Brainiac

Answered

Wasting Contributors Time

Forum|Forum|10 years ago
September 2, 2015
10 replies
5054 views

I have only been helping here for a month, but as the other contributors are nice people far to polite to complain about people who waste our time, I am going to say this none the less.

Please, If you don't actually have a need for an answer do not post here as a decent response to a technical or technique question takes time to prepare and wastes the time of the responders and that prevents us from helping those people with a genuine need to have their issues resolved.

Far too many posts are responded to only for the questioner appearingly not to ever go back to check what the answer is and heaven forbid, marking the question as resolved appears to be far too mentally taxing for many of you, but of course its not that its laziness.

Contrary to what you may think, responders here are unpaid volunteers unconnected to the Adobe company-we don't even receive free subscriptions to Creative Cloud. Now play fair only ask questions you need answers to and be civilized enough to comeback and read the answers given and if correct close the question by marking it correctly answered.

I cannot speak for other people, but I myself store the username of anyone I try to help who disappears without trace in a SQL Server database and don't consider helping them a second time on the grounds that abuse of a free service justifies exclusion from further help in the future.

Terri

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Trevor.Dennis

Terri, you do seem to take things to heart. Do you really store the names of posters you respond to? I was going to ask you for some advice myself, but I wouldn't want to be tracked down and have you assert your Second Amendment rights. There is also the worrying thought about where I have seen that face before!

I think you can generally spot one of the relentlessly clueless from from the first post in a thread, and when that happens I either steer well clear, or give someone else a chance to test the water, Gene is a saint in this respect, but I do miss Station (Ramon) with his spirited responses to the image editing challenged. But there is absolutely no point in reacting to irate posters. If you take offence, walk away and read it again after you have counted to ten, taken several deep breaths, and smoked something slightly illegal. Then explain that we are just other users, and almost every single time the thread starter will come over all contrite, apologise for their rant.

I think most forum regulars are on Noel's beta tester team. He has a pretty good resource there if you think about — a half dozen buddies with much better than average Photoshop skills. It was moi who suggested the presets based Auto-fx Mystical Lighting after I'd managed to simulate some of the Mystical Lighting effects with Star Filter Pro. I swap emails with Noel now and again, but I must drop Ramon a line to make sure he is still above ground.

Incidentally Terri, ISTR you mentioned the UseNet Photoshop groups, so you are aging well if that avatar is supposed to be you

Peter Spier

Adobe Expert

Terri,

I've been helping out here for more than a decade, and have successfully answered far more questions than my point count would suggest. It's actually very rare to get even a thank you, let alone have someone mark the post as correct (that's largely due to the fact that you get your responses by email, and you'd have to make the effort to return to the web page to mark the answer). If you are in this for the positive feedback, you're in the wrong place. Helping others should be its own reward, along with the education you get by doing so.

D Fosse

Adobe Expert

Peter Spier wrote:

If you are in this for the positive feedback, you're in the wrong place. Helping others should be its own reward, along with the education you get by doing so.

My point exactly.

MadisonLeupp

Community Manager

Alright, this thread is getting out of hand. Personal attacks and insults are not allowed in our community. Locking this thread.

E

ExUSA

Brainiac

I've worked in IT for years. If you have this attitude toward people who need help, you will burn out quickly.

When you choose to answer questions, you have to accept how they are asked and the knowledge level of that person. I probably wouldn't post here because I don't generally need the level of help that is available, and I have other resources to check. Those who post here aren't the enemy and they aren't annoying- they are frustrated users who need assistance and not judgment or nitpicking.

As for points and post counts and whatnot- I have no clue what those are and don't care. I've been using Photoshop since version 2.5 in 1995 and I just muddle along doing my best

A

Anonymous

Well said, I think. There's another aspect to this than burn-out, too, and it's that when someone does come to a forum for help and finds someone who claims to be part of the support system whining because they aren't getting enough attention, it's discouraging. Insecure people don't make for great support because they're stuck in "it's all about me" mode.

Terri StevensAuthor

Brainiac

Mr Dyers you are clearly a fool and I cannot be bothered to reply gracefully to you. What is irritating is you clearly haven't read the thread from the beginning and so don't really know what we are talking about here.

Please email me in the unlikely event of you ever doing something positive like helping someone on the forum with Photoshop, because at the moment I just consider you to be someone capable of only talking out of their backside.

Terri

robg86919190

Participating Frequently

This forum is a tool which people use following the spending of money. It's unreasonable to expect people to use it as a social site. Maybe folks should just be happy that they were able to help.

Terri StevensAuthor

Brainiac

Don't agree Rob,

If we were paid it would be a tool just to help, as we are not its fair to occasionally be light hearted and gripe when people are rude or just take us for granted. I'm very pleased when I manage to help out someone-that's why I come here and particularly so when they say thanks-irrespective of points. I'm not so pleased when I feel I've been used as an extension to Google by someone with no manners who takes an answer without saying a word, but then again I'm clearly not as saintly as you.

Terri

A

Anonymous

Well, aren't you swell. You've been here a whole month, and people are wasting your time. Looks like maybe this isn't the best way or place for you to spend it.

Trevor.DennisCorrect answer

Brainiac

Terri, you do seem to take things to heart. Do you really store the names of posters you respond to? I was going to ask you for some advice myself, but I wouldn't want to be tracked down and have you assert your Second Amendment rights. There is also the worrying thought about where I have seen that face before!

I think you can generally spot one of the relentlessly clueless from from the first post in a thread, and when that happens I either steer well clear, or give someone else a chance to test the water, Gene is a saint in this respect, but I do miss Station (Ramon) with his spirited responses to the image editing challenged. But there is absolutely no point in reacting to irate posters. If you take offence, walk away and read it again after you have counted to ten, taken several deep breaths, and smoked something slightly illegal. Then explain that we are just other users, and almost every single time the thread starter will come over all contrite, apologise for their rant.

I think most forum regulars are on Noel's beta tester team. He has a pretty good resource there if you think about — a half dozen buddies with much better than average Photoshop skills. It was moi who suggested the presets based Auto-fx Mystical Lighting after I'd managed to simulate some of the Mystical Lighting effects with Star Filter Pro. I swap emails with Noel now and again, but I must drop Ramon a line to make sure he is still above ground.

Incidentally Terri, ISTR you mentioned the UseNet Photoshop groups, so you are aging well if that avatar is supposed to be you

Terri StevensAuthor

Brainiac

You little devil Trevor. Where did that girl get my hat, come to that where did you get that photo-looks as if a massacre has just taken place. I actually bought that hat at a U2 gig when they were on tour in England a couple of years ago, so I guess it wasn't designer after all-just priced like it was. If you could see me from the neck down you'd see I'm not quite as fit as the girl in the photo. For your pure cheek I'll mark you as having answered the question -providing you don't pass on the fact that my pic is 5 years old lol Off course I haven't aged a day in that time.

Terri

Herbert2001

Inspiring

I am an instructor and freelancer, and after interacting with many people throughout the years, I have come to these understandings:

Do not expect from others what you expect from yourself. Hope for the best from people and yourself, and do not expect the best from people or yourself - in the end we as humans are terribly limited. When people disappoint you, take it as it is: just a single moment in time, nothing more, nothing less. Next time they might surprise you. Strive for the best in people and yourself, and treasure every rare moment when your expectations of yourself and others are surpassed.

And truly understand your own motivation to help others.

If I may say, keeping track of a blacklist of people who failed to actively respond to your help seems a tad... vindictive. Perhaps these users did take note of your answers, and you did help them, but they just, for whichever reason, did not respond to you. There is no bad intent involved in 99% of these cases. Just average human behaviour, in my experience.

gener7

Adobe Expert

I prefer to put people on notice. It's too bad that the forum won't at least require basic information before posting, and no one reads the forum tips.

All they know is that their 300 layer PSD has pink blocks and the client is at the front desk.

Sometimes I'll get a user who will PM me for private troubleshooting on a problem or even for a serial number. I have to remind them it's a public forum and I need others to look at it.

Lately some have been hacking CC by replacing .dll files that change the type of license from Subscription to "Permanent" or "Volume License". Then they get OpenGL and 3D problems as a result. Ask for a System Info report. It will tell you that someone is wasting your time asking you to fix problems caused by a cracked version.

Gene

T

Test Screen Name

Brainiac

I've been contributing for a fair few years, and every so often the top of one's head comes clean off and steam comes out. But there is no way, none at all, to reach people who barely grasp what a forum is and how to read their replies. Still less mark as answered or other modern frills, which I view rather with suspicion: are people really motivated by that stuff?

Chuck Uebele

Adobe Expert

You can mark whomever you want, or just have this post as a discussion with no right answer. I'm still in contact with Noel, as I test some of his PS plugin software.

While I also get very frustrated with questions like "My Adobe is broke," I also feel sorry for the people who have to post here where English is not their native language. I don't think they have a lot of options to get help in their own language, so I'm sure it's really frustrating for them to not only have to post here, but try to understand our answers.

There's also a new forum for people just to chat and meet other members. It just opened up on Sep 1, so there is not much there yet:

Community Connections

Nancy OShea

Adobe Expert

At the risk of going off topic, I'd like to invite everyone to visit the new Coding Corner. This forum is product agnostic. IOW you won't see a lot of "[insert product here] is broken" posts.

Nancy O.

Nancy O'Shea— Product User, Community Expert & Moderator

Terri StevensAuthor

Brainiac

Amazing , more people have looked at this in a few hours than any of the actually useful things I have posted. Seriously if I succeeded in offending anyone it was just in the spirit of creating a talking point, but sorry

Terri

B

Bo_LeBeau

Participating Frequently

There seems to be an ongoing issue with people burning out and not contributing as much.

I attribute this to the confusing nature of the help files and the forums. How many posts have the entire question in the topic header area? Far too many. What is the soluton?

Many new posters are under the impression that they are dealing with Adobe support and don't understand that we are just fellow users like themselves.

Too many rants without an actual question because of the belief that this is a direct line to Adobe, which it is not!

Lack of basic information like: version of the application they are using, version of the OS they have, basic machine specs, etc.

I wonder if a form could be devised for any original poster that would require filling in this info before being allowed to post a question? Probably not, just wishful thinking.

Unfortunately, it appears that many posters would be unable to post this info because they simply don't know what they are using.

Some long timers may remember a poster "Marian Driscoll". While "she" could be difficult at times, the knowledge was solid.

"Marian's" post "That leaves the Photoshop forums mostly for new users to come to holler "my Adobe is broken"

D Fosse

Adobe Expert

I'm also testing one of his plugins, which is really excellent.

The star filter? It is very cool!

Noel Carboni‌ Hey, Noel, we're talking about you.

Chuck Uebele wrote:

The star filter? It is very cool!

Yup, that's it. I love it. At first I wrote it off as a cheap effect, but it turns out it can really give a shot that extra punch. Don't overdo it, that's the ticket

But I'm also impressed with Noel's implementation and the UI in general. Very intuitive and efficient.

robg86919190

Participating Frequently

Whooaa!! Some would say your post is a waste of time equal to those you mentioned in it. If you've only been here a month I am not sure you should speak on behalf of other users just yet. Thanks for your concern though, much appreciated.

Terri StevensAuthor

Brainiac

Hi Rob,

well I fully intended to be controversial with my discussion point, that's why I posted it, but I stand by what I said. It does no harm to make people aware of things here. As for it wasting your time nobody asked you to read it. I also was careful to imply the thoughts were my own not those of others. True I've only been on this forum 30 days, but I spent two years on the old Adobe newsgroups yonks ago-so I'm qualified to comment.

I see you've gathered 45 points in 3 months or answered 4.5 questions successfully. I have in 30 days using the same logic answered 38.5 questions successfully. Maybe if you attempted to answer more questions only to have your time wasted you wouldn't adopt such a complacent attitude.

Terri

c.pfaffenbichler

Adobe Expert

I myself store the username of anyone I try to help who disappears without trace in a SQL Server database

Seems a bit much work …

Unfortunately I guess you are preaching to the choir.

Considering how many posters seem to have no grasp of the relevant information (version, OS, exact error messages, …) they probably have not even bothered to read the guidelines (not that I claim I did way back when) and are not likely to read this …

D Fosse

Adobe Expert

Well, it's not all that bad IMO. Even if the OP doesn't respond, others might pick up something.

I used to say that we didn't primarily respond to help the OP, but to learn ourselves in preparing the responses. And the poster gets help as well, so we all win.

I'm actually more concerned with the rapid turnover. Posts drop off the horizon so fast nowadays, that unless you take time to check in very frequently, you miss half of them. That's the main reason I half-dropped out (I used to be a frequent contributor). Now I only have time to pick posts that seem within my particular areas of interest, on the basis of title alone, and I let the others pass. I just don't have time to read them all.

Can a forum be too busy for its own good? I tend to head over to Luminous Landscape now, where the pace is more leisurely, and discussions much more in-depth because of it.

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