[Alex Ethridge]

It would improve this site greatly if there were some way of encouraging users to come back and post their result, whether suggestions worked or not. It would help us all to improve our skills in troubleshooting and all users would benefit greatly.

[SavvyLady]

Alex I have to agree with you there... often we haven't a clue if it helped or not. So what do you tell the next person that has the same problem?

Any idea what you could do? I just tell them lpost back & let me know if it helped.


doesn't always work, but sometimes it does.

Alex wheres your avatar... you passed 100 now...congrats

[Alex Ethridge]

I had accumulated over 3000 at NoWonder.com, before they saw fit to shut it down. I accumulated about 1500+ at Windows-Help.net before they reset the counter and another 1700+ before someone hacked the site last week.

I'm an old hand at this.

[Rikku]

well alex,

if you've been at these other sites, what did they do to encourage users to come back and post results? Or did they not do anything either???

i think its a good idea tho

[SavvyLady]

Maybe we could get techguy to offer them something.
well 10% off on a T-Shirt or mug or mousepad maybe????
It might boost his sales & at the same time show more [ solved ] problems

[Alex Ethridge]

Other sites did nothing either. This is the first time I have suggested it anywhere.

[SavvyLady]

You know thats not a bad idea is it?


we really do want to know when we've helped someone... and thats the best way to learn

[TechGuy]

I agree that a new way to get people to return to their threads would be great, and I'm all ears... unless I missed it, the only suggestion I saw in my quick glance was to offer a discount for merchandise, which is great as far as I'm concerned, but I'm not sure logistically how that could work. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, CafePress has no way to offer discounts only to particular people. Even if they did, how would we decide who gets it and how to offer it? Also, I wonder how many people would be so excited by our cool logo that that would inspire them to reply anyway... hmm...

[Alex Ethridge]

I don't think the "compensation" of users who return to post their result is really a viable way to do this. After all, this is not a pay site and I don't think the funds are there.

I am thinking more along the line of a pop-up or some sort of conspicuously-placed message of encouragement. I hate pop-ups; but, I think a pop-up that stays on the screen for one and a half seconds and then disappears might not be that annoying. It could contain a simple message of something like "Please come back and let us know your result--good or bad.". This pop-up could be displayed for about one or two seconds each time a new thread is started or each time an old thread is visited by the originator. This could be coupled with cookie info that might trigger the display at strategic times and for specific users.

I'm not an HTML or Perl programmer; but, I'm sure it wouldn't be an insurmountable project for one who is.

[SavvyLady]

OK... well we could try to figure something out that is logical to getting them to reply a final summary ... maybe an e-mail.. something like a poll.
The thread starters original post would be sent to their e-mail with this ........

"Help our members help others that have problems by letting us/them know if you had success with the advice given. Was your problem taken care of while receiving advise from TSG members?"
...................[] yes
...................[] no

This however wouldn't help us here. Not unless it was posted back to the thread or in a category all of its own where we would receive the e-mail notifying us of results etc... like we do in threads we post in.

Come on folks... theres bound to be a way. Lets put our heads together.

to many people use popup stoppers... don't think that will work

[Alex Ethridge]

The most logical place for the follow-up is in the original thread. Otherwise, other members doing a search for a similar problem will be left just wondering if any of the suggestions worked.

Let's say we put a pop-up at the end of the new thread entry. You know, they already have a screen that says you're about to be taken back to the thread you just created. Why not make that a screen that says something like:

Thank you for posting. Please post back and let us know your result, or lack thereof. It will help us improve our skills.

It would have to stay on the screen for a couple of seconds and it might just help.

At present, I would say that only 1% or so comes back to tell us anything.

[Rikku]

I think it would only be useful if users posted back thier results to the thread that they started.

Just knowing if it worked or not wouldn't be good enough. We would have to get them to actually post something about what thier results were. No, this never worked, or Yes, it worked and this is what happened.

I'm not wild about the pop-up either, but i can't think of any other way.

If it was an email, it would have to be an email sent a day or two after their first post that maybe quoted their original question and contained a link to a POST REPLY screen that would allow them to be a single click away from just typing in a few things about what worked or didn't....

Seems hard to find a balance between getting feedback and being annoying...

[SavvyLady]

I agree in the thread they posted... but I was thinking a thread for us to locate all fixes in one place too.?? no biggee & wouldn't work anyway.


could give them a comment area

[AcaCandy]

Alex, a little off subject, but I've got to ask.....is landshark really your friend? You can PM me if you'd like......inquiring minds like to know....

[Alex Ethridge]

I have seen the name, landshark, recently on a BBS. Frankly, I cannot remember if it was at Windows-Help or here. I get lots of mail from BBS users wanting additional information; but, most of the time, they don't use the same name here as in their e-mail.

So, the short answer is that I really don't know.