Starting threads
 

On my first day here there was a thread telling newbies to ask their questions in the daily thread instead of starting new threads. I have three issues in that regard:

1. There is a lot of personal info to sift through. I think that is great for the people, who chose to create a support system, get to know each other. But I am new and I am looking for IP information.
2. It really becomes frustrating when I use google search to find answers and the subject I am looking for is buried in the daily thread. It takes forever to find answers to simple questions.
3. I prefer having titles on threads that relate to the information within.

Today someone asked about weighing meat, it was great. I knew before I opened the thread what the discussion was going to be. I am pleading with the moderator to be more open about their policy to start new threads.

Hello,

I back you up on this, cause the daily thread is long, it's about everything and everybody, whereas if you need a specific answer it is much easier if there is a related thread about it.

On the other hand, I do understand where the policy come from, since many threads are becoming so repetive and contain subject that were already discussed.

All I can say is that I welcome a thread if it is about something new and could be informative and beneficial for everyone, whereas I don't see it fair to open a new thread to only talk about something that was already discussed.



[img]http://www.3fatchicks.net/img/bar098/slide-jump/lb/250/140/213/

.png[/img]

Haha - The thing is, people tend to be helpful around here no matter what! :D (Even when they have answered the same question several times) I say, if you have a question and want to post a thread (after at least quickly scanning the daily thread), go ahead!

Wait, is this actual policy, or just recommendation to not post questions as threads?

That being said. There will ALWAYS be new members so things are going to likely always be asked that have been asked before. I was new once so I try to answer questions when I know the answer even if it is repetitive.

No matter what anyone says about searching and stickies (due to the reasons you mentioned) - things are not that easy to find around here!! That is just my opinion, but I am someone with limited computer time as well!

Something else to think about is that even though a question has been asked before there are different people that might have insight that the original thread didn't have.

It isn't an actual policy but it was pretty direct and off putting. Today I have seen quite a few new threads with a purpose and feel that I learn so much more from them than I do from the daily thread.

Maybe a solution is to have a daily answers and questions thread that is about IP only and not all of the personal back and forth. That isn't my favorite solution as I prefer threads with titles that are clear. That said, that is a better solution for me.

I understand your frustration Gina; I have felt the same way too sometimes. It can feel like a tough up hill battle at the beginning when you have a lot of questions. I like the daily chat for support and I agree searching for an answer can be difficult. I do have about two - three people that I pm (or they pm me) when I have something specific or I watch the new threads/daily chat (can I suggest you find a buddy to help you when you don't feel you can find the answer). You can sit by me :) I have two buddies that make me feel welcome with pm's LOL I'm always happy to have a PM, makes me feel someone cares about ME and I'm not just another wallflower. lol

There are so many different opinions on one question which used to overwhelm me, in the end you have to make an informed decision based on your experience, the experience on here and what your coach says. A lot of coach’s don't allow restricted where many do. So at the beginning a lot of this information just gave me a headache. Almost 5 months later I believe in my choices, which may not apply to another person. Ie, weighing meat. I've always been like stolaf, I just eyeball it. I've eyeballed my veggies in the past and actually measured them once or twice to see if I was right. I was and I'm not going to get stressed about it until I stall. :)

I think there are to many of us to keep the daily chat the one stop shop. New threads - I can see by the question that I may want to click there. So I like specific IP questions in the threads. But I also think the daily thread is for support so that's where we need to share our struggles (bad day/cravings), challenges and successes (photos, awesome weigh in's). I believe wayward's newbie thread is the same (I lurk in there once in a while to see what's up) :).

I do lurk on other threads and I don't have time to read them all. It's just my humble opinion that you could and should post a question on a new thread. The IP section of 3FC can evolve with us. :D I believe when this was originally posted the moderator actually said that answering questions in a daily chat can be tough to search. Don't be scared to post a question as a new thread.

We're all here together. :hug:

I have only been on this forum since Aug 5. I have lots of questions but I have definately hesitated starting a néw thread because of the forums policies. Doing a search is hard sometimes. It would seem to me that if all the answers to questions have been answered before then why bother having a forum at all? It could simply evolve into a site with a huge FAQ section. So I also wish we newbies in particular did not get our knuckles rapped, however kindly, every time the longer term forum members see questions repeated.

Just to be clear, all of the suggestions about what belongs in which thread, and whether a new thread should be started, were made by other members in this forum. They do not come from the 3FC moderators, and there is no policy which limits when new threads can be started.

Totally agree. That was not a 3FC policy but one created by the original posters in the thread.

as someone who has been here for 9 months, i'll tell you why the more experienced people ask that a new thread is not started for every question. every time i check the boards lately, the entire first page is new threads. this makes it very very difficult to find regular threads. you guys are lucky because you get a daily chat thread opened every day. the maintenance thread and experienced thread stay open until the limit has been reached. this usually gets buried in the vast amount of new threads opened every day. not only that, but very important question threads also get buried, so the questions don't get answer to the fullest capabilities.

when i was in phase one, all questions were asked in the daily chat. you don't have to worry about searching for answers to questions first because if you post a question about food weight or what have you in the daily chat it will be answered right away by many people. people on this board are extremely helpful and thy don't mind if a question has already been answered in the daily thread, they will give you all the info they have.

to be honest, i don't care either way if new threads are started for every little question or not, however it does make me not visit the boards as much as i used to because there are WAY too many new threads to sort through every time. this is much less beneficial to the newer users because you are missing out on the experience and advice of people who have done this program for a long time. we are very happy to answer any questions you may have, but more likely than not, we won't see them because the boards are so flooded with new threads every day.

Well said

I agree, I still dont understand a lot of things on this forum. Like the "40s", i feel like im in highschool struggling to find a lunch table that fits me:(

Thanks Laura... Also, I like that people said "there is a lot of personal information to sift through in the daily thread and I can't find what I'm looking for..." Funny... That was exactly what I liked about the daily thread when I first started. I liked sitting down and reading everything in one place. I felt like I was getting to know people by reading about everyone's questions and other people's answers. I really got a sense of everyone's personality and it felt more like a community. The "conversation", if you will, was more between everyone.

Contrast that to now... I look at all the new threads and think "wow, that's a lot of stuff... I will let someone else go through all of those because I am really busy and it would take too long to help everyone"... So, the large number of individual threads is part of the reason why I don't feel like I'm getting to know many of the newer members. I come and browse, but look mostly for the experienced threads and maybe cruise through the daily thread once or twice each day.

Also, many of the topics have been covered before and people (quite frankly) haven't searched before opening the new thread. It's clear that sometimes people haven't even read the intro to the daily thread, which covers things like tickers, signatures, how to search, etc. (Trust me, I've been one of the people who has refined the opening of the daily thread to make it much more user friendly and easier to read -- in the hopes that people would actually read it).

That said, I did respond to this post in an individual thread, so I'm obviously not anti-thread completely.

LOL! That is exactly how I feel.

Honestly, I don't feel this forum is friendly to newbies. Maybe I feel that way because the very first day I was here the first post I saw was scolding newbies for starting new threads and I got the vibe that our posts were too much work for them and interfered with their threads. Gasp! They had to look on the second page to find their thread.

Well if you go back even 10 pages you will find that there are so many duplicates to questions that other threads like alternate products or Fun with packets or even the recipe thread gets buried. You have to remember we were all newbies and we all wanted our questions answered. You also have to do a little searching for yourself. The sticky at the top of the daily thread is SO important, I still go back to it to refresh my memory on some things. If people would just do a little searching first and if they don't find their answer then fine ask it. But like pxlkitty said, I as well liked reading the daily thread as I did get to learn and come to know people and when I started the experienced people were more than happy to answer questions and sometimes I too was told to read the sticky threads at the beginning. I too as well browse now and see so many threads open I go to a few of the standard threads as I don't have time to read every new thread. I also use the google search like suggested at the beginning of the thread as I can't go through 50 - 100 threads to find a specific recipe or even to find the recipe link. Showgirlz had opened quite a few threads that she probably thought would help newbies but they are so buried now they don't see the light of day. I like pxlkitty will answer a new thread but you would probably get more answers in the daily thread. But these are just my thoughts and I won't tell anyone what to do. I am sorry you felt that the newbies weren't welcome, I was a newbie and it took me a couple months to figure things out with the forum and how things worked but I worked at it and I asked my questions through the daily and you would be surprised at how many good answers were already there if you just look for them.

I found this purely by accident this morning, it seems this isn't the first time this question has been raised. There are some interesting thoughts here.
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/idea...ything-2.htmls