Cross-posting to multiple forums

DerStrom8 · Jun 7, 2018

Off-topic discussion moved from this thread:
https://www.electro-tech-online.com/threads/icircuit.154080/

Ratchit said:
We will be duplicating the efforts of others to help you because you are posting on other sites. https://www.electronicspoint.com/threads/icircuit.288636/

Ratch

There is nothing wrong with asking the same question on multiple forums. I do it all the time. Sometimes that's the best way to get your answers - you can fact-check them against others. If you don't want to post an answer, there's nothing forcing you to.

Ratchit · Jun 7, 2018

DerStrom8 said:
There is nothing wrong with asking the same question on multiple forums. I do it all the time. Sometimes that's the best way to get your answers - you can fact-check them against others. If you don't want to post an answer, there's nothing forcing you to.

Yes there is. Simultaneous posting is wrong for the reason already given. I sure don't want to knock myself out providing the same answer that has already been submitted. That would be a waste of my time and energy. Much better to see what others have answered. Then I can either add additional information or consider the question answered. That cannot be done if the question is asked of each individual group simultaneously, unless all the groups are monitored. The question should be asked to one group at a time, and only move to the next group when the discussion has fizzled out. Also provide a link to the previous discussions after the initial question.

Ratch

unclejed613 · Jun 7, 2018

Ratchit said:
Yes there is. Simultaneous posting is wrong for the reason already given. I sure don't want to knock myself out providing the same answer that has already been submitted. That would be a waste of my time and energy. Much better to see what others have answered. Then I can either add additional information or consider the question answered. That cannot be done if the question is asked of each individual group simultaneously, unless all the groups are monitored. The question should be asked to one group at a time, and only move to the next group when the discussion has fizzled out. Also provide a link to the previous discussions after the initial question.

Ratch

i think it might be useful to post answers here, because a search on this forum isn't going to bring up results from another forum.

Ratchit · Jun 7, 2018

unclejed613 said:
i think it might be useful to post answers here, because a search on this forum isn't going to bring up results from another forum.

What has that go to do with multiple simultaneous postings and the duplication of effort that goes with it?

Ratch

JimB · Jun 7, 2018

I am in agreement with Ratch on this.

It really grips my bits to think that I am putting in some effort to find an answer for someone who is away elsewhere asking the same question, and in all probability will not come back to read my answer.
To me it has the same feel as if someone asks a question face to face, and then pulls out their phone and start asking the same question of someone else while I am trying to answer their question.

By all means, if a topic has been exhausted in one forum and the OP has not found an appropriate solution, then start a discussion in another forum.

JimB

DerStrom8 · Jun 7, 2018

Ratchit said:
Yes there is. Simultaneous posting is wrong for the reason already given. I sure don't want to knock myself out providing the same answer that has already been submitted. That would be a waste of my time and energy.

JimB said:
It really grips my bits to think that I am putting in some effort to find an answer for someone who is away elsewhere asking the same question, and in all probability will not come back to read my answer.

Then don't respond. Like I said, nobody is forcing you to answer. But don't criticize the people looking to get as much data as possible, or the people that want to help by responding, even if it's a duplicate response. There is still value in getting two of the same answers from different people on different sites - it means that the chances of the response being correct are much higher if one post agrees with another.

Ratchit · Jun 7, 2018

DerStrom8 said:
Then don't respond. Like I said, nobody is forcing you to answer. But don't criticize the people looking to get as much data as possible, or the people that want to help by responding, even if it's a duplicate response. There is still value in getting two of the same answers from different people on different sites - it means that the chances of the response being correct are much higher if one post agrees with another.

How would I know when not to respond, unless I monitor all possible sites. The correct way is for the questioner not to simultaneously post. You don't tolerate simultaneous posting in different threads of this forum, do you? Answers should be judged for correctness by whether they make sense, not by a consensus of responses. Sequential postings are OK.

Ratch

DerStrom8 · Jun 7, 2018

Ratchit said:
How would I know when not to respond, unless I monitor all possible sites. The correct way is for the questioner not to simultaneously post. You don't tolerate simultaneous posting in different threads of this forum, do you? Answers should be judged for correctness by whether they make sense, not by a consensus of responses. Sequential postings are OK.

Ratch

If you don't know it's cross-posted, there's no harm. Your response is taken into consideration along with all of the others. It still serves its purpose. A member doesn't post a question on the forum, get a single response, and then their thread gets locked? The thread is left open to encourage and invite other answers that provide more explanation and clarity for the OP. So what's the difference if these answers come from a different site? There isn't one.

Ratchit · Jun 7, 2018

DerStrom8 said:
If you don't know it's cross-posted, there's no harm. Your response is taken into consideration along with all of the others. It still serves its purpose. A member doesn't post a question on the forum, get a single response, and then their thread gets locked? The thread is left open to encourage and invite other answers that provide more explanation and clarity for the OP. So what's the difference if these answers come from a different site? There isn't one.

The harm is the possibility that I am duplicating work that has already been done. Maybe the questioner does not value my time and effort, but I do. It does not serve its purpose if I duplicate someone else. Why would a valid question get locked? Usually several responses are forthcoming from one question on one forum. The difference in receiving responses from uncoordinated sources is that they might have caused the responders unnecessary work from duplicating others efforts.

Ratch

DerStrom8 · Jun 7, 2018

Ratchit said:
The harm is the possibility that I am duplicating work that has already been done. Maybe the questioner does not value my time and effort, but I do. It does not serve its purpose if I duplicate someone else. Why would a valid question get locked? Usually several responses are forthcoming from one question on one forum. The difference in receiving responses from uncoordinated sources is that they might have caused the responders unnecessary work from duplicating others efforts.

Ratch

If you don't want to risk getting your answer duplicated, then don't post to any forums. I can pretty much guarantee any answer you could offer can be found somewhere on the net already. Your response is bound to be duplicated somewhere.

The long and short of it is that cross-posting between forums is not against ETO's rules. If that bothers you, then maybe forums aren't the place for you because that's just the way things work whether you like it or not.

Ratchit · Jun 7, 2018

DerStrom8 said:
If you don't want to risk getting your answer duplicated, then don't post to any forums. I can pretty much guarantee any answer you could offer can be found somewhere on the net already. Your response is bound to be duplicated somewhere.

The long and short of it is that cross-posting between forums is not against ETO's rules. If that bothers you, then maybe forums aren't the place for you because that's just the way things work whether you like it or not.

I don't care if someone duplicates my answer, but I don't want to duplicate someone else's answer. Questions and answers are like fingerprints. They have similarities, but are usually unique. Certainly there is bound to be some duplications within all the forums online from just being present. What we are discussing is the deliberate effort of the questioner to cause unneeded effort from the responders. I would not quit the forms because some participants engage in multiple simultaneous posts, anymore that you would quit driving because a road is bad. But I will not answer a questioner if I know he has simultaneous posted somewhere else.

Ratch

Pommie · Jun 7, 2018

I don't see a problem with asking in multiple places. From my perspective, I either know the answer and write a quick reply. Or, I find it an interesting question, do some research for my own benefit and post a reply to the original poster. Often, a question will start me down a completely new path that I will gain knowledge from. If the question isn't asked then I may never gain that knowledge.

Mike.

Ratchit · Jun 7, 2018

Pommie said:
I don't see a problem with asking in multiple places. From my perspective, I either know the answer and write a quick reply. Or, I find it an interesting question, do some research for my own benefit and post a reply to the original poster. Often, a question will start me down a completely new path that I will gain knowledge from. If the question isn't asked then I may never gain that knowledge.

Mike.

Whether the question is interesting or not is irrelevant. There are lots of places including exercises in textbooks that pose interesting questions that can send you flying off to somewhere. This discussion centers around multiple simultaneous postings that can cause wasteful duplication of effort if the answer is involved, and requires lots of work involving many links and graphics.

Ratch

Pommie · Jun 7, 2018

My point is that without multiple posts I may never see an interesting question as I only frequent this forum. It appears you post in multiple forums and therefore should be aware when the question is asked many times and act appropriately.

Mike.

Ratchit · Jun 7, 2018

Pommie said:
My point is that without multiple posts I may never see an interesting question as I only frequent this forum. It appears you post in multiple forums and therefore should be aware when the question is asked many times and act appropriately.

Mike.

Interesting questions abound everywhere. You don't need multiple posters to present you with interesting questions. Why restrict yourself? I do monitor several forums, but not every forum. What is the appropriate way to act when someone is wasting other's time and effort trying to get duplicate answers?

Ratch

DerStrom8 · Jun 8, 2018

Ratchit said:
But I will not answer a questioner if I know he has simultaneous posted somewhere else.

That's exactly what I've been saying. You don't have to answer if you don't want to. But you also have no right to criticize a poster for asking on multiple sites. There are no rules saying that can't be done.

Ratchit · Jun 8, 2018

DerStrom8 said:
That's exactly what I've been saying. You don't have to answer if you don't want to. But you also have no right to criticize a poster for asking on multiple sites. There are no rules saying that can't be done.

You also said in post #13 that I should perhaps quit the forum because I did not like multiple simultaneous postings. That is a bit radical, don't you think? While there are no rules for this site on multiple postings, it is a selfish practice that is inflicted on the the rest of the forum members, and should rightly be criticized.

Ratch

DerStrom8 · Jun 8, 2018

Ratchit said:
You also said in post #13 that I should perhaps quit the forum because I did not like multiple simultaneous postings. That is a bit radical, don't you think?

I was trying to make a point. Sounds like it missed its mark.

While there are no rules for this site on multiple postings, it is a selfish practice that is inflicted on the the rest of the forum members, and should rightly be criticized.

So it's selfish to ask for help from as many people as possible? I don't think so. Selfish is saying "He asked someone else other than me so out of spite I'm not going to answer him".

Ratchit · Jun 8, 2018

DerStrom8 said:
I was trying to make a point. Sounds like it missed its mark.

So it's selfish to ask for help from as many people as possible? I don't think so. Selfish is saying "He asked someone else other than me so out of spite I'm not going to answer him".

I think you missed the point. It is selfish to ask someone in a forum a question while simultaneously asking the same question in another forum without giving either of the parties the background of what was learned before from the other party. I thought I made that point clear from several posting in this thread. Of course it is OK at solicit information from several sources, but the way it is done has to be taken into consideration also.

Ratch

DerStrom8 · Jun 8, 2018

Ratchit said:
It is selfish to ask someone in a forum a question while simultaneously asking the same question in another forum without giving either of the parties the background of what was learned before from the other party.

I would agree with the part in bold except that you didn't give the OP a chance to get any answers from the other party first. The OP posted to both forums simultaneously (or, at least he hadn't gotten a response from either one yet). As both threads progress I would expect him to fill in what was learned on the other forum. But you jumped down his throat straight from the beginning, so you clearly weren't even willing to accept the part in bold if he offered it.

Cross-posting to multiple forums

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