How to reply to a thread on this forum

If a resident asks a question and you know an answer, please help a brother out and supply it.

There is no need to insult the OP if the question has been asked before, or if it's a question you consider to be dumb just because you know the answer or if they have done something inworld that you would never do because you are a seasoned and well-read veteran.

In other words, please be kind to the folks looking for answers or a sympathetic ear for their issues. It's hard to feel like you are being heard with the customer service system that is currently in place. No need to pile on and add insult to injury when a person comes here lost and frustrated.

u`ll have more luck teaching a monkey in the wild to stop picking flee`s of his fellow monkey`s

ppl get a kick out of tormenting others cause of annonimity while in rl they`d be hiding under their desk if they would say what they say here

On the other hand, there's little reason to "babysit" either.

If it takes 30 seconds to find the answer, but 3 minutes to post, it's quite obvious that the poster never even bothered to try that handy little "search" link we have at the top of the screen.

Does this thread supercede the existing thread entitled:

About This Forum <--- please read me first!
/327/8d/138314/1.html

as it makes no mention of the proper number of hugs, there-there-babies, i'm-sowwies, etc. nor does it make mention of the proper level of sympathy (nor quantify sympathy into discreet units) when residents fail to use the educational tools provided on Orientation Island or Help Island, peruse the Knowledge Base, use the Support Portal, or search through existing threads prior to when a resident begins mashing away at their keyboard with their questions (eg: "How I makez teh monnies lolol".

To give you a real world example: You see the scene of a car accident. A car has plowed into a tree. Count the number of cars that slow down to gawk at the accident. Also count the number of people who get out of their cars to hug the driver of the vehicle in the accident.

Wow. The last two posts are so right. I never realized that ridicule was the correct way to go about things.

I stupidly thought that you could just *give the answer* since you're posting anyway and then say something like "and for future reference, try the 'search' function up top. If that doesn't help, try the topics that are stickied to the top."

From now on I'll be only too happy to be a total a**hat to new people. After all, Second Life doesn't need new players to be shown the ropes, it can exist wholly on the funds of existing residents. Thanks for showing me the light.

If you don't want to 'babysit', then maybe questions and answers isn't the place for you to hang out.


I think we all forget how confusing SL was when new, you really don't know where to shop and make a lot of mistakes in the first week.

I wish there was an actual search box smack dab in the middle at the top of the forums and surrounding it was a tag cloud of topics that have been answered repeatedly. The downside is, though help would be more apparent, a number of people still wouldn't use it.

Why do people asking questions you know the answer to offend you so much? You could just ignore such a thread, but yet you take the time to read through it and insult the poster. You've done this a few times today. It seems like you enjoy spending your time searching the forums for newbie posts and then replying in a sarcastic manner and then arguing that its perfectly fine for you to be rude. In the same amount of time, you could supply the link to the thread that answers the question the OP is asking. That would at the same time be helpful, yet also remind the poster their questions have been asked before.

Maybe you need to leave the forums for awhile, go for a walk outside(the REAL outside that is) and not take this so seriously.

I started this thread because I think the objective of those who choose to come here to help should be to help, not inflate our egos.

People often post here as a shortcut to doing research. It's the quickest, easiest way to go. When frustrated, it is a natural human desire to want an answer fast. I choose to not fault them for wanting an answer easily and quickly. Others choose to use this as a chance to condenscend or act like a know-it-all instead of helping out.

It never ceases to amaze me that some people take more time to bash a person or ridicule them or quote from the TOS like it is gospel then it would take to simply answer their question. The need to feel superior must supersede the desire to be helpful.

Thought example:

I'm walking down the street. A man approaches me. Asks me to buy him a sandwich. I offer to give him money to buy the sandwich.
(Me: Conduct a search)

He declines and insists I buy the sandwich for him.
(Him: Conduct my search for me)

I hand him the sandwich.
(Me: Here's your search results)

He hands the sandwich back to me and insists I chew it for him.
(Him: Go through the search results and find me the specific link)

I chew the sandwich and spit the contents into a cup. I hand the cup to him.
(Me: Here's the link)

The man hands the cup back. He insists that I spit the pre-chewed sandwich directly into his mouth)
(Him: Read the thread and explain it to me)

I take aim and spit the pre-chewed sandwich into the man's mouth.
(Me: Here's the gist of the thread, link, etc.)

The man now insists that I massage his throat with my fingers so he can swallow the sandwich.
(Him: Digest and distill the information for me)

I massage his throat so he can swallow the sandwich.
(Me: Here's what this means exactly, in it's simplest terms)

Then the man burps and tells me the sandwich didn't taste very good
(Him: The information you gave me does not the provide the outcome I desire)

See the problem? This is what Kitty means by "babysitting."

I would suggest that if answering a question annoys the heck outa ya just dont answer and leave it for someone who doesn't mind taking the time to type it out.

This doesnt sound very sanitary either.

I know. People have two hands. They can probably make their own sandwiches (and manipulate their own keyboards). I chalk it up to lazyness.

Wow, Raymond attempts to be kind to people and show how cruel we tend to be, and everyone jumps on the thread and proves his point. I'm starting to think that no matter what anyone posts someone will jump on and make it negative. (I'm guilty of this myself)

and do you understand that the question the guy was asking was wheer to find houses with prebuilt bathrooms and kitchens and a search likely would turn up NIL because I dont think anyone does that in sl and actualy the answer to the question was houses are not made that way?

so hitting search would have yielded no results and sent him back to the forum to reask the identical question and get a proper answer. You thinking like someone who has been in sl and things its very easy its not. If it irritates the heck outa you to think the possible reasons why sucha question would be posed then dont answer keep your hands of the keyboard as you assumptions are possibly all wrong. If you must answer with "use search" this is fine but leave the rude attitude behind at the door and put your 2 word answer into the post thread and likely he will give more information.

Bottom line you were not reading his questions he wanted houses you can find the same way in real world. When I buy a house in real world the bathroom and kitchen is built minus the fridge and oven. All the fixtures are in the washroom I only need to ad soap and towels. IN SL what you need to do is buy a bathtub and a sink etc. , but he would not know this unless you told him as he seemed to be wanting something he saw elsewhere but was at a loss at where or how this came about.

Hence resident answers for new guys to learn the ins and outs of SL.

This analogy does not work for one simple reason: You are not walking down the street. You are sitting in an Information Booth. The man is approaching you looking for help since you are putting yourself out there as a helpful authority. If you cannot be that here, then I suggest you give up your seat to someone who will.

100% with the OP here. Anyone can have a naive question to ask. If you don't want to answer, don't. Some people may ask lazy questions. Annoying, but you don't have to answer them either. The really objectionable clutter on these forums is not the people asking questions. It is the people looking for chances to spew on someone, anyone, in safe anonymity, rather than make a positive contribution.

Positive idea: There are other forums where spewing and flaming is the norm. Go there, if that's what you want to do.

I kind of think it depends on the question.

If its a straighforward question with few problematic ramifications - it doesnt hurt to just supply the answer and not to worry if the poster used the search.

Such as "how do I contact support"?

Or "why can I see everyone's secret prim parts in a red haze?"

Etc...

----------
However if its a question where theres Obvious other recent threads that have stirred up controversy

like "why is ageplay banned ?"

Then it truly is the original poster's responsibility to look the threads over and see if the question is answered there.

:qft: amen

I agree. If someone's OP is to start a general discussion, garner opinions or start debates then all bets are off. My post refers to people with issues they are trying to resolve as opposed to those who just have issues in general.

Still theres no requirement to go in to huge detail either.

For example if Elex had simply said , "Try using the ingame search function" , without allowing his annoyance show though - It would have been a totally legitimate answer to the OP's question.

Basically I dont think Elex's Answer was bad at all, it just the tone and the annoyance that went with it that is an issue.

Still even that first post wasnt all that bad. The exchange after that though, was harsh.

It's an excellent analogy. Especially the part where the person dislikes the advice because it fails to provide them with the outcome they desire as opposed to an outcome.

For example, people complain about landbots. Landbots aren't forbidden, don't violate any rules so long as they don't overconsume server resources, and only buy undervalued parcels. However, if you point out to a person that, due to the Terms of Service, the Lindens can't get involved in disputes over transactions between residents, especially when the resident set the parcel for sale to anyone, then you're "failing to take their side" or "you're being unsympathetic."

Ignorance is not bliss. No one in SL is an infant. These are not instances of newborn babes hurling themselves onto hot stoves but instances of adults, over the age of 18, who decide to take the easy route and forego using and perusing the existing tools to help further their understanding of the virtual universe in which we all live in. When they get into a jam we're expected to show up with the hug train.

his answer was fine unfortunately he had to qualify it with insults to imply laziness and stupidity which of course makes people want to ask for help. If people are too lazy to type out the answer to a question and only have the energy to type in a short answer then fine dont waste extra keystrokes on being rude lol

Honestly if he had said go ingame and search for kitchen and bathroom (although that is not the best answer its an answer) it was the extra unneeded rude content that was not appropriate or warranted and this is where the point is trying to be made.

some people are not the type of people to field questions why they bother to answer them I dont know they obviously lack the patience or kindness to just type an answer and leave it at that. I'm not sure I understand a need to flame someone for asking a question. I know that this has happened to me on a couple of occassions and the conclusion I came to was never to bother asking again. so rarely do I ask for input or opinions in SL and there is a reason why the couple of times I have asked the experiences were less then positive. This is actually a hallmark of our community and we are well known for not answering questions well. I hate that but its the truth as a group we suck at answering questions mainly because people like this guy jump in and throw insults for no reason in particular other then blow hot air. I hate seeing it but at least once a week on this forum some poor schmo gets targetted for asking something usualy its a question that actually requires more then a two word answer as well because its not as simple as it first appears but the person doing the insulting is not thinking and just wanting to yell at someone for something so why not? I mean its like only the internet right?

I got the feeling they were looking for a fight well they got one I guess as 10 peopel jumped on top of him and told him he was rude so in essence he got his wish.

My reaction to your analogy is why pay any attention to the man? If you feel like giving him some money then give him some money, and if he doesn't want that then just shrug and continue on your way. I agree with you that some people are like that, so if I conclude that a person isn't worth wasting my time on, then I go do something else.

I would say your not the mentoring or information answering type as if I went up to you after looking for the washroom sign at your information both you would tell me to open my bloody eyes an look as its right there instead of telling me or pointing in the general direction of the washrooms. YOu would insult me tell me i'm a grown up and to not bother you at your information both with silly questions like where the bathroom is because well its obvious by the signs that I can't see even though I spent 20 minutes looking.

I would have a request of you. Please dont answer any more resident questions that would be great thanks