Etiquette On These Forums

When you start a thread in any of the forums here, it’s SUPER NICE if you come back and acknowledge people’s comments.

Even if you can’t respond to everyone individually, just come back and say “Everybody, thank you for the feedback.”

When people take the time to try to answer your questions, particularly when it’s an experienced person who gives you detailed information, say “thanks.”

It’s easy.

It’s a common courtesy.

It keeps people from feeling like they wasted their time trying to help you, which results in a decrease in participation and usefulness in these forums.

If you come back and give more information or ask more questions, people will know you are still following your own thread, and they will usually want to help you out.

Thank you. - It’s not that hard. :slight_smile:

rudeness and bad manners are a huge pet peeve of mine

[quote]Powerpuff wrote:

Thank you. - It’s not that hard. :slight_smile:
[/quote]

That’s what she said… Come on someone had to say it!

Good points though Power, one wonders if they just gave up or lost their internet privileges or…

[quote]Powerpuff wrote:
When you start a thread in any of the forums here, it’s SUPER NICE if you come back and acknowledge people’s comments.

Even if you can’t respond to everyone individually, just come back and say “Everybody, thank you for the feedback.”

When people take the time to try to answer your questions, particularly when it’s an experienced person who gives you detailed information, say “thanks.”

It’s easy.

It’s a common courtesy.

It keeps people from feeling like they wasted their time trying to help you, which results in a decrease in participation and usefulness in these forums.

If you come back and give more information or ask more questions, people will know you are still following your own thread, and they will usually want to help you out.

Thank you. - It’s not that hard. :slight_smile:
[/quote]

Great post!!! I thought that it might’ve been just my old crotchety self…

It’s to the point now where I don’t even respond unless it’s someone who is obviously not a one post wonder.

…not that I have that much to contribute -except for how it feels to get old and have to talk about the good old days, when I was the man that never was…

Meh, this is testosterone nation… I don’t think anyone gets butt hurt over it. I never noticed until this thread.

[quote]cparker wrote:
rudeness and bad manners are a huge pet peeve of mine[/quote]

Yes.

[quote]scoots2 wrote:

[quote]Powerpuff wrote:

Thank you. - It’s not that hard. :slight_smile:
[/quote]

That’s what she said… Come on someone had to say it!

Good points though Power, one wonders if they just gave up or lost their internet privileges or…
[/quote]

:slight_smile:

Seventh grade locker room humor aside, I always assume it’s really bad ADHD.

Like this. “I think I’ll start a thread on TNation”…“I gotta go potty.” … “Hey, I think I hear the mail truck.”…“MA, Do WE HAVE ANYMORE MEATLOAF?”… “Maybe I’ll take up tennis instead 'cause I look good in tight white shorts.” …

[quote]punnyguy wrote:

[quote]Powerpuff wrote:
When you start a thread in any of the forums here, it’s SUPER NICE if you come back and acknowledge people’s comments.

Even if you can’t respond to everyone individually, just come back and say “Everybody, thank you for the feedback.”

When people take the time to try to answer your questions, particularly when it’s an experienced person who gives you detailed information, say “thanks.”

It’s easy.

It’s a common courtesy.

It keeps people from feeling like they wasted their time trying to help you, which results in a decrease in participation and usefulness in these forums.

If you come back and give more information or ask more questions, people will know you are still following your own thread, and they will usually want to help you out.

Thank you. - It’s not that hard. :slight_smile:
[/quote]

Great post!!! I thought that it might’ve been just my old crotchety self…

It’s to the point now where I don’t even respond unless it’s someone who is obviously not a one post wonder.

…not that I have that much to contribute -except for how it feels to get old and have to talk about the good old days, when I was the man that never was…[/quote]

Glad it’s not just me.

[quote]1 Man Island wrote:
Meh, this is testosterone nation… I don’t think anyone gets butt hurt over it. I never noticed until this thread.[/quote]

You’ve never noticed? Come on now.

If you post a detailed answer to someone’s question, do you just never check the thread again to see if they responded? If so, I admire your ability to just walk away… Cue Weezer tune about sweater…

Edited

I think it depends how it’s done. We want people to search before they post. Having to trawl through a bunch of thank yous to get to the end of a thread sucks balls and discourages searching. It’s kinda like when you look for something and the first two pages is filled with:

“I have this problem too”
“Me too”
“I don’t know how to fix this but maybe you can find someone else to help you?”

[quote]cparker wrote:
rudeness and bad manners are a huge pet peeve of mine[/quote]

Me too.

My personal pet peeve is posters who desperately want an answer to their question but who won’t answer any questions you ask to clarify their situation.

HgeGunzzz98: Hi guyzzzz, I want to get swole as a mofo, how do I do it?
Poster: What do you look like at the minute? How do you lift? What, exactly, did you eat yesterday?
HgeGunzzz98: I really like Big Beyond Belief but I also want to combine it with Sheiko and marathon running and blah blah blah.

My good buddy e-dizzle comes to mind here. He asked O35 for help getting his bench past 225 and we’ve never heard back from him. Most of us are just worried about him, but now all we can do is reminisce about the good times we had while he was an active poster.

e-dizzle, if you’re out there somewhere, shine on, you crazy diamond!

[quote]Powerpuff wrote:

[quote]scoots2 wrote:

[quote]Powerpuff wrote:

Thank you. - It’s not that hard. :slight_smile:
[/quote]

That’s what she said… Come on someone had to say it!

Good points though Power, one wonders if they just gave up or lost their internet privileges or…
[/quote]

:slight_smile:

Seventh grade locker room humor aside, I always assume it’s really bad ADHD.

Like this. “I think I’ll start a thread on TNation”…“I gotta go potty.” … “Hey, I think I hear the mail truck.”…“MA, Do WE HAVE ANYMORE MEATLOAF?”… “Maybe I’ll take up tennis instead 'cause I look good in tight white shorts.” …
[/quote]

I think this is exactly what it is. And I fully agree with your OP.

Problem is…people with that kind of ADHD are never going to read this thread. They will just show up, post their one-off questions (“I want to get bigger, stronger, faster and leaner for the beach this summer. I have been lifting for 3 weeks. My bench is 145. I think I stalled and need to change programs.”) and disappear into the ether.

Like twojarslave’s buddy e-dizzle.

[quote]Powerpuff wrote:

If you post a detailed answer to someone’s question, do you just never check the thread again to see if they responded?
[/quote]

I’m with you here, Power. I always check back to see what they thought of my contribution, and I have to say I notice it when no such thoughts are provided.

[quote]dagill2 wrote:
My personal pet peeve is posters who desperately want an answer to their question but who won’t answer any questions you ask to clarify their situation.[/quote]

In this regard, my ‘favorites’ are the ones who don’t want an answer, they want THE answer–as in, the One True Method for achieving the physique and/or strength of their dreams. They seem to think the people who frequent these forums harbor secret truths about training and/or diet, secrets they will share only grudgingly, and only if the poster pleads long enough. ‘C’mon guys, just tell me exactly how to lift and what to eat to get hyooge!’

End threadjack with my apologies, Power.

I expect it in person, but not so much online. Forums are asynchronous communication by definition, so I just approach it that way, with no guarantees. Generally I assume someone is going to read it eventually, and they can always come back to it or search for it. It’s nice to know if something was helpful, but I don’t feel slighted if they never say thanks.

Plus, I know it can sometimes be a pain to log in and out across multiple devices. Sometimes I read things on my phone while logged out, but forget to reply when I’m on the computer and logged in. I’m not a huge fan of typing while on my phone anyway, but it does actually log you out of the site on your computer if you log in on your phone.

For the people who stick around, I just look at all the bits and pieces as part of one larger conversation. Branches of that conversation might go unanswered or die off, but as a whole, there’s just a continual dialog and relationship developed across multiple threads and logs and so on.

[quote]EyeDentist wrote:

[quote]Powerpuff wrote:
If you post a detailed answer to someone’s question, do you just never check the thread again to see if they responded? [/quote]
I’m with you here, Power. I always check back to see what they thought of my contribution, and I have to say I notice it when no such thoughts are provided.[/quote]
This is pretty much my mindset too.

A “thanks” is nice to hear for sure and always stands out because it’s pretty rare, but I’m much more impressed and appreciative, myself, when a poster actually follows through with any advice given and makes a follow-up post with a progress report. There were a few good updates recently - Leonard, Flight, GorillaK, and a couple other guys that checked in with either a progress report, more questions, or both.

What seriously, seriously, like seriously bothers me is people who make a thread with a question, get a few legit useful replies, and then make another thread ((usually in a different forum) with the same question a week or so later trying to get more replies from different people. That’s the direct opposite of showing appreciation or saying “thanks”. It’s basically saying “Yep, I saw your detailed answer to my question, but fuck you I’m going to ignore it because I want more attention.”

[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:

[quote]EyeDentist wrote:

[quote]Powerpuff wrote:
If you post a detailed answer to someone’s question, do you just never check the thread again to see if they responded? [/quote]
I’m with you here, Power. I always check back to see what they thought of my contribution, and I have to say I notice it when no such thoughts are provided.[/quote]
This is pretty much my mindset too.

A “thanks” is nice to hear for sure and always stands out because it’s pretty rare, but I’m much more impressed and appreciative, myself, when a poster actually follows through with any advice given and makes a follow-up post with a progress report. There were a few good updates recently - Leonard, Flight, GorillaK, and a couple other guys that checked in with either a progress report, more questions, or both.
[/quote]

Generally agreed.

I don’t think a “Thanks” post, in and of itself, is necessary. I think, really, it can be assumed. Imagine if the OP responded to every response with “thanks”. It’d be too much clutter. A progress report, detailing what actually helped (or didn’t), is actually useful for people with a similar question/problem, and even others who provided help.

[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
What seriously, seriously, like seriously bothers me is people who make a thread with a question, get a few legit useful replies, and then make another thread ((usually in a different forum) with the same question a week or so later trying to get more replies from different people. That’s the direct opposite of showing appreciation or saying “thanks”. It’s basically saying “Yep, I saw your detailed answer to my question, but fuck you I’m going to ignore it because I want more attention.”[/quote]

Yeah, this is pretty crap, and just adds to the noise. You end up having two separate discussions where everyones repeating themselves because they don’t see the responses in the other thread.

[quote]twojarslave wrote:
My good buddy e-dizzle comes to mind here. He asked O35 for help getting his bench past 225 and we’ve never heard back from him. Most of us are just worried about him, but now all we can do is reminisce about the good times we had while he was an active poster.

e-dizzle, if you’re out there somewhere, shine on, you crazy diamond!

Exactly! That was really, really funny. I’m with the people who assume he’s trapped under a heavy BB somewhere. Time for a RIP e-dizzle thread. I didn’t know him well, but he seemed like a great guy, following his dreams.

[quote]ActivitiesGuy wrote:

[quote]Powerpuff wrote:

[quote]scoots2 wrote:

[quote]Powerpuff wrote:

Thank you. - It’s not that hard. :slight_smile:
[/quote]

That’s what she said… Come on someone had to say it!

Good points though Power, one wonders if they just gave up or lost their internet privileges or…
[/quote]

:slight_smile:

Seventh grade locker room humor aside, I always assume it’s really bad ADHD.

Like this. “I think I’ll start a thread on TNation”…“I gotta go potty.” … “Hey, I think I hear the mail truck.”…“MA, Do WE HAVE ANYMORE MEATLOAF?”… “Maybe I’ll take up tennis instead 'cause I look good in tight white shorts.” …
[/quote]

…people with that kind of ADHD are never going to read this thread. [/quote]

Probably true. They’d have to put a sticky up at the top of every forum, and even then…