My Thought's On Help Threads

[EmptyHabits]

Now, I couldn't really think of a very good subject name for this topic, but I did the best I could. On this topic, I'm going to discuss the subject titles some people put for their topics/threads/posts. Not sure if that made very many sense... Oh whale.

Today I'm mainly focusing on the help threads. Yeah, people have a lot of threads on that board! But what really bugs me is when someone will post to the help thread and their subject title doesn't even give a hint to what their question is. I don't know about anyone else, but I know I don't wanna answer/read a question that I have no clue to what it is going to be about. Some people don't even say at all what their problem is in their title... I've seen help threads with subjects named, "Help! Big Problem!" That really bothers me. I'd be more than glad to help you with your issue, but it really annoys me that you don't put the subject to your issue in the field provided.

Some people don't want to waste their time reading help threads they don't know what are about. That's why we have subject fields. To give readers a hint as to what your thread/post is going to be about. I love helping people, but not if I'm particularly good in the area that they need help with. Especially if they don't ask the question in the subject field and write the description or further information in the body text. I'm not sure if it bothers anyone else, but it bothers me. I hate wasting time looking through a help thread and me finishing this like... 2 page essay about their issue and when I get to the end, I have no idea how to help them. That's why I always look at the subject field before reading so I can assure myself I may be able to help them solve the issue.

Seriously, some people in help threads make their subjects such as: "Help! Big Problem!" "Can You Help Me?" "Why Is This Happening?" Or whatever... I mean, at least give some part of the question into the subject area so people can understand what the question is going to be about... I'm not trying to sound rude here, but that is what get's on my nerves. I'd love to hear... Or read, is the more appropriate word... Your response to my thoughts on the subject threads. Feel free to leave a comment below on your thoughts.

[Jango_Fett]

Well, can't really stop people from making vague thread titles for their help stuffies.

And can't stop people from being detailed.

It doesn't bother me too much, but I can see how it'd get old fast.

[Warriorstrike]

I can see how this would be annoying. Here's what I think.

It would be nice to know what the topic is about before I put some time into deciphering what the problem is. Sometimes the issue they're dealing with has to do with an area that I'm not too familiar with, and I feel a bit bad for not being able to help them.

But what I've realized is that most of the time, someone's just really desperate for an answer to their problem. They're not thinking about subject titles. They're thinking about how to fix the problem that needs fixing. Maybe they're trying to type up the question as quick as possible, so they're not focusing on how their thread is going to look. They just want help.

So, I'm starting to believe that the people who write the least informative topics are the ones who need help the most. This may not be true. Personally, if I'm faced with an issue, I like to spend a decent amount of time trying to make it look presentable and understandable. Nonetheless, I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. That person with the uninformative subject header is probably stressing about their problem, so if they forget to add an appropriate title, I'll be forgiving them.

Yes, subject titles are there for a reason, but I think the main concern isn't how approachable on the outside (which could be helpful, in this matter) their topic looks, it's that someone decides to take a chance on them and help them figure out what's wrong.

[DarkLustyHumor]

I understand the feeling, I would prefer if the titles would be more detailed but unfortunately there's not really anything we can do about it. Just saying "Help" is something that people will often do in order to get others to look at it even if it's something they didn't want to look at. I feel like it's partially a type of clickbait, I also feel like it comes from not knowing how to explain the issue properly in the title.