They join, they enquire and then immediately disappear. Why ?

Discussion in 'Network Information, Suggestions and Feedback' started by Ron Goldstein, Aug 17, 2010.

  1. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Reluctantly, I have come to the conclusion that the reason for someone not returning to a thread is simply bad manners.

    I put the offenders into the same class as those who go through a door that you are holding open for them without a backward glance let alone a "Thank-you" and motorists who,when you have signalled to them that they can come out of a side road, do so without any acknowledgement whatsoever.

    Ron
     
  2. NickFenton

    NickFenton Well-Known Member

    The ones who i hate are the ones who walk through the door your holding open whilst there on the phone and do not even acknowledge you!

    I love to say very loudly, 'my pleasure' but it goes over their head most times.

    Nick
     
  3. REK

    REK Senior Member

    I would regard myself as consistently traditionally polite in the real world (as likely to apologise to someone who bumps into me as any other Britischer), but the web is a different 'looser' environment, which moves in a different manner.

    True, but I don't necessarily think that that's a good thing. You only have to look at some of the deeply offensive comments people make on YouTube or Twitter -- and which it's reasonable to assume they wouldn't make to somebody's face in real life -- to see that it would be better if people lived by the same standards of conduct when they're on the web as are expected from them the rest of the time. It may be new technology, but they are still dealing with other humans with the same kinds of feelings that they've always had.

    Von Poop, none of us here is getting "hung-up" about thanks etc. We're just saying that it's impolite (not the rudest thing in the world, but impolite nevertheless) not to say a brief "thank you" to someone who's gone out of their way to be helpful.

    Not being thanked isn't serious enough to hurt my feelings and it certainly won't prevent me from happily getting on with my life. However, I don't think I can read posts saying that a basic courtesy of this sort doesn't matter without registering my disagreement.
     
  4. Quirke

    Quirke Junior Member

    Goodness, I can understand the frustration here with those who hit and run. On a popular electronics forum it is not unusual to have one ask a technical question and get responses from a dozen experts, only to never put up a 'thanks' or a 'cheers'. Sometimes discussion can rage for a month or so, with no return of the originator.
    I am trying to put together a story about my father P.F.G. Quirke with the few pictures which he left of North Africa, so that younger members can learn about his experiences. Unfortunately he never spoke of his time in POW or much about the war, so I am trying to honour him by finding out what he may have been through. I would be grateful for any help. He was a Lt. with 7th armoured car division South African Army, captured at Tobruk and POW'd somewhere in Italy and Germany (?). Thanks for all the work you guys do, its a pity this info is hard to come by.
     
  5. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    How about the new members who place their initial post, you reply saying you have some information for them, but they never come back on again to see what that might be!!:rolleyes:

    Happened to me a few times, maybe I scare them away.:)
     
  6. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    How about the new members who place their initial post, you reply saying you have some information for them, but they never come back on again to see what that might be!!:rolleyes:

    Happened to me a few times, maybe I scare them away.:)

    I think that is the crux of the situation. Do they get it somewhere else? Pose the question on multiple forums?

    I think when posted, some do come back on, see the result of your research, copy/note it and never return.

    They are possibly shy/timid, don't like the answer given or are not comfortable "participating" in forums.

    I have had more than a few of these but will continue to assist if I can.

    Cheers

    Geoff
     
  7. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Goodness, I can understand the frustration here with those who hit and run. On a popular electronics forum it is not unusual to have one ask a technical question and get responses from a dozen experts, only to never put up a 'thanks' or a 'cheers'. Sometimes discussion can rage for a month or so, with no return of the originator.
    I am trying to put together a story about my father P.F.G. Quirke with the few pictures which he left of North Africa, so that younger members can learn about his experiences. Unfortunately he never spoke of his time in POW or much about the war, so I am trying to honour him by finding out what he may have been through. I would be grateful for any help. He was a Lt. with 7th armoured car division South African Army, captured at Tobruk and POW'd somewhere in Italy and Germany (?). Thanks for all the work you guys do, its a pity this info is hard to come by.


    hello Quirke

    apply for his service records link below
    Ministry of Defence | About Defence | What we do | Personnel | Service Records | Making a Request for Information held on the Personnel Records of Deceased Service Personnel and Home Guard records
     
  8. waroffice

    waroffice Junior Member

    Dear all,
    I tend to agree with most of you it must be disheartening when after all your efforts to help someone there is a lack of an acknowledgement.
    I enjoy the simple fact of talking to others who share the same interest in WW2. Like most of you I have some research projects on the go and will no doubt post a thread in request of further thoughts or leads.
    I am the type that finds satisfaction when flexing my knowledge on any particular WW2 topic as well as learning from a great forum like this.

    Finally perhaps we should all consider that all those who never acknowledge someonee's assistance should be awarded the OBE (Other Buggers Efforts)..!!

    regards tp all

    Waroffice
     
  9. Alanst500

    Alanst500 Senior Member

    Myself, asked a query over 12 months ago, had a good response and waited for Service records then 3 sets of war diaries.
    I have only sorted (in my head) the first 2 diaries, it's going to be another couple of years before i put anything to paper.

    So how do they learn everything from only 1 or 2 visits. (A) they are still researching and not posting, (B) they got the info and it was too much for them to bother about. ie: look here there and every where.
     
  10. Quirke

    Quirke Junior Member

    Thanks so much CL1. I will do so. I am a new member and I find it hard to find my way around. I posted a comment on this thread and found it hard to find when I went back. Eventually I resorted to going to look at my statistics to see where it was. May be other new members do this and can't find their way back again, so never get to see their answer, or say thanks. Thanks a lot for your time. Cheers, Quirke
     
  11. rockape252

    rockape252 Senior Member

    Hi,

    I've stayed and have become lucky enough not only to post my Fathers WW2 history but also have received Private Messages both asking for information and offering help.

    Also, I occasionally see reference to ex members of my regiment to which which I can give my condolences as well as ask to be put up in the "RockNet" "Remembrances".

    I intend to stay because I have more info to post up, and, I find this site extremely interesting in content, I learn something new almost every day.

    For example, I believed that none of the Churchill Tanks which got ashore during the Dieppe Raid made it past the Sea Wall, but now I know better.

    WW2 was something which fascinated me because I grew up meeting many Limbless Ex-Servicemen who visited my Father and often wondered how I would cope in their situation.

    It really did make me think about War in a different light to what was normally displayed in the Films and on TV.


    Regards, Mick D.
     
  12. Ednamay

    Ednamay wanderer

    I came, I saw, I ....... read a lot of the contributions, and continue to do so, but I don't often contribute . "If you have nothing useful to say, then hold your peace".

    Edna
     
  13. hutchie

    hutchie Dont tell him Pike!!

    i originally joined when i was making ww2 forum based rpgs couple of years back. but i came back after finding my grandfathers photos. one of the best forums ive been on, and ill be staying :)
     
  14. Barb20

    Barb20 Member

    Hi everyone
    I for one have always been grateful for the help given when I have posted queries. I am not aware that I have ever just disappeared without thanking people for their input but it does worry me at times that I think I may have posted things in the wrong place. So please be patient with people like me who are not very good finding their way around forums and who also might have disabilities or not as much time as they would like to continually read the many threads.
    Gratefully - Barb20
     
  15. 26delta

    26delta Senior Member

    Personally I'm not really bothered by it. The internet is an impersonal medium and many people haven't quite got their head round how to behave on the Net; that is evident everywhere. Generally this forum is exceptional in the way its members interact in a friendly way.

    If we've helped someone out and they never say thank you publicly, so what? Personally I don't answer anything in the expectation of praise or thanks, but it's always nice when we get it.

    I'm sure as more and more WW2 records are released this will only become more common; it has certainly gone that way with WW1.

    I agree with you, Paul. The internet is quite impersonal. I spend at least one day per month as a tour guide for a WW2 coastal defence battery. Some of our guests are quite interested while they are there, plying question after question. I might run across them some time later and I ask if they followed up on their interests. Usually, it's met with a blank stare. (What are you talking about?) Every once in a while, they'll pick me out of a crowd and say thanks. That makes it all worthwhile.
     
  16. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

  17. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

  18. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Andy

    At the risk of embarassing you, you deserve much better than that !

    The danger is that because of the lack of common courtesy from these characters you cease helping the genuine enquirers that ask and then acknowledge the inordinate amount of knowledgeable help you supply.

    Thanks for letting us see these examples.

    Ron
     
  19. Buteman

    Buteman 336/102 LAA Regiment (7 Lincolns), RA

    Ron,

    This type of thing happens infrequently, but you still try to help. If you look at the responses from people you have helped, then this more than makes up for the ignorance of the very, very few.

    The best result I have had, was not via the Forum, but from a friend who wanted me to help another friend. I used the knowledge I've learned from this Forum to investigate.

    A lady who had a Hong Kong Chinese Mother and an English Father suffered a double loss. Her Mother passed away in 1938 and her Father disappeared off the face of the Earth after the Japanese invaded in December 1941. She was put into an Orphanage.

    Since then without success, she has been trying to trace what happened to her Dad.

    Earlier this year, I contacted a guy in Hong Kong who has a fantastic website (HongKongWarDiary) and he found a HongKong Gazette entry for 1939, placing her Father in the colony, carrying out a specific defence role. Then on Rememembrance Sunday morning, he e-mailed me to say he had discovered what had happened to the Lady's Father. He been coming to the assisistance of a wounded Priest and was ordered by a Japanese Officer to move away, but refused. The Japanese officer then shot him and several hours later he died of his wounds.

    The lady will be telephoning me next week about the information found, but I know she is delighted to know, despite what happened. Her Father is sadly not commemorated on CWGC (my next challenge) or has a known resting place.

    If you look at this sort of result and the response from the people who find out important information, it makes the effort well worth while.

    Cheers - Rob
     
  20. fenner257

    fenner257 Junior Member

    In my case, I posted a few inquiries, received lots of help, thanked those people, and continue to read the posts each day. I don't have much to contribute to most of them as it was my Father who served in WW2 and he has been gone since 1994. Hope to contribute as I can. Thanks everyone for your patience.
     

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