Replies Needed Please!!

njaeger · Joined: 20 Nov 2010 Posts: 1 Location: Waukesha, WI

Hello. My name is Natalie and I am a freshman attending Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. I am currently writing a research paper for my english class. It is a persuasive paper.

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DaveTch · Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 12:24 am Post subject: Re: Replies Needed Please!!

the_hill1962 · Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 4:25 pm Post subject:

Maybe this is why this board is not being used much anymore.
I know that we don't "give" answers or suggest "ideas" for essay topics and that we "require" work be shown if asking for help instead of just typing out a problem. However, I know that I would be turned off from using a forum in which my posted question just gets "snipped" and the reply merely underlines the word NOT.
Maybe I just think a little bit more time with posters could be taken.
I know that I am probably guilty of giving too much help on here to such posters (as in ending up answering a question when little or no work or thought has been put into a problem) but I usually do respond in such a way that evokes the poster to state more about what sort of help is needed.
Many times I have seen posters ask a math question and then get shunned here (and other boards) by having the reply just state, "we do not give answers away" or "we don't do your homework for you", etc.
However, I think a better reply might be to say "Yes, this is a difficult question. Do you know how to ________" where the ______ is the name of the topic that is the first step in solving the problem. For example, "Do you know how to use the Pythagorean Theorem" or "What do you know about fractions? Do you think you could apply the concept of a fraction here?"
You see, maybe a poster actually doesn't know anything about a particular problem they are posting about and so can really say much about how they would go about answering it.
Just my opinion.

Tchrjan · Joined: 02 Jun 2005 Posts: 502 Location: Divide, CO

the_hill1962 · Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 5:03 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the reply, Tchrjan.
Yes, many of us DO ask for further information.
I just see that the administrator, DaveTch, 'snipped' the original post so that if there was actually someone that wanted to reply to Natalie in effort to help (by way of asking for further information), he/she probably wouldn't because the post was 'snipped'.
Probably my reply was irrelevant anyway because the original post was over one year ago and Natalie wouldn't even need help with what was asked in the first place by now...
I was just trying to give input on way this board doesn't seem to have any posts on it lately.

Tchrjan · Joined: 02 Jun 2005 Posts: 502 Location: Divide, CO

It isn't just OUR board that is used very little these days....another "math help" message board that BOTH of us volunteer on has had virtually NO action in the past year. I think that one reason for board inactivity is that message boards normally don't produce "instant answers," and lots of students these days seem to be expecting instant gratification.

Tchrjan
PATH Volunteer (oh...I'm MrsPi on that "other board")

the_hill1962 · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 3:23 pm Post subject:

Yes, I remember that you are MrsPi on that other board. I can't remember how the topic came up but we had discussed the "other board" sometime previously.
True, it also has not been having many posts but this one seems to have gone to zero posts for quite some time now and the other one does have an occasional post once in a while.
You are correct, students just want quick answers for their work now!
It is just amazing that is how it is. I would have been using this board 'back in the day' when I was in H.S. and college!
That TV commercial just came to mind. The one that has the teenager explaining to the children about how they have it so good now. The children had moved the TV outside to watch while they shot basketball hoops. The teenage said "you know that you are lucky, back when I was a kid, we had to stay in one place while we watched TV- none of this moving the TV around willy nilly". The children don't even pay attention to his comments and just continue shooting hoops!
Oh, maybe it is just me that has not seen any posts. I notice that, for some reason, the little icon that signal a post is new (with the red color) isn't happening when I log in here. So, there may indeed be sporadic posts once in a while (like the "other board") but I just have not seen them and have been thinking NO posts have been on here for quite some time.
Do you happen to know if there is a setting or something that I need to check for this?

Tchrjan · Joined: 02 Jun 2005 Posts: 502 Location: Divide, CO

I don't think you will see the little colored "icon" for new posts unless you are logged in.....but that's the only thing I have to suggest. Truly, there have NOT been many new posts.

Tchrjan