I actually think G-MADY makes a valid point.
As a long time poster, I used to get frustrated when issues would crop up time after time. It made me think that people were lazy to search and simply didn't listen. However, it seems the flow of topics is cyclical, and over, say a year's time, things come back.
Like I said, I used to get frustrated by this. Now I accept it. I realised that boards like these were interesting and new, and a huge source of knowledge - back then for me, but...
...now that I am an 'old-timer' here, I don't feel the need to post...there's not much more I can say, that I haven't said in the past or that someone else won't say. So now I am content to lurk. I have accepted that topics will come up time after time, but that's life isn't it?
I guess it is a reflection on the health of the industry. As newer pilots come through, they get to that inquisitive stage (that we all got to) and utilise boards like this. Nothing wrong with that. Can't blame them, as I was once there too.
Old-timers, if we can’t help with the same enthusiasm as you once did, then we must move over and let someone else do it.
That being said, what gets my goat is when someone posts a question with the 'expectation' that an answer is due without really taking care in the post. A lazy post, all set about with spelling, punctuation and grammar errors deserves a lazy reply. In that instance, referral to the search pages is justified.
Also, I actually think the collation of 'similar topics' by the mods is sometimes overdone, to the extent that finding specific information on a subject becomes harder.
Take the 'What's New In West Africa' thread for example. Very interesting if you are in West Africa. For someone wanting to know more about West Africa, this thread is next to useless. It has become a mountain of posts few of which really tell me (as an interested party) what is 'new' in West Africa.
The R22 thread. I no longer can be bothered to look at this thread. If I was searching for something specific I am sure it would be mentioned there, but am I really expected to trawl through the hundreds of posts?
Maybe the efficiency of the MODs to continuously collate topics, doesn't actually add to the board's usefulness.
Lastly, there is the question of 'currency' of the material. Whether or not the information is new or old, there is a psychological response to reading something already there. Your mind tells you 'it's old'. Compare that to asking a question, and getting fresh text in front of you. Now you can be sure you have 'current' thinking. So human nature will always prefer a new thread.
cl12pv2s
Last edited by cl12pv2s; 2nd Mar 2007 at 22:01.