mentioned recently that there used to be a widget on the forum page to do a Google search of the site, but it was lost at some point and never put back. I think that would go a very long way to helping the users who tried searching, but came up empty.

BTW, does anyone know if it's possible to turn off the beeping sound when I'm in reverse?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Ichabod @ Aug 22 2007, 11:16 AM) [snapback]500270[/snapback]</div>

I agree with what you've said here. In addition, some people search and see so many answers [for example, search for EV mod] and they don't know where to look. The figure the easiest way is to post a topic and get a response in one place.

 

If it's a simple search, I'll tell the person what to search for ("Guess Gage" is a favorite one). Give a man a fish, and he can eat for a day. Teach a man to search for fish, and he can find them whenever he wants.

If it's a more complex search, then I'll link to the answer. "Capacity -Tank" to figure out luggage space but not fuel tank capacity was a recent one. I assume people who ask FAQs can't deal with booleans, so I don't even bother explaining them.

If it's an obvious troll, I'll either ignore it or give a snarky answer, depending on my mood.

 

I think whats worse is everyone likes to scream "TROLL!!!!!" if they dont like the other person's opinion.

 

Which is worse? Being too lazy to do a search or too tired to answer an oft asked question?

We had the same problem on the Highlander Forum. "Bonny Portmore".

 

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.

 

I will usually try to run a quick search myself, and post a link to the thread with the answer, along with a suggestion that there is more information out there, and they should search for themselves. This is a good compromise because it minimizes the typed response required, shows them that the answer is out there, and encourages them to explore for themselves. I also know that the search engine is actually pulling up an answer, so they didn't already try searching...

 

When I type in "search poll" into search I get one hit:
http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=1...;hl=search+poll
Even fishermen (my job) come up empty handed.
I would say give the people a break unless it's the same ones over and over again.

 

Before telling someone to search, I ALWAYS do the search first myself, since I know the search on PC is, um, Special. If it quickly comes up with the answer to the question, I post what I searched on. If I need to fiddle with it to get the answer, I link to the answer.

 

starting this topic alone makes you evil, you know. don't worry, i'm already there.

in all seriousness, i really do feel there is a need for either some kind of introductory informational email to new members, like a site roadmap, or a really obviously placed FAQ thread. say, for the extremely common stuff like MFDs in the 04s, the guess gauge, etc.

 

Thanks for this thread, It reminded me to search for a problem I have asked for help and recieved no answer on. I found the answer, now I can fix the problem.