to answer a question on a forum with a link to the topic as previously discussed?

I just keep seeing people respond to questions with links rather than words, and I'm wondering if that's like saying, "Hey dummy, if you'd searched you'd already know the answer."

I'm new to the whole internet forum discussion thing, and I'm just trying to figure out all the protocols and such. I guess I'm wondering if I'm supposed to be offended if it happens to me!

I don't think I'd consider it a slam. Sometimes you don't have luck finding something, and if I know where it is, I'll just direct you there, instead of re-typing a whole conversation.

Definitely not a slam, don't be offended!

Nah, don't read too much into it. It's hard to "read" emotions and inflection online.

Like Karateka said, it's just easier sometimes.

It might seem that way sometimes but I think people are just hurried. Don't take it as a slam, just thank them for the help and go on. Here is a link for you to read about this....

Just kidding . Welcome to the discussions, glad to have another newbie with me.

I find it very rude for someone to just post a link without saying anything at all. I think it's alright and don't get upset if someone says "here is a link to another thread where we just discussed this exact thing maybe the information contained in the entire thread can be of help to you" or something to that point... but just pasting a link is like saying "I don't have the time to type to you at all because you don't have the time to search" or you're too lazy to search or whatever.....

I wouldn't be offended. If I have a question, I try to search the forum first, but sometimes I don't find what I'm looking for. I'm always grateful if someone else has the information to share. Often, linking to several threads can give different ideas also. Don't take it as a slam. Take it instead, as help, as it is intended.

1) the search function on here is "finicky" at best...and down right annoying at worst.

therefore -- searching can be a royal pain in the tookus!

2) remember -- for someone to actually find that link to post for you means they have conquered #1 above...and that might take some time -- I know i've gone round and round 5 or more minutes to find a link for someone (one notable exceptiong: JanH the master librarian of CC links)

therefore -- the person has already expended time and effort to help you -- you just don't see that -- only the results.

3) granted: at least a "here's where it was discussed before....." would be good form.

I'm one that has posted links. As many of you know, I CAN get a little long winded (no, really! it's true! I swear!). With CC growing so rapidly with newcomers, it's very easy to get duplicate questions come up while newcomers are still trying to figure out how to search and browse the site. So I post the links as just a quicker way of referring someone to what I've already posted.

There are some questions that come up so often that I've actually typed out the response on a Word document and for awhile, I was doing a cut-n-paste from Word to the site ..... to me, that's no different than doing a cut-n-paste with the address (link) to a previous post.

I now have a Word document in which I save FAQ's and the answers so I can quickly find a previous post to help the newcomer with their question.

I don't do it as a slam to indicate the poster is lazy or stupid.....it's because I'M lazy and don't want to retype the (usually very long) response and info!

I wish I had a very sophisticated system like JanH, who can find a reference on anything!

I'm a fan of the links

I don't do it as a slam - I'm just too lazy to retype and rephrase and it's so much easier to just give the link. Some links also have pictures and attachments that I have not saved.

On a side note, is there a trick to searching for something? I know generally how, but maybe I'm not using the feature to its best advantage, because I often end up with thousands of threads to wade through, and I give up.

Don't take it as an insult. As said above sometimes finding previous discussions can be difficult. For the Newbie you haven't been here long enough to know what was hashed out a year ago or even a couple of months ago. We may recall a certain thread covered your question very well. Trying to find that thread may take a bit of time. I usually find what I want by remembering who said what and then looking up that person's thread and finding the discussion that way. For example: how to cut a cake- indydebi gave an excellent explanation of that one (By the way, thank you Debi for that. It really helped.) I would look up her posts to find the one I wanted and post a link to that.

Hey - when someone gives me a link I get not only one person's response, but the responses of many others at the same time! Instant help from many!!

Yeah, what Miriel said!!!

If I've responded to a specific topic, I've stopped re-posting the response , but I will search using my screen name with one key word and then post the link. Often there is more in the link that will help answer the question.

That said, I know it's hard to wade through lots of threads and I know it's much easier to just ask a question, but if a "regular" knows that the question has been asked and answered many times, they probably do feel that a bit of research would have eliminated the need for a duplicate response. Posting the link can keep the new, twin thread from becoming long for no reason if the answer is located elsewhere.

Honestly, there's probably a lot more to be learned in the wading process. When I started here, I probably read for over a week before I "said" anything.

Rae

At first, I thought it was rude, but then I realized that often, those links have a lot of stuff... not just the answer to the question, but wonderful dialogue between so many terrific and fun people. I've learned so much about so many of you, just reading through the past posts... and it's not always about cake decorating... sometimes it's nice to see where the comments and advice are coming from. Ya know?

Heck, I got the courage to try MMF for the first time after reading a huge post that was linked for someone else's convenience. Now I love doing MMF.

Personaly, I love it when I get a link because, one, it shows someone went and found a whole topic on what I was looking for and that you do, like MillyCakes said you get lots of instant responses & don't have to wait for others to read your post & answer. I feel that you ask a question to get an answer & you should be greatful when you do get one.

I agree with Doug. Searching a topic out for someone takes far more time then typing out an answer. I love it when someone takes the time to post a link to a previous, great discussion on the topic at hand. Such a wealth of information.

we need:

"the JanH Shortcuts File" forum

a place to look first on any topic for her wonderful multi-linked threads!

God bless JanH and her parcel of helpful links!


I don't find it offensive at all for just a link to appear as a response.

Say, for instance, someone might not have a clue as to the answer but they have better luck with searching...or may have wandered in on a previous discussion about the same thing and recalled the thread being informative and decide to share what they found.

No, definately not a slam! Sometimes you just know that others have answered a question better than you could, so rather than take the credit, you just put their answers in. I also love getting links because I just learn so much more from them.

How can it be a slam when someone is trying to help you? JanH has bailed me out of searching for something for hours with a link and I so appreciate it.

Glass half full comment.....

I appreciate when someone replies to me with a link don't get me wrong, I just don't like the fact that it's just a link and no actual response from the person them selves. It makes me feel as if "Even though I went thru all my forum posts and found you the link to help you answer your questions I can't be bothered by typing a few words in this here box so I'll just click my mouse one right click two paste three post! and I'm done!" It just seems as though I've interupted that persons life majorly by asking everyone for advice or tips on something or asking a question that I can't seem to find a thread on myself. Going thru "my forum posts" isn't that big of a deal unless you have a massive amount of posts.... I just recently did this and noticed yes it is a big deal and I don't have nearly as many posts as someone such as Doug above me whom has over 5000 posts to my lil piddly 1000 some posts lol.... But I just feel if you can click that mouse three times to post a link the very least you can do is type a few words of incouragment in that box too, something simple such as "here is a link I think you may find very helpful for this situation as well as some others that may come up in the project you're doing" instead of LINK HTH and post... I take the time to come back and thank everyone for thier help after taking the time and reading a 20 page thread to find an answer to my question on page 18 and by them I'm fuming pissed because it wouldn't have taken much time to just say "here's what you need to do" no instead of taking time to type it out to me you've gone and wasted 30-90 minutes finding a thread that doesn't really help me... but I still come back and thank you on that...

(you meaning anyone not pinpointing anyone or singling anyone out here and I DO appreciate the help I get on this site it just seems like whenever I post a question I get maybe 5 replies MAX! compaired to someone who asked another question at the same time that seems more complex then mine and they get 100 replies... Same goes with picture comments but I won't start on that....)

Links are often much more informative and difficult to obtain than a short answer. Links are a blessing bestowed on you from a very caring person!

I don't find it offensive either. JanH rules. She's helped me out lots

I agree re: definitely not being a slam (ie what Doug said about people having previous knowledge of a topic from somehwere else and sharing that info), and also re: adding info to the link would only seem natural-I'm not sure I've seen anyone not include an explanation to the link they post, but it's also 545 am and my brain isnt up yet )
I use the search features fervently (what can I say, I'm a geek- I worked in a library and I took research classes in school lol)-I would say I love the search feature. My one pet peeve, and what I gather might be the 'issue' in having to wade through lots of pages of search results, is a LOT of great topics /info get missed because I see 'HELP' a lot or 'I HAVE A QUESTION' or some other variation in the topic header. And when you do a TOPIC ONLY search for some question you have, you're going to miss all those ones. If you do TOPIC AND TEXT, all those generic titles are going to come up too and it will seem QUITE daunting to go through all those (my personal recommendation would be for everyone to just remember that having keywords in their topic post specific to their problem or idea or info, removes this sense of overwhelming completely when one is searching for a topic

To add to what Doug said, the person sharing the link might even have it bookmarked and quite possibly have made use of the info therein and so you know yuou're getting something that is tried and true

Thanks for all the input. Seeing the different perspectives is really interesting.

Links are very useful. the only thing about links that I don't like is that I hope it doesn't discourage new people from answering the question. I hope they will still put in their two cents. I'm interested in everybody's opinions.