myrmepropagandist
Sometimes when people run a forum or even on social media the long time participants will notice that they answer the same questions over and over and over... this may lead to forum rules that ban posts that are repeats of old questions.
I think this is almost always a mistake if you are trying to build a community. It's helpful and good to link to similar older posts, but nothing makes a community feel insular than being told none of your questions are new and RTFM.
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Rich Felker
@futurebird This is basically why I got stick of Stack Overflow and refuse to participate anymore. Deletion warrior culture is vile. Posers actively preventing real experts from helping people.
myrmepropagandist
Yes it's annoying to answer the same question, and there are examples where it can be taken too far in the other direction... but in the expert communities I encounter they are more likely to unknowingly become hostile to new people. There is more going on in conversations than information exchange. I think this is one of the reasons some people turn to LLM chatbots. The chabot will never scold you for asking a question that's been asked before. Heck, the chatbot LOVES that. 🙄
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Alda Vigdís
@dalias @futurebird As a former (specific language) Wikipedia bureaucrat who has since then attempted to contribute to things like OpenStreetMap only to have things overwritten by a bot within hours, I can tell you that this is a lot of people's first impression of the open source community.
botvolution
@futurebird
Every single specialist forum in which I've participated has irritable gatekeepers, all long term members, who police the newcomers as if they are actual mods.
There are always, however, a handful of ultra-knowledgeable members, often retired professionals from a related industry, who tirelessly and politely engage newcomers, even when the question has been asked a thousand times before.
It's an interesting contrast.
myrmepropagandist
Also, as a teacher, I often answer the same questions over and over. I will get annoyed if I just told that same group of students the answer or offered help on the matter... but each time I encounter question I also learn new things. I end up growing too.
This recognition that the "less expert" partner in a conversation has something to offer builds respect. It is important that you noticed that the question exists even if you don't know the answer; in finding the answer together I grow too.
myrmepropagandist
To understand the problem with this consider if I did this as a math teacher. "we already talked about that problem last year" ... "but miss, I wasn't in the class then"
Having another person answer your question and respond to YOU matters even if the information exchanged is identical. And who knows, the conversation may take a different turn this time. You can always link to your old answers and posts to save time. But, you are responding to a particular person. Recognizing they exist.
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