I have just been scouring the archives over the past 6 weeks trying to solve a fault with engine cutting out.
Problem finally sorted, thanks to this forum and despite my mechanic's best attempts to sort it.
However, what I did find was that a lot of threads that I followed never presented the final solution.
I will personally attempt to remember to post any solutions I find.
The more people that remember to share the solution too, the better resource this forum will be.
cheers,
Phil

 

Yes I agree. As you will have seen from reading the archives the style of posting has evolved over the years, and we now have many more people who do remember to close down a thread with what they finally did to put things right.

One thing people forget, myself included is to use the 'Tags' feature when starting a new technical thread.

Using this feature will highlight pertinent words in the thread and will allow the Forum Search engine to find relevant threads much more accurately. (it also seems to help Google type searches as well).

Good to hear that you fixed your problem. Hope you posted your solution

 

Totally agree Jagqueen.

Its such a shame when sometimes good / even great threads are started and posted on, but then, no conclusion, no final post to close it off and end it.

We do try to push for closure but, what else can you do?

 

Hello,

Only my opinion but having just seen this thread I'd like to point out two points worth highlighting if I may:

1. As previously mentioned, the 'no conclusion or solution' type threads, particularly where members have helped narrow down technical faults to a limited range of possibilities.

2. The 'help me I'm desperate' type posts, usually lacking in detail where it's important enough to bother asking for help but not to bother responding again. This is usually after a member has replied asking for more information or suggesting a channel of thought.

Drives me mad. I'm a member on several driver's forums and I come across this time and time again.

As you said JimC64, it is always worth pushing for closure. I'm wondering even if perhaps a forum edict might be worth introducing with the power to dismissal?

 

Hey there rocketlift and thanks for your thoughts on this subject....

Yes...It is very frustrating to say the least. However, all we can do is try to get to a conclusion as best we can. Its not in the forums best interests to remove members who do not comply.

We all know there are the "HELP ME URGENTLY"! posts, usually by a new member or one with 2 or 3 posts to their name, never to be seen again, but, we must take these requests seriously even if only for the one that actually does turn out to be a regular member.

Thanks

 

jagqueen, we can only hope, there are others out there like you and rocketlift in our group. Heck, we even heard this growing up...'finish what you start Matt!'. Well, maybe not everyone got the same upbringing.

Here's to closing a thread when a solution is found (heck, even when it isn't!)

 

Thanks for acknowledging my thoughts folks.

Yes, I think it's certainly worth requesting updates sometimes, even if it just gets people to say they've locked their car for the winter and will be looking at it in the spring sort of thing.

R.

 

We all agree that finishing threads is important, cripes most of the time it is just plain good manners.

@Matt, you were obviously more diligent than I was mate, the more usual comment I received was 'Where is your homework boy?' This was due to the fact that knowing I would not finish it I generally avoided starting it. LOL

Although my Grandmother's adage of 'if something is worth doing, it is worth doing well' still rings strong.

 

Lol....we must have shared the same grandmother as mine said exactly that too Rich, along with..."Its as easy to do a job right as it is to do it wrong"
"You're burning the candle at both ends"......
Yeah, I got a few pearls of wisdom from my Gran...the thing that really got me though was when she was drying the cutlery and would drop a knife...."Ohhhh there's a strange man coming to dinner".....lol
A few old age superstitions too

 

Is it possible to tag a post as a "solution" or a Thread as "solved" and then use the search to look for solutions or solved threads with you search terms.

I am not sure how or where the Tags are entered but would appreciate the edifcation.

I was wondering if this dbe part of the 'Thanks' function? Yes it helped solve or yes it was a solution.

 

Tags get mentioned from time to time. The poster of a NEW thread has the ability to include tagged keywords in a box at the bottom of their thread.

Most people forget to include tags, including myself. (Slap on wrist).

Everyone appreciates it when a poster gives feedback on a solution 'that did the trick, cheers'. It's just friendly and polite.

If we had a 'Solved' button IMHO I can't see what purpose this would serve in the long term because we would have multiple threads about the same thing all showing solved, plus we like to keep the friendly human touch.

Take recoding an alarm or key fob as an example.

When a great solution or informative thread appears, we will generally link to it through the Forum FAQ sections.

I just typed the word 'solved' into the Forum Search feature, and sure enough I received 500 threads with the word 'solved' hi-lighted in red even though there were no tags included, and it showed up twice in your post above.

Targeted key word searches and advanced searches do work, but like going into a supermarket the user has to have an idea about what they are looking for.

We also have a Thread Rating feature again rarely used.

 

Being just a short time member now I would also appreciate an option to "close" my own threads to be solved. Thus avoiding old threads (like this One ) being warmed up after a long time of no activity.

 

Hmm how did this one get opened up again?

You can't edit the thread title yourself later but just PM any of the mods and it will be done for you.

 

There is a very good reason that members are only allowed to edit their posts for a limited time, which I won't go into here.

Its for the protection of information posted, suffice to say.

Threads here are never closed as such, unless there is a specific reason to do so. Its far more productive to leave threads open for any updates to the post, or for other members who may wish to revitalise asking for further info.

Its worked this way well for several years and I see no reason to change.

Thanks

 

hello Jim,
don't get me wrong: I didn't mean to edit posts after some time, again, but to mark a thread being "solved" after the initiator decides that he has received all information he (she) needs.
This is what "dsetter" was trying to suggest in this thread, too. I know other forums where other members than the initiator are discussing things even after the "owner" of a thread had his problem solved. Usually those discussions are getting lengthy and (mostly) by far "off topic".

PS: of course there may be threads never being closed - but technical problems usually get solved at some point.

 

We (the Mod team) regularly edit thread titles to add RESOLVED. This is done to help anyone searching for a solution to see immediately that a thread comes to a successful conclusion.

Even with RESOLVED added, a thread is never closed. There can often be further questions on a topic or useful information to add long after the OP has fixed their issue.

Graham

 

I don't think you need to close the threads as covered here by dear forum team . May be one reason to hamper getting old threads bumped up and I still don't think that's a big deal under any circumstances