I found it quite unfair for those of you (including myself) who posted answers to questions without ever receiving any feedback for the advises. At least, I'd like to know if it worked or not.

Can we make this a forum rule?

I prefer to not have the forums cluttered with thank yous and your welcomes.

I presume that when a thread ends it is because the suggestion worked. When I want specific feedback because I am not sure of my suggestion, I ask for it and so far, everyone has complied.

I think a little middle of the road is where I would sit. Do not think that making it a rule is the correct way togo but sometimes it is nice to know that a suggestion/hint actually worked.

Help/assistance falls into different areas.
1) Yup done this, know exactly the problem...here is the fix
2) Hmm Try this or that.

Think it is the category 2 where we would all benefit from feedback. Lots of time I view a problem from interest and learning point of view and it would be nice to know the solution.

Think there are lots of situations where the helpee does acknowledge the guidance being given so a Rule I think No

Len

Even if it were a rule it would be impossible to enforce.

I prefer to not have the forums cluttered with thank yous and your welcomes.

Hear Hear! We English can go off the deep end with politeness... Where would it all end? If you get a reply to the thread thanking, bask in the warm glow. If you don't get any response, take it on the chin ;-) I presume we are all here helping through a mixture of ego, altruism and "doasyouwouldbedoneunto"; personally I help out because if I am stuck, I would hope that someone would help me. I think anyone helping out just to be thanked will get pretty frustrated, PDQ!

I'm with Len on this. If you say "do this" you only expect a response if it fails, if you say "I think" then maybe a response would be welcome, also some people produce reems of code maybe their efforts should be acknowledged, but I can see where Pat is coming from.

Brian

Where I would like to see an improvement is when several of us make varying suggestions and there is no answer or just a "Thanks, That worked!"
With no indication of which solution was effective people coming in from search don't know the best one to try first.

Peter

That's true Bat, if they're going to bother to reply it would be nice to know which solution they managed to get working.

On a VB forum I visit, they ask that if your "plight" has been solved to your satisfaction, that you edit your first posting of the subject at hand, to include "[RESOLVED]".

For example:

Posting: How do I spell Access?

Solution put forth by member alphabeta: Here is your answer......

Original posting: How do I spell Access? [RESOLVED]

That way, you have the topic and also know it has been resolved.

What do y'all think?

What happens if the question's been resolved using the wrong answer

The problem is the people ask questions, but then never respond to let anyone knof if it's resolved...if they never respond, how do you know to mark the thread resolved?

When people have helped me out i have always thanked them and placed there logon name so the other people can see who came up with the best idea.

What happens if the question's been resolved using the wrong answer

How can a "wrong answer" resolve a problem? Sorry for my stupidity!

How can a "wrong answer" resolve a problem? Sorry for my stupidity!

Because people can offer "workarounds" rather than offer a solution that will eliminate the need for a workaround i.e. do it properly

The problem is the people ask questions, but then never respond to let anyone knof if it's resolved...if they never respond, how do you know to mark the thread resolved?

how about a voluntary scheme for people to class questions as resolved? could it be possible for the thread starter to have an option displayed for them to click once the solution has worked for them? it may not be used on all question threads but this would at least build up a decent amount of genuine solutions, especially with questions between regular users of the site.

The forum greaseman is talking about is www.vbforums.com

If asked, they might be willing to share the [RESOLVED] code.

If asked, they might be willing to share the [RESOLVED] code.

People just click EDIT and then change the title of their post, as I recall.

Resolved cases could then be pulled off and placed in a resolved tab for others to look at. This will cut down the number of cases in the active state, and will enable people to just view active cases in stead of all case.

Not knowing if these have been fixed and closed is a waste of time to both the helper and the helpee.

Just my option on the subject.

Alastair

Resolved cases could then be pulled off and placed in a resolved tab for others to look at.

On a forum with hundreds of posts created and answered each day. That's too much work. I find having to move posts from the Access FAQ forum bad enough (can we get a description telling people not to post questions there?).

but maybe an option to only search for solved soulution would make the search more productive

Peter

That would involve hacking the forum's software and then, because vBulletin issue regular updates, you have to install the hack again after the update.

but maybe an option to only search for solved soulution would make the search more productive

Peter

I agree with peter

Quite a few comments!!!! Cool! Anyway, my suggestion is only meant as something voluntary.... we should all police our own threads, marking them as "[RESOLVED]" whether something is a workaround or a hard and fast concrete answer that fixes an issue. (Where would we be without those workarounds ??). And.... regardless of where the threads finally get placed, just re-editing the original post of a thread would really help others to know that something was fixed and that the reply or replies fixed someone's problem or question.

I just think it should be used as a suggestion..... after a while, users will start using it, and policing will take care of the rest who don't mark fixed threads as "[RESOLVED]"

Have a great day:)

I'd go with greaseman - some kind of suggestion is as far as I would go (don't like rules!). There'd always be people who would forget ignore.

best practice suggestion something along the lines...

If you raise a thread that is subsequently resolved please could members make a final posting - to the effect that the problem has been resolved and a brief description of the solution... (no essay required). This greatly increases the value of old threads using the search facility.