[wp-forums] 'Common Sense' Mod Rules when reviewing forum post that says 'me too'

[Mike Turner]

Hi Jan,
No problem, thanks for your reply.  I included the text as, I suspected the 'conversation' was going to get removed.  Which someone has now done.  So without having done that, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation as I wouldn't have been able to demonstrate the scenerio. 
Happy to have a friendly debate and reach agreements / agree to disagree where needed :)
> Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2014 12:56:56 -0500
> From: jan at dembowski.net
> To: wp-forums at lists.automattic.com
> Subject: Re: [wp-forums] 'Common Sense' Mod Rules when reviewing forum post that says 'me too'
> 
> Mike,
> 
> The link alone would have been sufficient, the list parsed all that copied
> text to badly formatted bits.
> 
> I'm going to reply to some parts of this selectively. *Please do not
> mistake my replies for an argument I am just attempting to explain.*
> 
> On Mon, Jan 20, 2014 at 12:37 PM, Mike Turner wrote:
> 
> > So I use the forums quite a lot for plugin support and if I have an issue
> > the first thing I will always do is do a quick search through existing
> > posts to make sure it hasn't been raised before.
> >
> 
> That's good and thanks for that.
> 
> 
> > If I find an issue that has been raised already and is in the process of
> > being investigating then I see no issue with just adding a simple 'Me Too'
> > message to the post, for 3 reasons:
> > 1.  To Let the person who submitted the issue know that they aren't
> > alone.2.  To help prioritize the issue log for the author so they know what
> > are / aren't important.3.
> >
> 
> Often it really doesn't do anything but clutter the topic and does not move
> the conversation forward.
> 
> See, that topic is not yours, it's the original poster's topic. Unless you
> are trying to contribute directly to the OPs request for assistance then at
> a minimum you're not really contributing. Worst case? You're hijacking
> someone else's issue with your own.
> 
> Put it differently: you ask for assistance in a topic. You need that plugin
> to work and you have a deadline/requirement/it's really bugging you. Then
> other users hop on the topic and begin focusing on *their* problem. Where
> does that leave you and your problem?
> 
> They may solve your problem but too often it's lead to leaving the original
> poster in the dust. Here's a prime example of that exact thing happening a
> month ago and my reply.
> 
> http://wordpress.org/support/topic/recent-update-breaks-my-site-slider?replies=19#post-4952110
> 
> See what I mean? No one heard from the original poster and that topic was
> taken over by other people who BTW were properly sorry about that. The
> plugin author and the person who also needed help didn't mean to hijack
> that topic.
> 
> No one is attempting to not help you but starting your own topic really is
> the best way to go. That's why that text is in the forum welcome.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Jan Dembowski
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