Solution Marking is not Understood - Remove?

[Ray.R]

agreed...  And I fully understand that...

But knowing that won't change the fact that the users are often not selecting the appropriate post to select the appropriate solution. 

So this discussion will continue to go round & round..

For now, I look at this feature simply as a way of saying: I no longer need help. 

Due to the nature of how it is misused, of course.

R

[smercurio_fc]

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Ray.R wrote:

So this discussion will continue to go round & round..

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Well, I certainly don't want that to happen. It just seemed to me that there were many posts in which regulars were telling people to "don't mark you thank you as the solution", and that seemed to be a waste of human CPUs. If the tool is meant to mean something, but it is not being used properly then it seems to me that we have the following choices:

1. Ignore the tool. Then the case can be made as to why even have it?
2. Better explain how to use the tool. This assumes its mechanism is fundamentally OK, meaning it's perfectly fine for posters to mark their own posts as solutions.
3. Change the tool.

There will not be 100% agreement on which way to go. Some simply ignore the tool and that's fine. If you don't, and don't see a problem with the way it is, that's fine too. If you don't and you do see a problem then that's what this thread is for. I think we can come to some sort of consensus.

[tst]

Just to be clear - I don't ignore it. I find it very useful in that there are some cases where I decide not to go into a thread because I see it's marked as solved. Even if I do go into it (and even if I'm replying in it), I would rarely care about which specific post was marked as the solution. It's nice to have someone mark your post, but I don't think it's worth wasting time on explaning the system if they haven't marked the correct post.

[altenbach]

The most useful aspect is for the typical use as follows:

A new users searches the forum for a solution to a problem and finds a thread where the first post describes something that appears to be closely related. The thread contains dozens of irrelevant posts and incorrect solutions, so we need a way to cut through the noise and go the the actual solution.

That's what the feature is for, so if an irrelevant post is marked as a solution, it impairs forum function. I think it is important that the solution is correctly marked, no matter who authored it.

[smercurio_fc]

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tst wrote:
Just to be clear - I don't ignore it.

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Noted. Poor choice of words on my part.

[Ray.R]

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tst wrote:
Just to be clear - I don't ignore it. I find it very useful in that there are some cases where I decide not to go into a thread because I see it's marked as solved. Even if I do go into it (and even if I'm replying in it), I would rarely care about which specific post was marked as the solution. It's nice to have someone mark your post, but I don't think it's worth wasting time on explaning the system if they haven't marked the correct post.

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ditto

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altenbach wrote:

A new users searches the forum for a solution to a problem and finds a thread where the first post describes something that appears to be closely related. The thread contains dozens of irrelevant posts and incorrect solutions, so we need a way to cut through the noise and go the the actual solution.

That's what the feature is for, so if an irrelevant post is marked as a solution, it impairs forum function. I think it is important that the solution is correctly marked, no matter who authored it.

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I'm not disputing this.  But how can we teach something so obvious to people that are oblivious to the obvious?

I mean, even if we try...  ...  to teach them...  ...  they're probably not going to learn.. 

How hard is it to follow the instruction?  Pick the post that contains the solution and select that one..

If they don't get it then the system does not work, as Saverio mentionned.  Can the suggestions fix it?  Does somethingthis simple need fixing?

Well... it seems to indicate that the current system is still not clear enough for all, so it is flawed.  

There are good suggestions...  ... but there would still be room for error.

Message Edited by Ray.R on 03-11-2009 03:00 PM