"Read Before You Post" Stickies?

Just wondering if you have thought of this before?

I think this would be a great way of letting the newbies read something before they post questions that have been asked and answered 500 previous times.

I was thinking that we could gather a collection of most common questions for a few forums (husbandry, behavior, health issues/feeding problems) and answer those questions and also provide links to posts that have dealt with those same problems.

What do you think?

Joejr14 said:

Just wondering if you have thought of this before?

I think this would be a great way of letting the newbies read something before they post questions that have been asked and answered 500 previous times.

I was thinking that we could gather a collection of most common questions for a few forums (husbandry, behavior, health issues/feeding problems) and answer those questions and also provide links to posts that have dealt with those same problems.

What do you think?

Click to expand...

It's a good theory but I think a lot of people would just skip the reading and post their question anyway

i think it is a good idea, i am a noob... i would have read them before asking one thousand questions

I have written up a few FAQs...

and Connie Hurley has posted them on her subsite. I would like to see a lot more written so people could be directed to read those first when the ask a question that we know has an FAQ written and posted for it. An FAQ can be much more in depth than an answer that has been written out for the 100th time in a few weeks. Answers tend to get shorter the more times you write them, lol! People could still start a thread with more questions if the FAQ isn't clear on something. At least they would have the basic answer to the most frequently asked questions, which would make subsequent questions more interesting to read and answer.

I discussed this exact thing quite a few times with a couple people. Connie did make Kathy's posts sticky in her forum, but the problem is most newbies won't go there, and forget about doing a search when starting a new thread is so much easier.

It's jmo that the sticky threads/posts should be in the appropriate forum, with one general "how to" or "newbies please read" sticky on the main page.

Sounds good to me.

I really doubt that Rich has time to write them though. But you might get him to put them up if somebody else writes them and they are good, solid, well-written advice. I have some other FAQ subjects written that still need a little polishing, but I wouldn't get around to writing them all. However, there are lots of people on the forum who are capable of writing them. I guess you would have to find out if Rich is willing to put them up if they get written by somebody. All he would have to do is read it to see if it meets his approval, and to put it in place.

I think some discussion is a good way for people asking and people answering the questions to learn about the subject. Having a FAQ would also be a great online reference. A link to "where to get the Manual" should be included in these. All three of those methods combine to make a great way to gather and absorb information.

This would also allow for a sticky post instructing newbies to "read the FAQ 'n' Manual." :sidestep:

Yes, once a new keeper has read a couple caresheets and FAQs (maybe even a small book??), they will know what questions to ask more about for in depth answers. And they will begin to be able to understand those in depth answers better. Before they have even read a care sheet or FAQ, they have so many questions that they don't even know which ones to ask, or which are most important.

So I agree, all methods of learning are really important and should be as available as possible.

Serpwidgets said:

This would also allow for a sticky post instructing newbies to "read the FAQ 'n' Manual." :sidestep:

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:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:

Perfect title Serp...would definately catch my attention!

Yes - I didn't see it until after I posted.

Nearly fell off my chair laughing, then read it to Bill (but better to read it yourself than hear it)!

Well I guess there are two ways to go about this:

(1) Have a specific care sheet for each forum which could be applied as a sticky to the top of the forum for people to reference,

or

(2) Have a generalized newbie/FAQ/caresheet forum which will be READ ONLY when it is populated with the threads necessary to do what it would be designed to do. The reason for the READ ONLY mode is that without doing it this way, that one forum would become chaos pretty quickly. The reason I created this site with the forums like they are now is to try to make it easy for someone to find answers to specific questions. A general purpose, anything goes, kind of forum such as this one would completely defeated that goal.

You all just tell me how you want it to be done.

As has been indicated in this thread, sorry, but I just don't have the time to do something like this myself. Besides, I don't consider myself as an expert anyway, and don't necessarily think that my ways are the absolute best ways to do things. They just work for me.

I think either way would work fine, but the question is whether or not newbies will find a FAQ forum and actually use it.

I'd be more than happy to whip a few up using caresheets provided by others, all while citing of course. Kathy has done most of that, and anything she has already written can just by copied and pasted.

Serpwidgets said:

This would also allow for a sticky post instructing newbies to "read the FAQ 'n' Manual." :sidestep:

Click to expand...

:roflmao: ROFLMAO, leave it to you Serp!

Joe, I think it would be a great idea for you to put together some. General Care & Husbandry, Feeding (maybe include a guide to sizes of mice), & General Health Problems (i.e. mites, RI's, incomplete sheds, etc). I know it's easy for me to hand it off to you eh? lol If you need help, I'm available. And maybe it would keep you from arguing with Vinman for awhile! :grin01:

The way I would envision it is at the top of each forum heading, such as husbandry, etc, there would be a sticky that would say something like "FAQs for new owners", or something similar. When you click on it, you might see a list of available subjects, such as "shedding problems", "snake won't feed", etc, appropriate to that sub-forum. But it would have to allow at least one person (Rich or whomever he designates) to continue to add to the subject list as other worthy FAQs are written. Then when a question is asked, somebody can direct the person first to the FAQ (if we know it is covered there) in a NICE way, "because it is covered more in depth there than we are likely to answer in a quick reply", and invite them to ask more questions after reading it. After a few times of checking the FAQs, most will get the idea. Then it should lead them to think of other questions to ask, ones that are not covered in the FAQs, leading to more interesting, in depth, observations, conversations, and debates.

I agree. FAQ's are great for noobs as well as people just looking for a read. I find myself reading them all over and on various subjects. I've often had times where i was "hmm, i didnt know that" and then i've had times where the advice was horrible. I think it'd be great on here. I doubt rich would let any bad advice slip through. Even if it did, it wouldnt stay there long considering how quick the majority of the people here are.