So many bugs and glitches, so few answers

"This topic was automatically closed 120 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed." How many interesting problems usually pertaining to what your trying to achieve end having this at the bottom of the last post, no conclusion no answers, usually a lot of dialogue about the situation, possible answers valiantly trialed but ultimately no successful conclusion. Surely the original poster got an answer and even if he did not surely it woud be polite for the poster to wrap the topic/thread up and it would be polite for the administrators to allow the original poster the ability to post a conclusion even if longer than 120 days. Without an answer to problems a lot of the threads are pointless.

Meanwhile, back in the real World ...

How many posters do you expect to revisit a topic to post a solution over 120 days after the last post in a topic if they have not posted it before ?

If they, or anyone else really feels the need to add to a closed topic they it can be flagged for the attention of the moderators who can open the topic again if it is felt appropriate

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Barely one in a hundred new posters can even be bothered to read the 'how to use this forum' info when a prompt to do so appears on their screen. There are multiple threads per week where people post their questions in the tutorials section. Which indicates to me they have a problem with reading comprehension or a give-a-s^^t attitude - maybe both. All too many get their answer and are never heard from again. Don't expect them to also properly close out a thread.

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Quite often a Google search for some tricky problem leads me to very old and closed topics in this forum, and other forums.
Quite often, I read all the posts only to find there was no solution.

Reading unsolved topics does waste time, but I usually find a solution somewhere.

It is what it is.

It's worth the small pain, to eliminate people who necro threads from years ago, just to piggyback their question just because it's vaguely similar.

Also 120 days seems like sufficient time to solve a problem.

Which appears to happen at least 10x more frequently than someone actually coming back to close out their thread, solved or not. It's all about the odds.

In the old forum, some threads were necro'ed from up to 5 years old.

If users bothered to mark topics as solved then this would not happen but, of course, they don't bother even when the problem is solved within 120 days, so why would you expect them to do so afterwards ?

I am afraid that you are expecting too much of the majority of users of the forum. As a moderator I am continually moving topics to appropriate categories, including foreign language posts in the main (English) forum category, reminding users to post their full sketch in code tags (if they post any code at all), to post full error messages and even to describe their problem beyond telling us that their project "doesn't work".

As a result I know that there is little hope of 120 day old topics being updated with solutions

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@UKHeliBob And your yeoman efforts, and the similar efforts of others, are to be applauded.

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Yes. But often the OP doesn't even respond to any of the suggestions made, and the thread becomes a list of offered advice with no indication whether any of it was ever followed. :frowning:

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@westfw
Remember the rule of halves. Half the people alive today...

  • have less than average intelligence
  • have poorer than average manners
  • have fewer than average morals.

I could go on. It's a wonder we've come this far...
Probably best to lower your expectations.

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like this in this case....

Nah! Thankyou everyone. Guess I am expecting too much. The forums are still fantastic resources. Even if the stated problem is not solved the advice given should increase your ability and knowledge to deal with stuff in the future. Wish this sort of resource was available back in day.

This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.