It is polite to THANK people who respond to your question

[simonhill]

What is the general feeling about not responding to your own post after replies have been given or clarifying questions asked?

Personally I find it annoying, not to mention bad manners when OPs seemingly ignore replies to their posts. First timers are often the worst and leave you thinking that they probably post and the never return.

I sometimes wonder why I bother giving advice (mine is usually on the Touring branch).

If you've read it why not say thankyou.

Any thoughts?

[barrym]

Totally agree. I recently answered a health issue with a PM, and it's still stuck in my unsent messages

[Samuel D]

I think it depends. New posters may not always notice a reply, since they aren’t in the habit of visiting the forum and the notification system only works in propitious circumstances.

Of course you could argue it’s rude not to make sure to check for replies after posting a new thread, but people are people.

In my thread here, Brucey replied to my post but did not pose a question or say something that demanded a reply. I waited a couple of days for other replies but none came. Seeing the lack of interest, I didn’t want to bump the thread to the top of the list by posting merely to thank Brucey, who surely knows that I’m thankful.

A forum has many readers. I have often enjoyed and learned from a thread started by someone who didn’t return to it. I think that’s okay.

Besides, I post because I enjoy talking about cycling, not because I imagine myself handing out favours. Only unusually would I expect a note of thanks (which doesn’t mean it isn’t nice to be thanked!).

[rjb]

Often you receive conflicting advice from a variety of posters, so it relies upon the original poster to disseminate the replies. Sometimes the thread drifts and you don't want to bump it up to the top again. If I have a technical issue and a few useful responces I usually respond to thank the posters, but not if it drifts or provokes controversy.

[Graham]

SimonHill's posts are notably fulsome and helpful.

I enjoy reading them, even though I can only dream of visiting such far-flung locations. ( A substitute for my lack of action perhaps ? )

I hope that I have thanked everyone who has contributed to "questions" that I have started. The advice is invaluable and has taught me a huge amount.

PS. Thanks to the forum for leading me to read "Risk" by John Adams. . . . . a very though-provoking read, despite being published in 1995.

[pwa]

I apologise to anyone who has ever asked me a question that I have not replied to. Distraction is the excuse.

[meic]

I think of such thank-you replies more as quaint than polite.

[thirdcrank]

Lots of people - or in the case of this forum quite a lot - sitting at their keyboards, some getting miffed about different things.

eg Originally, the title of this thread was one of those teasers (clickbait?) which you have to open to find what it's about and I tend to ignore. That's been edited, presumably at moderator level, clarifying what it's about. In niggle mode, I'll mention unnecessary capital letters.

As we are well into the season of goodwill to all men and indeed women, I'll suggest that it's better to give than to receive, and that includes advice.

It seems to me that one of the biggest benefits of an internet forum is that the advice is so widely available. Once upon a time, if you had a query, as a CTC member you could write to CJ and get a well-informed answer. If he thought it had wider interest, he could publish a summary in the CTC mag, subject to there being sufficient room and after the inevitable delay caused by publishing deadlines. Even then, there was no certainty that somebody with a similar query would see it. Now you can be in Timbuctu or thereabouts, having trouble with your bike and get replies PDQ which may help others too. Even if you had never heard of the CTC or CyclingUK, googling would lead you to plenty of info, here and elsewhere. In this context, I'm regularly grateful for stuff I find on youtube which helps me sort out problems.

So, to the OP and everybody else, keep up the good work. Your reward may be in Heaven.

[JohnW]

I think of such thank-you replies more as quaint than polite.

Surely you're joking meic

[meic]

picturesque, charming, sweet, attractive, pleasantly old-fashioned, old-fashioned, old-world,

Here is a list of synonyms for quaint, that is pretty much how i see it. I have noticed a few posters (normally first timers) who have gone out of their way to make a specific reply, individually, to each person who has given them a suggestion. It kind of makes the world a nicer place (partly because of its rarity) but it isnt really needed.

[reohn2]

I think it's good manners to thank someone for specific questions asked,but I'm also aware that sometimes people don't for many reasons and so don't take it as a personal insult if they don't.

[old_windbag]

I think it is the polite thing to do but I'd like to see it extended to "closure" of a topic when an OP seeks advice. It is a little disappointing to see an OP post "what is wrong with my p,q,r" and many positive replies of variations of "remove x, add y, then do z". The OP then doesn't come back with any closure such as "thanks everyone I did that and it runs perfectly". Personally I see the replies given as helping many more than the OP but it's nice to have that final post confirming the answer supplied helped.

But this forum is a cross section of the general public and there will be people who behave with the manners/behaviours that they would if you met them in the street. Theres bound to be conflict between different peoples standards of politeness. You get the same with unanswered emails or non answered text messages.

Then there's the minefield of emoticons which I think are there to help stop ambiguity in the way a person answers not having the intonation of their voice( wink, tongue in cheek, laughing ).

[gaz]

Lots of people - or in the case of this forum quite a lot - sitting at their keyboards, some getting miffed about different things.

e.g. This topic being started on the "Does anyone know ... ?" board which is for "General cycling advice".

How long do we allow somebody to acknowledge replies to their post before they are deemed to be seemingly ignoring the responses? It's almost five hours since we last heard from simonhill.

[TrevA]

It's nice if posters at least acknowledge that they've read your posts. A couple of times recently, I've posted an answer to the question and I don't think the OP has ever logged back on to see the answers. It could be that they've accessed the forum and read replies without logging on, but it would be nice to have some reassurance that you are not wasting your time replying to a post.

[Si]

When you ask the question you could always end it with something like "Many thanks in advance for any help people might offer".

But, yes, I think if you ask for help and someone goes out of their way to solve your problem for you, then it is nice to thank them in some way.