Am About To Lose It With Thread Duplicators

[chiangmaibruce]

Oh my gawd. if i see another "which bank is best for foreigners", can "foreigners buy property" etc etc thread I will scream. Some of these get started twice weekly ... and I don;t look at the regional sub-forums (other than chiang mai). It just means that knowledge is lost because people are basically too lazy and clueless to search before posting.

So we get the same questions then a series of half-right answers by a fresh crop of people, then a few of the old hands come in and correct them and set the record straight. The thread becomes inactive for a few days and moves onto the next page ... and someone starts a new thread with the same (or very similar) question.

Many people obviously don;t read the forum help page/s or the "read this before posting" page. Is there any way that you could put in a drop-down screen that appears each time someone hits send to post a new new thread ... with about 3-4 dot points? ie. have you read the "before you post tag for this forum", have you done a word search on the topic to identify previous threads? etc.

I know this sounds pretty childish & basic but the forum is getting really cluttered .. instead of building on all the good info already contributed, we are just seeing endless 'reinvent the wheel' chatter and response-fatigue by the more knowledgable contributors.

By the way, good on you "soundman" for being active in moving threads into correct sub-forums. We also seem to be getting more people posting classified-type ads in the sub-forums (esp. real estate) ... maybe a sign of the desperate economic times (?)

[Koo82]

There's nothing you can do about people posting without searching if the topics has been posted before, although the topics they post are very important to them.

This is what you can't avoid. Same as you must answer again and again some questions you're asked daily.

[H2oDunc]

I find the people that just post " do a search on the subject " get right on my tits but I don't let it get to me !. Sometimes he OP are new posters so are not familiar with the search function ! Sometimes people HAVE done a search and found the last postings were months old ! Sometimes there may have been a change in the law so the OP wants up to date information. If you get wound up so much over posters asking for help you need some help. If all you can post is Do a search then just don't post. EASY REALLY!!!!!!!!!

There are more things in this world to get wound up about than people asking for HELP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sbk]

There are more things in this world to get wound up about than people asking for HELP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Like people getting wound up over people asking for help?

Its a continuous problem and the best solution is to post a link to the relevant very recent thread.

[PeaceBlondie]

I nearly ran over this pretty, blond, middle aged farang lady today near the moat. Three minutes later I was parked and she asked me how to get to the moat. I did not tell her to search for it on ThaiVisa or Google. I did ask which part of the moat she was headed for, since we were near a corner. Without saying she was American, she answered "north." I would give directions to pretty blondes all year.

[H2oDunc]

Peaceblondie I could not have put it in a better way than you have just done. Well said !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[garro]

I think that if this forum didn't allow for repeat questions it would have closed after a few weeks.

[pumpuiman]

People are looking for up to date information. Asking questions in a forum can provide answers almost immediately, from live people who can also be there to answer any follow up questions you may have.

Digging through old posts is useful as well, and providing a link to relevant threads or posts is a great way to help.

What sort of "clutter" are you referring to? Everything seems nice and neat to me.

A simple click of your mouse can solve all your problems, so what's the problem?

[dingdongrb]

I nearly ran over this pretty, blond, middle aged farang lady today near the moat. Three minutes later I was parked and she asked me how to get to the moat. I did not tell her to search for it on ThaiVisa or Google. I did ask which part of the moat she was headed for, since we were near a corner. Without saying she was American, she answered "north." I would give directions to pretty blondes all year.

PB, I would have thought that you would have handed her your laptop (connected to the nearest wireless of course) and showed her your favorite bookmarked TV post...... http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Finding-Chia...bs-t224365.html

:D

[torrenova]

One of the worst things you get from a search is perhaps a long thread which covers loads of ground around your question but perhaps you don't see the exact answer you want. Easier to ask again IMHO.

Some things like banks, visas and even hotels etc. change so frequently that the only useful information is very recent first hand information from someone who has been through it recently. A month is a long time in these areas.

I have repeated a question I asked a few months ago because I needed new data. However, the very reason I joined my first board many years ago was looking for some codes for Marriott hotels when I had codes for Hyatt I could have traded if need be. I still put stuff out there which I come across whether I think it will have a large audience or not.

[cashill]

BTW how can i start a post like this???

[Somtham]

Oh my gawd. if i see another "which bank is best for foreigners", can "foreigners buy property" etc etc thread I will scream. Some of these get started twice weekly ... and I don;t look at the regional sub-forums (other than chiang mai). It just means that knowledge is lost because people are basically too lazy and clueless to search before posting.

...

CMB - this is the funniest post I've read in awhile. Do you realize how many past threads there have been from people complaining about people not using the search button? I'm curious, did you use the search function before starting this duplicate thread post?

rgds

[zzdocxx]

I say make them walk the plank!

[Mossfinn]

I nearly ran over this pretty, blond, middle aged farang lady today near the moat. Three minutes later I was parked and she asked me how to get to the moat. I did not tell her to search for it on ThaiVisa or Google. I did ask which part of the moat she was headed for, since we were near a corner. Without saying she was American, she answered "north." I would give directions to pretty blondes all year.

I would also suggest asking people to use the search button, without any further instruction how to, is like asking a BDE to diffuse an MTD with no training, i.e potless and fruitless and to be honest, very likely explosive if outta date.

Move along quickly when agitation strikes, trust me, it works best.

Good Luck

Moss

[chiangmaibruce]

Sometimes he OP are new posters so are not familiar with the search function ! Sometimes people HAVE done a search and found the last postings were months old ! Sometimes there may have been a change in the law so the OP wants up to date information.

1. And chances are they won't ever GET familiar with the search function if they don't read the how to's when they join OR subsequently have the value of the search function pointed out to them

2. I have no problem with people stating that they have searched & found info relevant up to <whatever date> and say they are seeking any new developments/updates. Although I would still argue that TV is a more valuable info-resource (for everyone) if they tack this question onto the end of the most relevant existing thread (rather than start a new one).

What I am talking about is folks who are perfectly happy to waste other people's time rather than spend a bit of their own time to google search, TV site search etc.

[chiangmaibruce]

I'm curious, did you use the search function before starting this duplicate thread post?

Nice try

Searching on thread+duplication or thread+duplicators reveals no similar threads having been posted

rds

CB

[G54]

On the other hand, you do a search for a topic, as I did yesterday and I got the hits I wanted but they were hidden amongst a multitude of other, totally irrelevent topics that took me ages to sift through. It can sometimes be very difficult to find the relevent topic by doing a search.

So have a little heart for those who post on the same topic at times

edit

On coffee number 1, cannot spell for eeffot (toffee)

Edited January 13, 2009 by G54

[Kerryd]

I don't mind the duplicators too much, except when they ask the same question, or post the same topic, within days (or even hours/minutes) of previous ones. I've seen topics on pretty much the exact same subject posted (sometimes even with the note that the poster couldn't find a similar thread) only 3 threads ahead of the other thread (written 2-3 hours earlier).

Too many people don't even bother to look to see if the topic has already been posted or not. They read a story or get an idea and rush into TV to try and be the first to post it.

It doesn't help though, when some post a thread and use a title that is misleading, or ambiguous enough that you aren't sure what the thread is about. Then someone else comes in and posts the identical story with a slightly different title.

The mods/admin are usually pretty good at catching the dupes and closing/merging them. Members can report them as well, as from time to time it may not be obvious that a thread is a duplicate.

Other threads though, do tend to get buried fairly quickly, and searching doesn't always have the best success. I've searched for threads I've contributed to in the past, used specific keywords and limited the search to threads I've replied in, had over 1,000 hits from the search feature, and noticed that it was including hundreds and hundreds of threads I've never replied in.

Other times I get lucky and only get a couple dozen hits (still including numerous threads I've never replied in). It can be a little frustrating (would be easier of I could search my own posts).

And if you are searching for a previous thread, and use different terminology than what was previously posted, the search function won't be very helpful.

The ones that seem to be the worst are in the Visa forums. Pretty much any day you can look there and see numerous threads on virtually the exact same topics (i.e. How do I extend my Retirement Visa ? Retirement Visa Extensions. First Extension to Retirement Visa. Retirement Extension Question.) I swear no one actually looks at any of the other topic titles, or they just expect personal answers to their questions (and having the same questions asked by someone else and answered just isn't good enough, because my question is about me, even if it's the same question they asked, I want my own answer).

Enough ranting. Time to go enjoy another fine day in this place !

[Ijustwannateach]

It takes a fair bit of effort at the start up end, and a bit of maintenance and vigilance later to keep moving threads there, but I've found in the Teacher's forum that taking the top 3-4 ongoing topics and continually merging them together in a pinned thread has the attractive advantages of:

1. Collecting all the past discussion and information chronologically in one easy-to-find place

2. Encouraging members to post in that thread rather than start new threads on the same topic

For an example, see our Questions About Qualifications thread in the teaching subforum. I heartily recommend the practice to fellow mods!

[seank]

This Topic has already being posted dozens of times, Do a search and you will find them!

But seriously, it’s not that easy to find exactly the answers you need. When you do a search sometime 150results come up and some of those results might have 20pages of comments.