Forum etiquette and features?
 

I recently made my first post to this forum, and received a couple of helpful answers in return. I am wondering what you all think about the best way to respond. On the one hand, a simple thank you adds nothing of substance to the discussion; if everyone says thank you to everyone who posts a response, the number of posts will double without contributing any new information to anyone. On the other hand, it seems rude not to acknowledge that the answers were helpful. Put it this way: if you have answered someone's question, would you prefer a thank you or not? (By the way, is "area 51" an appropriate place for this post? I don't quite get what the topic is in this section.)

I guess I prefer a thank you, but it's not necessary. Simply knowing the person who posted (especially a first time poster) actually came back and read the replies is a good thing.

For feedback -
I don't really like a straightforward thank you - I would more like to hear what the person who rec'd the feedback thought of said feedback, or had any "well, that was the original intent..." or "I decided this instead because..." thoughts on it, ya know? Continue the discussion, keep the video chatter alive. ;)

For techie questions-
A 'great! it works now!' makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. ;)

C

I think that's the point.
I second what Carl said.
I would like to hear a response if you followed my advice and it helped. If it didn't help, say so and explain why.

One of my firm policies for this site is to avoid meta-discussion if at all possible, including one-liners such as "thanks," "me too," "I agree," "LOL" etc. But there's nothing wrong with saying "thanks, this helped me to (insert recent accomplishment here). That's always encouraged. What we're looking for are replies that drive the conversation forward, and this includes telling us more about what you're doing, or how someone's advice has helped you along. What I'm asking is to please have something to say when you post, even when expressing gratitude. It's much more helpful and more interesting to read beyond a simple "thanks." One-liners are annoying. Say thanks by all means but please say it with some substance.

The idea is to keep the noise level down and streamline the conversation so that the next person who comes along can find what they're looking for. A thread isn't just for the person who started it -- it's for everyone else who wants to know the same thing. Same with any advice given -- it's not just for the original poster but for everyone who reads it.

We've got at least ten times as many people reading / lurking compared to posting.

Forum Features
 

hi,

Chris Hurd, a very nice forum you got here, and im wondering somethings:

Other forums contain smilies or the ability to bold text, insert image, etc. with a click of a mouse. Do you see this forthcoming here.

thank you

It's already possible to bold text. I'll show you how if you promise not to overuse it. And it's already possible to insert images, plus we have a dedicated image gallery. But as far as smilies go... the short answer is not only no, but hell no. A forum search on "smilies" will bring up these threads in which I reveal the reasons why:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=8997
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=12315
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=61026

If we did smilies, we'd be just another typical internet message board... and DV Info Net never has been and never will be a typical internet message board as long as I'm running it. Hope this helps,

I think it's the worst manners in a forum to not answer a thread you have started, mostly if you are new. You come to a forum as a newbie, everyone who knows something and is being nice tries to help you, and then you never write back - that is very annoying to the forumites until they decide never to answer newbies again.

I always try to answer to my threads, even if they're old (I answered to a two month old thread recently where I asked about scene file settings for a HVX shoot - now I posted the results)

It's nice that someone brings this up. Often if I ask a question in a thread, I most of the time thank the people afterwards, because I really appreciate other people taking the time to help you. Certainly on dvinfo, where people sometimes even go as far as type pages and shoot examples for you, just to help you.

This is a wonderful place, really. I always keep coming back, every day.
Sometimes you loose a thread, certainly if you are somone like me who just manually looks at threads, and doesn't subscribe to them3. And then you forget about it, but most of the time, I prefer to say Thank you, greatly appreciated, or something of that kind.

Besides, like Chris said, saying "Thank you, it worked!", is not only polite, and motivating for the people who helped you, it's also informative for people who read the thread (especially if it's an old thread) to see if the suggestions of the helpers really worked out...

Thank God somebody else hates smilies!

Me - I hate one liners. On technical forms like this, I always tend to show my appreciation of decent answers by adding to them - questioning them, or asking for more info. Even when a straight question is answered, it's a rare topic that doesn't have the usefulness to be expanded, even if after answering the original question, it goes a bit OT. I never really treat a topic as just a way of answering the OPs question. Somebody asks about the mic sockets on a particular camcorder. Somebody says what they are, somebody else adds that this particular camera doesn't have the ability to cope with loud volume levels, somebody else suggests external pads etc etc. So I don't really think a formal thank you makes sense - if the moderators close a topic because it is done and dusted, maybe that's different?

Chris,
I ran across this 8 bit animated video about forum etiquette. Thought you might like to make it a sticky somewhere.

Ethan,

That video just made my day. How very true! Ironically, this is really just a shameless bump to try to help get that stickied on here. I think it should be required watching to open an account. ;)

C

How To Behave On An Internet Forum
 

Too much funny . . .

http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-...internet-forum

Old news, we already have that link (thread now merged). Thanks anyway,