Questions, answers and feedback

[Akashwani]

Good day one and all.

I recently replied to a question and without going into details etc, I found the feedback a little negative, this is a first for me!

Now I'm no MVP, obviously, but I try very hard to understand the questions posted and I take into consideration that English may not be the posters first language. If they haven't provided sample data to help explain their question, then I try to interpret what they are asking and create the sample data myself (which can be time consuming at times). If I am unsure of the answer (lack of knowledge or confidence no doubt) then I will search the forum and the internet for an answer which I can use or modify. I enjoy doing this, as it helps to increase my knowledge and hopefully provides the answer required.

Now I guess the questions I'm asking are...

1. How do you feel towards negative feedback?
2. How do you feel when you don't get a reply or feedback to an answer you've given?

The second one does annoy me slightly!! As I may have spent a fair bit of time trying to provide the answer and not knowing if it was suitable or not really frustrates.

I have asked many questions on this forum and I have always been polite and incredibly appreciative of the excellent solutions provided. Considering the invaluable help and time that people have given to me, I feel passionately about trying to repay this (in a very small way) by trying to help others resolve their problems, but the lack of feedback at time, aarrghhh!!!

I look forward to your (positive) feedback on this!!

Ak

 

[Joe4]

One of the trickiest things about these kind of forums is that you are dealing with people from a myriad of cultures, with different mannerisms and normal expected behavior. Add that in with language barriers and the fact that tone can be very hard to convey in print, and it is actually surprising that there are not more misunderstandings than there are. And sometimes you catch good people on a bad day, maybe they are under a lot of pressure or in a big hurry. Of course, if you post enough times, you are bound to come across a few "bad apples" here and there. No place is immune from them.

I try not to dwell too much on the negative. Just shake the dust off your feet and move on to the next person. Remember the good, forget the bad.
(And if someone annoys you too much, you can always add them to your Ignore List, then you won't see any posts made by them!)

If someone starts harassing you or posts something inappropriate, please Report them to the Moderators, and we'll handle it.

 

[Smitty]

Heya AK,

Similar to Joe's sentiments, I'd just take this like any day in LA traffic; a good guy could be having a bad day, or a not-so-good guy could just be expecting you to do what he wants regardless of your feelings (but at least it's not some guy trying to shoot you!)

Regardless of the outcome, it doesn't/shouldn't discount in the least the problem you solved, and the value that you added to that person's day and work, so don't sell yourself short. We've all run into situations where a lot of work went into a question just to get "That's not what I wanted!!!!", or "That doesn't work!"

If I was still a cowboy, I'd just say "Get over it, the cows don't care, they just want to be fed..." But I'm not anymore, so I have to polite.

As we used to say in ranching when trying to explain to people who just didn't get it: "There are those who know, and those who don't know; let them be, for they are not the ranchers of tomorrow."
Have a great weekend!

 

[Firefly2012]

Akashwani, from what I've seen of your posts I would say you definitely go above and beyond what I'm usually prepared to do in answering questions - frequently my stock response will be to request further explanation and mocked up data whereas you take the time to fully consider what it is the OP wants to achieve and structure a reply accordingly. I think you should be proud of the level of commitment you are prepared to give to what are sometimes ill-defined problems.

I always appreciate when a poster says thank you - simple manners cost nothing. I've recently taken to responding with "You're welcome" because the same is true for me as regards politeness.

It is fortunately fairly rare that posters are at all rude!

 

[Jon von der Heyden]

"No comment" - because sometimes we just can't write what we want to say.

You handled it well AK. I would have liked to see you receive an apology and I did throw my two cents in and then changed my mind. It occurred to me after I posted that this individual wasn't going to get the point ever so my comments would merely stir an even bigger argument. Hence I just deleted it.

At any rate keep doing what you are doing. You're obviously doing it right as you can see the mods did fight your corner.

 

[RoryA]

I'd echo everything that has already been said, especially Firefly's comments.

For the record, every year since I started answering questions on forums I have had one person (bizarrely never more or less than one) go completely off the deep end at me, ranting and swearing. This used to bother me and I used to reply until a wise person reminded me of the old adage about never getting in a p***ing contest with a skunk.
These days I actually look forward to that person because it means I'm in for an easy ride for the rest of the year!

At the end of the day, the vast majority of people are appreciative of the time we all take even if they occasionally forget to say - I have even had someone come back to me 6 months after a thread to apologise for forgetting to say thank you - so I tend to just assume that "no news is good news" and they probably got a good answer.

Keep doing what you're doing.

 

[Richard Schollar]

I'd echo everything that has already been said, especially Firefly's comments.

For the record, every year since I started answering questions on forums I have had one person (bizarrely never more or less than one) go completely off the deep end at me, ranting and swearing. This used to bother me and I used to reply until a wise person reminded me of the old adage about never getting in a p***ing contest with a skunk.
These days I actually look forward to that person because it means I'm in for an easy ride for the rest of the year!

Rory you ****ing poor excuse of a ****ing ****! Somebody should take a red hot poker and shove it up your ****ing **** and then **** over what's left.

There you go - now enjoy the rest of your year (and no need to thank me my friend!)

 

[RoryA]

Cheers, Rich. I wish I could say I wasn't expecting that...

 

[Jon von der Heyden]

..every year since I started answering questions on forums I have had one person (bizarrely never more or less than one) go completely off the deep end at me, ranting and swearing.

It's true! You've taken a quite a hit of rage. One particular BAD one comes to mind! Not sure I've ever seen anything like it on the forum, before or since. It was pretty magnificent! Someone was in real need of professional help, and I don't mean Excel help.

 

[RoryA]

Shh, you might set him off again.