Reply by email vs. thread

Forum|Forum|18 years ago
September 28, 2007
8 replies
1684 views

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to point out a disadvantage I have noticed. When you reply by email there is no history on the thread of the great responses to the question. When someone searches for a question they may have and finds a thread that already asked it. It's empty because everyone replied by email and not the thread.

I think it would be a bigger benefit to the community to have the responses on the original thread. I deleted my emails by mistake and lost the replies I received on my question.

What do you guys think?

"If you are not living life on the Edge, You are taking up too much space"

P

ptc-593619

1-Visitor

Still whipping the proverbial dead horse it seems. Without going into
percentages and statistics, it would seem that many users prefer e-mail
to the internet for quick response and questioning. Now you're asking
for everyone to attach to the thread - I don't think that's going to
happen, somehow.

Richard A. Black

Senior Engineer

Eaton Corporation

16900 Aberdeen Road

Laurinburg, NC. 28353

A

A.DelNegro

1-Visitor

I personally prefer the method that we've been using for the past few
years. When someone asks a question, they receive answers directly back
to them, then they post a summary for everyone. This keeps the number
of emails down and everyone (generally) gets the answers. If the
answers weren't posted, you simply request a summary from the questioner
and 99.9% of the time you get one. I don't think I've ever 'not' gotten
a summary I requested personally.

I prefer the email method versus the web based because I don't have to
remember to go look at it on the web. I get it via email, filtered into
a folder.

Tony

B

brianlynn

1-Visitor

Tony, the problem is that Damian asked the questions and lost the e-mails
so he cannot post a summary. I prefer our current set up, but I do
recognize the issue.

Have a happy weekend,

Brian S. Lynn
Technical Coordinator, Product Engineering

T

TrainStopper

12-Amethyst

Since it's Friday. ;o)

For the reason you mentioned (loss of email files for some reason) it is
important to post summaries so one day you will be able to search for the
solution if your world falls apart or if you change jobs.

But I'd rather, when I ask a question, everyone send me their thoughts
directly.
I'll wade through the dozens of responses, then post a summary (so it ends
up on the thread).
In my summary, I will try to combine the best elements from the responses
and I usually toss in a few opinions when I think there could be a better
way.

Unless I'm missing something, I'm thinking this is preferable to hundreds
(?) of users having to wade through dozens of similar or useless responses
(in email and now, forever preserved in a thread), not to mention the
reduced load on the server end.

Any time I have asked someone for a summary, I have received it, even if
only to say there was no solution.

Something I have noticed is a lot of users wait for the summary to be posted
and then they respond to the question.

Best Regards,
Walt Weiss

B

BobFrindt

1-Visitor

me too

Bob Frindt
Sr. Designer

Parker Hannifin Corporation
Gas Turbine Fuel Systems Division
9200 Tyler Boulevard
Mentor, OH 44060 USA

D

DamianCastillo

Author

1-Visitor

I appreciate all your input. I guess I am just an old school forum user. I am an active member to dozens of forums and I am used to using them as they where intended.

I can subscribe to threads and be notified by email when someone posted a response. I can track threads and I can search for every post I ever created or replied too. It's a Knowledge base that is easy to use.

I do see your points on useless replies or similar replies. This can become and issue and I agree that if a summary is always posted, it would work well for our purpose. In my case, our email system deleted a bunch of my emails and I lost the replies. This prevents me from posting a summary or from remembering some of the suggestions. So now it's all lost and I am back to square one.

I will follow the method preferred by this particular forum and hopefully, I won't loose any more valuable responses before I can submit a summary.

Here is an Idea:

I am so busy that a summary would be difficult for me to compile. The normal forum process creates the summary for you, but I understand the drawback to this also. It would be a nice option for the originator to have the ability to clean up the responses and get rid of useless replies or duplicate solutions.

I know this is more of a moderator level feature, but it would be nice. If I created the original post and I am expected to submit a reply with only the useful information. Why not let the forum do the work for us. The originator has an automatic summary of responses and can clean it up later for a more efficient thread.

Sorry, I am always thinking of ways to make things better and more efficient. I must admit that a summary from me would take a long time due to my schedule.

Thank you again for your thoughts.

"If you are not living life on the Edge, You are taking up too much space"

P

ptc-2032585

1-Visitor

Walt:

You and a lot of others may post summaries.

A few more may even post less-useful copy-pastes of replies received.

The truth is that a lot of people do neither.

Below,in orange, are posts I replied to with solutions (not discussions like this one). They are in orange because no summary has been posted till now that I've seen.

I will not reply again if the person does not share knowledge/help for others like me to learn.

Note that, in green, are people who posted summaries, regardless if I replied or not.

And my main list got lost with the re-formatting of the group when newsreader access was discontinued, much to my regret.

Rui

Walt Weiss wrote:Since it’s Friday… ;o) For the reason you mentioned (loss of email files for some reason) it is important to post summaries so one day you will be able to search for the solution if your world falls apart or if you change jobs. But I’d rather, when I ask a question, everyone send me their thoughts directly.I’ll wade through the dozens of responses, then post a summary (so it ends up on the thread).In my summary, I will try to combine the best elements from the responses and I usually toss in a few opinions when I think there could be a better way. Unless I’m missing something, I’m thinking this is preferable to hundreds (?) of users having to wade through dozens of similar or useless responses (in email and now, forever preserved in a thread), not to mention the reduced load on the server end. Any time I have asked someone for a summary, I have received it, even if only to say there was no solution. Something I have noticed is a lot of users wait for the summary to be posted and then they respond to the question. Best Regards,Walt Weiss

W

wfalco

16-Pearl

Not all posts really require a summary (I don't believe I am agent orange -
but ya never know).

Most do ...because they can be used in the future.

Actually I like the back and forth live stuff. It's way easier than reading
a really long summary - but the summary should accompany it - and if its
something I am interested in - it can not be long enough.

I copy and paste what's ever relevant into the summary from anyone and
everyone who replies.

And, I try, to respond individually to each email. This gets harder with an
avalanche of responses.

I don't want to lose the human interaction. I'd miss the Friday frenzy we
get now and again.

Its all good.

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