Why so many questions now in the Member-to-Member Forum? We can't respond; limits useful discussion

[mangorunner]

Why are so many questions now posed in the Member-to-Member forum?  We miss out on so much good discussion when the majority of users cannot reply.  This week, I was researching an issue.  I found four prior posts asking my same, exact question - all four were posted in Member-to-Member - and none of them had a helpful/correct/complete response.  Later in the day, I found the answer and I was unable to respond to any of those four posts.  A little frustrating.

[sunnysouth1]

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@mangorunner wrote:

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@mrdutch1001 wrote:

The only way to help out the member is to send a private message  and hope they appreciate your help being provided in the only way available to respond.

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And that method, while mighty generous of you, only helps one person.  If you could post it, your answer would be available for countless others in the future.  Like me.  😁

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Any member can search any board by using search terms and entering them into the search box. All relevant posts and answers will be shown.

[mangorunner]

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@sunnysouth1 wrote:

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@mangorunner wrote:

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@mrdutch1001 wrote:

The only way to help out the member is to send a private message  and hope they appreciate your help being provided in the only way available to respond.

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And that method, while mighty generous of you, only helps one person.  If you could post it, your answer would be available for countless others in the future.  Like me.  😁

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Any member can search any board by using search terms and entering them into the search box. All relevant posts and answers will be shown.

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But Private Message replies will not be shown.

[eleanor*rigby]

@mangorunner wrote:

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Yes, you are exactly technically correct; to get exact answers, I would have to ask each of them.  I was asking in a broader sense from what I have observed.  Over time, it appears to me that there has been an increase and I wondered if anyone knew why.

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@mangorunner 

IMO--only--if I had a technical question for which I wanted a simple, uncomplicated answer, I'd post it on the M2M board.

Conversely, if I wanted to discuss some general, opinion-oriented topic, I'd post it on one of the Discussions boards. There's a reason the M2M board is under the "Knowledge Base" heading and this board, for example, is under the "Discussions" heading.

I also think people who want answers to simple procedural questions might possibly be turned off by all the angst on the Discussions boards.

[mangorunner]

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@eleanor*rigby wrote:

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@mangorunner wrote:

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And that method, while mighty generous of you, only helps one person.  If you could post it, your answer would be available for countless others in the future.  Like me.  😁

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@mangorunner 

I'm aware of another member who, before he became a Community Mentor, would copy unanswered posts from that board and paste them into a brand new thread on the appropriate "public" board. He'd tag the original poster and provide an answer. In theory, the original poster saw the answer because of the tag.

As far as helping everyone, the Member to Member board can be read by any member.

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Now that's awesome!  What a great member!

It's funny that the Member-to-Member board is even called a board.  All the messages should be private.

[sunnysouth1]

Well, no private messages won't be shown.

Trying to answer questions through private messages are just that, private.

Members can find answers by searching the community, posting in the community or using the help pages. If you are concerned that members will go without help, there is no reason anyone can't find an answer to a question.

I have an inbox full of private messages from members who don't want to post on any eBay Community Boards. I also have messages from members who are afraid to post because they have been treated rudely on the boards in the past. They want private help only.

[mangorunner]

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@eleanor*rigby wrote:

@mangorunner wrote:

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Yes, you are exactly technically correct; to get exact answers, I would have to ask each of them.  I was asking in a broader sense from what I have observed.  Over time, it appears to me that there has been an increase and I wondered if anyone knew why.

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@mangorunner 

IMO--only--if I had a technical question for which I wanted a simple, uncomplicated answer, I'd post it on the M2M board.

Conversely, if I wanted to discuss some general, opinion-oriented topic, I'd post it on one of the Discussions boards. There's a reason the M2M board is under the "Knowledge Base" heading and this board, for example, is under the "Discussions" heading.

I also think people who want answers to simple procedural questions might possibly be turned off by all the angst on the Discussions boards.

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You're probably right.  I started this discussion to express my frustration as an (unsuccessful) responder, not as a  questioner.   That was supposed to be the point of this thread.

[eleanor*rigby]

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@mangorunner wrote:

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@eleanor*rigby wrote:

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@mangorunner wrote:

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And that method, while mighty generous of you, only helps one person.  If you could post it, your answer would be available for countless others in the future.  Like me.  😁

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@mangorunner 

I'm aware of another member who, before he became a Community Mentor, would copy unanswered posts from that board and paste them into a brand new thread on the appropriate "public" board. He'd tag the original poster and provide an answer. In theory, the original poster saw the answer because of the tag.

As far as helping everyone, the Member to Member board can be read by any member.

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Now that's awesome!  What a great member!

It's funny that the Member-to-Member board is even called a board.  All the messages should be private.

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Why should all the messages be private? As I said earlier, any member can read to M2M board. If a member performs a search for a topic, either through a browser search or a search of the community in the field at the top of this page, they can read a thread (and, hopefully, an answer) on the M2M board. Why would you want them not to be able to do that? It would seem to be at cross-purposes with the intent of your earlier posts.

[sunnysouth1]

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@mangorunner wrote:

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@eleanor*rigby wrote:

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@mangorunner wrote:

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And that method, while mighty generous of you, only helps one person.  If you could post it, your answer would be available for countless others in the future.  Like me.  😁

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@mangorunner 

I'm aware of another member who, before he became a Community Mentor, would copy unanswered posts from that board and paste them into a brand new thread on the appropriate "public" board. He'd tag the original poster and provide an answer. In theory, the original poster saw the answer because of the tag.

As far as helping everyone, the Member to Member board can be read by any member.

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Now that's awesome!  What a great member!

It's funny that the Member-to-Member board is even called a board.  All the messages should be private.

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Why should the M2M board answers be private? All members are able to read on that board so if there were only messages it wouldn't be too helpful.

[mrdutch1001]

I have seen many many questions go unanswered in the member-to-member forum and most likely because those questions are asked by new comers and the mentors can't be bothered answering a question that may have been answered elsewhere or some time ago by another member....

[mangorunner]

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@mrdutch1001 wrote:

I have seen many many questions go unanswered in the member-to-member forum and most likely because those questions are asked by new comers and the mentors can't be bothered answering a question that may have been answered elsewhere or some time ago by another member....

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Yes, this, exactly.  The question is asked but left unanswered, partly answered, or incorrectly answered.  No one other than a mentor can do anything about it.

[sunnysouth1]

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@mrdutch1001 wrote:

I have seen many many questions go unanswered in the member-to-member forum and most likely because those questions are asked by new comers and the mentors can't be bothered answering a question that may have been answered elsewhere or some time ago by another member....

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Well, you are very wrong!

Mentors answer all questions regardless of how simple the answer may be or how many times the question has been asked.

There are 69 mentors right now (I think) and many of them are not active or are rarely active so we do the best we can with the mentors we have.

It's inconsiderate to say the mentors intentionally will not answer certain questions.

[eleanor*rigby]

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@mrdutch1001 wrote:

I have seen many many questions go unanswered in the member-to-member forum and most likely because those questions are asked by new comers and the mentors can't be bothered answering a question that may have been answered elsewhere or some time ago by another member....

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@mrdutch1001 

That may or may not be the case, but that's a different topic for another day. LOL!

[mangorunner]

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@eleanor*rigby wrote:

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@mangorunner wrote:

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@eleanor*rigby wrote:

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@mangorunner wrote:

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And that method, while mighty generous of you, only helps one person.  If you could post it, your answer would be available for countless others in the future.  Like me.  😁

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@mangorunner 

I'm aware of another member who, before he became a Community Mentor, would copy unanswered posts from that board and paste them into a brand new thread on the appropriate "public" board. He'd tag the original poster and provide an answer. In theory, the original poster saw the answer because of the tag.

As far as helping everyone, the Member to Member board can be read by any member.

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Now that's awesome!  What a great member!

It's funny that the Member-to-Member board is even called a board.  All the messages should be private.

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Why should all the messages be private? As I said earlier, any member can read to M2M board. If a member performs a search for a topic, either through a browser search or a search of the community in the field at the top of this page, they can read a thread (and, hopefully, an answer) on the M2M board. Why would you want them not to be able to do that? It would seem to be at cross-purposes with the intent of your earlier posts.

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Going back to my first post, lack of "hopefully, an answer" was the problem.  There were no answers.

[mangorunner]

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@sunnysouth1 wrote:

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@mangorunner wrote:

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@eleanor*rigby wrote:

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@mangorunner wrote:

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And that method, while mighty generous of you, only helps one person.  If you could post it, your answer would be available for countless others in the future.  Like me.  😁

---

@mangorunner 

I'm aware of another member who, before he became a Community Mentor, would copy unanswered posts from that board and paste them into a brand new thread on the appropriate "public" board. He'd tag the original poster and provide an answer. In theory, the original poster saw the answer because of the tag.

As far as helping everyone, the Member to Member board can be read by any member.

---

Now that's awesome!  What a great member!

It's funny that the Member-to-Member board is even called a board.  All the messages should be private.

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Why should the M2M board answers be private? All members are able to read on that board so if there were only messages it wouldn't be too helpful.

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And going back to my initial post, you're right: four questions and no answers.  It wasn't too helpful.

[sunnysouth1]

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@mangorunner wrote:

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@eleanor*rigby wrote:

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@mangorunner wrote:

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@eleanor*rigby wrote:

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@mangorunner wrote:

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And that method, while mighty generous of you, only helps one person.  If you could post it, your answer would be available for countless others in the future.  Like me.  😁

---

@mangorunner 

I'm aware of another member who, before he became a Community Mentor, would copy unanswered posts from that board and paste them into a brand new thread on the appropriate "public" board. He'd tag the original poster and provide an answer. In theory, the original poster saw the answer because of the tag.

As far as helping everyone, the Member to Member board can be read by any member.

---

Now that's awesome!  What a great member!

It's funny that the Member-to-Member board is even called a board.  All the messages should be private.

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Why should all the messages be private? As I said earlier, any member can read to M2M board. If a member performs a search for a topic, either through a browser search or a search of the community in the field at the top of this page, they can read a thread (and, hopefully, an answer) on the M2M board. Why would you want them not to be able to do that? It would seem to be at cross-purposes with the intent of your earlier posts.

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Going back to my first post, lack of "hopefully, an answer" was the problem.  There were no answers.

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How can we know why more members post to the M2M board? We aren't mind readers. 😐