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Please stick to one thread!

Hi,

If possible and you are asking multi questions please stick to one thread as it makes it difficult to know what you have already been told on another thread and also for people reading for the first time who will perhaps repeat stuff that's already been said.

Thanks :)
Torgwen.......... :) ...........

Comments

  • oops! my fault! I'll make sure I do in future!!! :-*
    Thank you :D
  • Fran
    Fran Posts: 11,281
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    It wasn't just you snow_queen! Others are doing it too.


    :)
    Torgwen.......... :) ...........
  • Jeryth
    Jeryth Posts: 239 Forumite
    Fran, I'm a bit thick, and I don't mind asking the question, and I don't think like normal people, so

    I don't understand your post/message.

    If I ask a question in my own words, and you are able to give me a yes/no answer, that will help me.

    I generally ask my questions on a new thread, splitting each one up and posting on the relevant boards.  That is in order that I receive an answer to my question, else I could hijack another person's thread/query and get my answers there, but I think hijacking is rude.  (IMHO). Here's the "yes/no" question -  Are you requesting that I find the nearest current/available/pertinent thread, and post my query there, so as to save duplication?

    Thanks in advance.  I hope not to cause offence, coz none of the above is sarcastic in any way.  I truly do have difficulty in understanding things.

    Merry Christmas!
  • I think what Fran was simply pointing out was where a request for information about benefits has been made in the Benefits forum, if further points relating to that original query arise it is helpful for the Original Poster to resusitate the original thread so that it reminds those who replied previously of what happened originally so they don't have to repeat themselves or track down the previous replies.

    Nearly all of those who regularly reply to questions here do so in other forums, as well as having lives outside this forum. It makes it easier for us if we don't have to remember all the previous points raised and replied to if a new poster with a new question starts a new thread and tries to keep to that thread should the dealings with the DWP or Inland Revenue mean they have to return for futher advice or simply to update us on what happened.

    If the poster had two entirely separate questions about different benefits then it would make more sense to keep them separate however if it's a further post to an ongoing saga then keeping it tidily to one thread enables someone new to advice giving or reading to pick up on what's been said and done so that replies can focus on the issues remaining.
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  • Fran
    Fran Posts: 11,281
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    Thanks Ted, yes that is what I meant.

    Jeryth, sorry if I didn't word it clearly enough.
    Torgwen.......... :) ...........
  • dag_2
    dag_2 Posts: 793 Forumite
    I think what Fran was simply pointing out was where a request for information about benefits has been made in the Benefits forum, if further points relating to that original query arise it is helpful for the Original Poster to resusitate the original thread so that it reminds those who replied previously of what happened originally so they don't have to repeat themselves or track down the previous replies.
    I take your point - but personally, whenever I've looked at the list of threads, I've always made a point of looking at the ones with the smallest number of replies first. There's no point in me trying to help someone who stands a good chance of getting help from someone else. My efforts are better spent concentrating on the more obscure queries that are less likely to get replies from someone else.

    And besides - when threads are longer and have more replies, it makes for more reading, and you're less likely to read the thread all the way through before replying. Some people get a bit funny about people replying before they've read a thread all the way through - so I simply don't bother looking at the busiest threads in the first place.

    And I figure that other people think this way too. That's why I know that a thread with zero replies is much more likely to get a reply than a thread that's already in double figures.

    I know that can be frustrating sometimes - because it means you often end up seeing the same questions being asked over and over again, in different threads. But on the other hand, it's a forum - no-one is being forced to read or reply to any thread. If you find a particular topic boring, then don't reply to any threads about it - let others who find it more interesting than you do reply instead.

    Can't say fairer than that, can you?
    however if it's a further post to an ongoing saga then keeping it tidily to one thread enables someone new to advice giving or reading to pick up on what's been said and done so that replies can focus on the issues remaining.
    Quite - it enables someone new to pick up on what's been said - but unfortunately, it also makes it less likely to happen - because someone new is less likely to read the thread all the way through.

    If keeping things to one thread made it easier to get advice, then everyone would be doing it. But it doesn't - so they don't. And unless the forum is prepared to spend large amounts of money on full-time moderators with behavioural psychology qualifications, I don't really see what we can do about it.
    :p
  • Fran
    Fran Posts: 11,281
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    Hi dag,

    I don't think I can add anything to Ted's explanation as to how it is more useful with ongoing problems to have them all in the same thread.

    Often people who need the most help have complex problems and it is helpful to know that while someone has asked about council tax for example, that they also have debts and that their partner has just left them. The overall situation needs looking at, so if one of the elements of the situation appears on a seperate thread it might be missed but might be a crucial part of the solution.
    Torgwen.......... :) ...........
  • Jeryth
    Jeryth Posts: 239 Forumite
    I gotcha!*

    (I understand your meaning now)
  • Fran
    Fran Posts: 11,281
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    jeryth wrote:
    I gotcha!*

    :)...............
    Torgwen.......... :) ...........
This discussion has been closed.
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