at what point do to many questions become anoying.

I spend alot of time looking and doing searches which answer most questions,
but have lots that are specific to my dogs or experiences(imo, although most new posts have a relavance or at the very least are informative)
and sometimes just double checking with a few opinions really helps,


be honest (I do apprecate the straight fowardness of this board)

If its easily Googleable, advice not heeded, bad mistakes deliberately repeated, or getting your feelings hurt for no good reason, THEN it's annoying.

I can't imagine that there is much undiscovered in the world of dogs. All questions have probably been asked before, but most are worth answering again, IMO. Everybody starts learning somewhere. Questions here are as good a place as any.

Ask away!

There are a LOT of topics that have been talked about repeatedly. When those subjects come up in the subject line of a new thread, I might take a look, but if it's the same old thing, I probably won't answer it. Housebreaking and generic questions about marker training are a couple I can think of off the top of my head.

If you have a SPECIFIC problem with your dog pertaining to a generic subject, when you post, make sure you outline EXACTLY what your problem is - if you expect an answer beyond a suggestion to use the search function

I don't mind answering questions when I feel it's someone who actually has tried to find an answer. If it's someone that won't even take the time out to do a search, then I am most likely not going to waste my own time answering it. One day alone I found 3 different threads asking generic questions about how to stop puppies from screaming in the crate - I just turned off my computer and went to play with my dogs. Not only are there MULTIPLE threads about this subject, there are also ebooks, articles and a DVD that discuss crate training pretty thoroughly. Now if there had been a thread with a specific issue like the pup screams in his crate at certain times and not others, and the poster doesn't get WHY and is looking for insights - I might be inclined to post an idea on that thread.

I also get pretty ticked off when I offer someone advice, and they try to argue about it, as if they know more about the subject, yet THEY were ASKING for advice. That gets old pretty quick. Or if I offer advice, they pointedly refuse to listen to it, and then they are back in 2 months with another problem that never would have occured if they had listened to the original advice - Nick Logan comes to mind on this one...

Most folks are genuinely looking for help, and I try to answer when I have any advice to give. And with the characters that we have here, most generic threads go WAY OFF TOPIC anyway, and you never know what you are gonna get

--Kelly

 Quote: Kelly

I also get pretty ticked off when I offer someone advice, and they try to argue about it, as if they know more about the subject, yet THEY were ASKING for advice. That gets old pretty quick. --Kelly

Ditto.

This is the one thing that gets at me as well. I don't mind any question at all--that's what this forum is for, right? Even if it's been asked before, the interaction with another human being out there in cyberspace is nice--even if it is to direct them to other good threads. Connie is the queen of this technique, and I think it's very helpful.

But posters do need to remember that this is a free web resource. The advice one gets here is worth a whole lot more than you pay for it, which is nothing. Most of the people who post regularly here have lots of real-world experience that they are happy to share. And moderators do a good job of making sure the advice stays on track, and most posts are liberally doused with "IMO."

So just like in the real world, if you ask people for thier opinion on something, you'll probably get it--and maybe even get several different opinions. Use what works for you and ignore the rest. Or ask a follow-up question, or ask for sources.

Generally, the answers that are the hardest to hear are the ones we need to hear most.