Responding to poster's questions

[emerald40]

Do the posters on here sometimes go overboard in responding to a question?

Just left one such thread where a question was asked on how to do something.

If the question is narrow, should we be going through this seller's entire history or just answering the question as presented?

[pburn]

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@chrysylyswrote:

If you're talking about the cape thread, I made a few comments direct on topic, then bailed when I saw how the OP reacted.

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Yeah. Same here. I do think threads can get out of hand pretty easily. Sometimes it's just like that when there's a lot of back and forth. I, for one, will take this thread to heart.

[ted_200]

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@emerald40wrote:

Do the posters on here sometimes go overboard in responding to a question?

Just left one such thread where a question was asked on how to do something.

If the question is narrow, should we be going through this seller's entire history or just answering the question as presented?

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It depends, I think.  I'll go to other stuff if I think the person who posted needs to know it or it would be helpful to them or others, but I think some folks here just gratuitiously find issues that don't need to be brought up... particularly if there's some unrelated unintentional policy violation, they should Message the poster rather than bring it up on the forum and (essentially) invite everyone to report it. 

[thatsallfolks]

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@emerald40wrote:

Do the posters on here sometimes go overboard in responding to a question?

Just left one such thread where a question was asked on how to do something.

If the question is narrow, should we be going through this seller's entire history or just answering the question as presented?

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I think it depends on how "loaded" the question is. For example, "The item I ordered three days ago isn't here yet, but eBay won't let me neg the seller" might trigger an exploration of the OP's "feedback left" page.

Combative OPs tend to get put under the microscope, because their behavior as buyers/sellers is detrimental to the marketplace.

Without knowing which thread you're referring to, there's no way anyone can know if the responses were appropriate.

[luckythewinner]

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@emerald40wrote:

Do the posters on here sometimes go overboard in responding to a question?

Just left one such thread where a question was asked on how to do something.

If the question is narrow, should we be going through this seller's entire history or just answering the question as presented?

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The audience for any thread on this board is much wider than just the person who started it. The information given may not relate directly to the OP, but it can educate others who may have a problem in the same general area.

[emerald40]

To be clearer of what I am referring to -

A poster posts a question of a narrow scope.

And then others scrutinize every other listing he has, both live and sold, and then continue to tell the OP everything they feel he is doing wrong.

I do not see how this is helpful to lurkers other than to keep them hidden.

[pburn]

I've learned a lot lurking, even from the kind of threads you've described. Generally, someone brings up eBay rules and regulations for both buyers and sellers, often providing links and explanations. They post better ways for buyers to search, better ways for sellers to list, ways to handle feedback or returns or shipping damage, and on and on.

Most reasonable people who are reading lengthy posts can weed out the combative responses from the ones that are truly helpful. Most people are used to comment sections and message boards, whether on Facebook or Weight Watchers or Yahoo. They know some people go overboard with both original posts and the responses thereafter.

Let me be clear:  I'm not advocating that people dogpile on anyone. I do, however, think that lurkers are more saavy than you give them credit for. 

[emerald40]

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@pburnwrote:

I've learned a lot lurking, even from the kind of threads you've described. Generally, someone brings up eBay rules and regulations for both buyers and sellers, often providing links and explanations. They post better ways for buyers to search, better ways for sellers to list, ways to handle feedback or returns or shipping damage, and on and on.

Most reasonable people who are reading lengthy posts can weed out the combative responses from the ones that are truly helpful. Most people are used to comment sections and message boards, whether on Facebook or Weight Watchers or Yahoo. They know some people go overboard with both original posts and the responses thereafter.

Let me be clear:  I'm not advocating that people dogpile on anyone. I do, however, think that lurkers are more saavy than you give them credit for. 

__________________________________________________

I can only go by how I would feel and I am no stranger to message boards.  

But I have been to ones where people were overly negative.  And yes while I can easily determine who the problem posters are, they are still there in the thread.  Personally I prefer not to wade through a mine field hoping to find some pertinent information.

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[sharingtheland]

If it's the thread I think you're talking about, the subject is "negative feedback."  Of course people are going to look at the seller's feedback.

I agree that at times there are things posted that fall in the myob sector but, as someone said, if a policy violation is brought up that benefits others.  Possibly.

Torn on that ^^^ policy violation thing but I also take into consideration the board personality of the poster.

Alas, not all readers know who is always cheerful, polite and correct (raises hand !!) but the last thing we need is more policing here.  There has been talk lately about naming and shaming and, honestly, I don't see that much.   

[coolections]

@emerald40

The question was how do I get a negative removed. Before anyone replies it is a MUST that the responder looks to see IF the negative SHOULD be removed. Someone telling them how to remove a negative without see the facts should NOT be in the thread posting. The replies to the topic in question where very good responses. They told the OP what was wrong, what she needs to do to avoid the same situation, and how to correct the problem. Hopefully anyone lurking got some good info and what NOT to do when creating listings. Those that told the OP how to GET OUT of the situation by calling Ebay instead of how to change what they are doing was not helping the OP IMO.

[anngre_85]

I see a bunch of posts that dog pile but I think it'd just as bad when one poster replies to a ton of posts in the thread.

There are a few that do it to the point that an entire page is nothing but their replies

Also posters that can't let a thread die, the go back days or weeks later and reply to several posts.

[retrose1]

It depends on the poster and what ty are asking and how they are asking it.

I tend to go overboard on informaion, like writing out our common acronyms because they might not know what they are, with newbies who have no idea they just jumped into shark infested water covered with meat cologne.

I tend to avoid posters who have been around for years and are asking a newbie question.

But for the cruel pile on threads that run off the OP and boost the egos of a few, there are the threads that are wonderfully helpful and informative.  One of my favorites the past few years was a new seller who was getting into Jewish merchandise and wanted some help on what direction to take and what she could do right and wrong.  The thread was over 200 posts and meandered all over the place but the OP is still selling her stuff and just like Shake and Bake - and we helped.

[chrysylys]

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@coolectionswrote:

The question was how do I get a negative removed. Before anyone replies it is a MUST that the responder looks to see IF the negative SHOULD be removed. Someone telling them how to remove a negative without see the facts should NOT be in the thread posting. .

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And when you do that, it's only natural to see other things in the listing that might cause that same seller problems.  You mention those in the spirit of helping them avoid those problems.  MOST will acknowledge that fact and appear grateful.  There are those who dig their heels in and become argumentative.  That's when I move on.

[chrysylys]

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@anngre_85wrote:
I see a bunch of posts that dog pile but I think it'd just as bad when one poster replies to a ton of posts in the thread.

There are a few that do it to the point that an entire page is nothing but their replies

Also posters that can't let a thread die, the go back days or weeks later and reply to several posts.

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Indeed.  Often 7 or 8 in a row, and frequently in reply to their own posts.  I simply ignore them and scroll quickly past their posts.

[bigdeals.etc]

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@sharingthelandwrote:

If it's the thread I think you're talking about, the subject is "negative feedback."  Of course people are going to look at the seller's feedback.

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I just created a post about my negative feedback today... I hope you aren't talking about mine. But coincidentally someone just asked me a totally unrelated concern about my listing in there. Not sure if the poster meant to nitpick or not, but I just answered it and moved back onto the topic at hand.

@emerald40Yes I've been noticing this behavior alot recently. I don't check here as often as some of you, but I've been a victim of this a few times in the past even to have another member call out that unrelated post only to make it into a heated discussion. And I agree with you... if the question is narrow, responders should try to keep it narrow if possible.

@luckythewinnerYes other people reading the post can learn from other not-so-related information. But I feel that those topics should be started in a new post. Honestly I get turned off when I see a promising topic with over a hundred replies and they are all basically saying the same thing... I'm not going to sift thru it all. To exaggerate, it'd be like if this entire board was one big long post. No one's going to read all of that to find the little nugget of somewhat related issue and learn from it.

[chrysylys]

Responding to no one .....

There is another one on the Returns board that's about to go down the rabbit hole .....