Quoting hal9g:

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If someone is tired of answering the same question over and over, then simply DON'T answer.

Exactly!

And, just to promote a pet project of mine , a well groomed wiki could hold a lot of information that otherwise needs to be repeated in the forums over and over again. The newbie being a newbie won't always find it on its own, but the first person who replies on an 'ooold question' could take him or her by the hand and lead them to the fountain of wisdom.

cya, Mithi

Quoting Vittra:

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I'm not sure I really understand your position here so apologies in advance if I have taken it the wrong way. Are you trying to justify rude behavior towards newbies because their question is one that is asked frequently?  And someone who has been here for years has more rights to suggest a change or feature request then someone who just bought it?

I did not mean to justify rude behavior -- if it came across that way, I apologize.  I meant to explain why people might answer rudely, not say I support rudeness.

No, I don't think a long-time user has any more rights than a new user to suggest changes or feature requests.  What I have a problem with is when a new user pipes in with something like Profiler is "worthless" because of this or that.  Or if he thinks because he paid the small registration fee he is being "cheated" because it doesn't meet his every whim.  And there have been new users who have posted here with just that attitude.  You'd think they spent some real money to get Profiler and that they were ripped off because Invelos doesn't immediately change things to suit them.  But if people took a little time and read the forum posts and found out what had been suggested already, maybe they wouldn't make what seem like dumb posts.  A little research is a wonderful thing.

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I personally think no matter how many times a question has been asked or an "improvement" is suggested, there should never be an attack or attitude given as a response. We are a community driven database and the last thing we should be doing is treating potential new community members with any sort of "aggression".  While I do understand why people do get frustrated. It's a normal human response imo, but to voice it in the forums to any individual I disagree with. Especially since our forum search doesn't seem to work properly.

I agree with your sentiment here, except that some of these new users bring an attitude to the discussion with their first post.  The way I see it is that if you come here with an attitude, don't expect to receive anything less in return.

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No matter how many times you see the "We should have a CD profiler", rather then jumping on the user, why not explain that it has been suggested many times and even offer a solution of manual profiles to said user to use DVDprofiler for more then just DVDs. As I have done to include Video Games in my "Ordered" column (thanks to whomever actually took the time to give this suggestion).

CD Profiler is sort of the running joke among regulars.  I don't think anyone has been seriously attacked for suggesting it.  There are some jokes about people dining on newbies who suggest this, suggestions to read the forums, but nothing really serious is said.

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As for people waiting to suggest changes to a program they just bought.

I used to work at an electronics store and at the end of my days there I was going on 7 years being a part of the store. I can't even count how many times someone brand new had come up with a fantastic idea of how to better the way we did things. A lot of times veterans are so used to how things work that they can't see the flaws, that's why "new blood" is so important in any business imo (and in this case an online database). While some of these "suggestions" may come off as arrogant or cocky in some respects to some, people have to realize that these may be a "new breed" of customers that are buying this program.

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We are all somewhat responsible for how well this program does. I will treat every new user as a potential future highly regarded contributer as I feel everyone should, including suggestions to how to improve what is already here cause you never know what "crazy" idea will turn into genius. 

I don't mean to imply that it's okay to be rude to new and potential expert contributors.  All I'm saying is you don't go to somebody's house and start thing off by telling him that his furniture is ugly and he should rearrange all the pictures on the wall.  Especially while acting like you know better because you spent a lot of time in someone else's house which is much better than this one.

Everyone makes and receives first impressions.  A newbie may feel he's been mistreated and not welcome here.  Or a regular may think, "who the heck is this a-hole to be telling us how to run things?" and reply accordingly.  Remember, some of the posts from new people come across as rude, too.  I don't know about anyone else, but I am far more likely to help and treat kindly someone who doesn't insult me the first time we meet.

Quoting Katatonia:

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Quoting Kathy:

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Personally I believe that people should be treated with kindness and respect. It takes no more time and effort to respond in an informative and friendly manner as it is to respond with exasperation and frustration.

The length of one's subscription to invelos should not give one license to be unkind to those who are new. If anything, we should be even nicer to those who do not have the knowledge of the program as we do.

Wise words Kathy, wise words indeed. I completely agree.

So do I. And the same goes for Hal's post: indeed there is no reason to feel compelled to answer each and every single post. If - for whatever reason - you can't be asked to do it in a friendly way, then just don't answer at all.

Perhaps that some do not understand the difference between being polite and perhaps some user just having some fun, but then i have seen many people who believe that they can judge what is in a person's heart and mind. Almost ALWAYS wrong. I have been new to many forums in my life and there is, in nearly all of them a gauntlet of some sort to maneuver, there was one heer when i was a newb, I got cuffed about pretty well, while I learned. So my suggestion to people is stop trying to judge other users, you aren't qualified, any more than I am qualified to judge YOU and I try very hard not to. Judge not lest YE be judged and people who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Thread such as this, which are designed to merely attack and insult a single user serve absolutely no good purpose at all, no matter who that user is. I, for one, like to laugh and sometimes i will laugh at myself and other times I may laugh at you, or poke you in the ribs, from I see the rarest commodity in these forums is a sense of humor.

Skip

Quoting Antares:

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Quoting Prof. Kingsfield:

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Perhaps that some do not understand the difference between being polite and perhaps some user just having some fun, but then i have seen many people who believe that they can judge what is in a person's heart and mind. Almost ALWAYS wrong. I have been new to many forums in my life and there is, in nearly all of them a gauntlet of some sort to maneuver, there was one heer when i was a newb, I got cuffed about pretty well, while I learned. So my suggestion to people is stop trying to judge other users, you aren't qualified, any more than I am qualified to judge YOU and I try very hard not to. Judge not lest YE be judged and people who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Thread such as this, which are designed to merely attack and insult a single user serve absolutely no good purpose at all, no matter who that user is. I, for one, like to laugh and sometimes i will laugh at myself and other times I may laugh at you, or poke you in the ribs, from I see the rarest commodity in these forums is a sense of humor.

Skip

Quoting this post for future reference.

Quoting Prof. Kingsfield:

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Quoting Antares:

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Quoting Prof. Kingsfield:

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Perhaps that some do not understand the difference between being polite and perhaps some user just having some fun, but then i have seen many people who believe that they can judge what is in a person's heart and mind. Almost ALWAYS wrong. I have been new to many forums in my life and there is, in nearly all of them a gauntlet of some sort to maneuver, there was one heer when i was a newb, I got cuffed about pretty well, while I learned. So my suggestion to people is stop trying to judge other users, you aren't qualified, any more than I am qualified to judge YOU and I try very hard not to. Judge not lest YE be judged and people who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Thread such as this, which are designed to merely attack and insult a single user serve absolutely no good purpose at all, no matter who that user is. I, for one, like to laugh and sometimes i will laugh at myself and other times I may laugh at you, or poke you in the ribs, from I see the rarest commodity in these forums is a sense of humor.

Skip

Quoting this post for future reference.

Actually, I should have just quoted this line...

Quoting Prof. Kingsfield:

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So my suggestion to people is stop trying to judge other users, you aren't qualified, any more than I am qualified to judge YOU and I try very hard not to.

We shall see...we shall see.