Interesting read for those helping out here

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  drmike · Member · Dec 10, 2006 at 7:48 pm

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  Greets:

  Came across in one of the support email lists that I receive:

  How to Build a User Community, Part 1.

  Regards,
  -drmike

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  timethief · Member · Dec 10, 2006 at 7:55 pm

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  Thanks I’ve read it. I believe the most difficult transition to make is going from providing answers to newcomers and encouraging them to try and find their own answers. That’s why I posted this http://wordpress.com/forums/topic.php?id=5257&replies=7#post-33974
  One of the techniques I use is; “drmike our Forum Moderator says the search box is your friend – VOILA! – here’s a thread on …”
  Also there are still a surprisingly high number of “been around for awhile” bloggers who think they will get answers more quickly by posting to the forum. The only way I can think of regarding how to discourage this lazy behaviour is to let them wait and the when you do respond don’t provide the answer just point the way to it. What are your thoughts on this?

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  drmike · Member · Dec 10, 2006 at 7:56 pm

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  You might want to try stating what you searched for by the way. That would help folks figure out how to search and what to look for.

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  timethief · Member · Dec 10, 2006 at 8:01 pm

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  I usually do say: “I typed such and such into the search box” or, I simply provide the link to the search string, rather than to the specific thread in the search string that contains the answer.