Forum Posting Responses

[tojo45]

Occasionally, I will get no response to a posting on the forum. Most recently I made a posting regarding an error message we are receiving, and there was no response, from another member or from an Adobe expert. Does no response simply imply that no one has knowledge of the subject, thus no response? Or that the Adobe Expert on the subject matter is on vacation, or that I posted to the wrong forum? OR?

I think I posted to the correct forum. I can imagine situations where no one could have a clue, but in the case of an error message, I would expect that Adobe has a list of them, and what might cause them. I searched the knowledge base and found no related entries. What else can I do to find an answer?

[RoboWizard]

Hi there tojo45

Almost everyone here is a volunteer and simply sharing knowledge and workarounds. I suppose actual Adobe RoboHelp team members might visit occasionally and I would love it if they did on a regular basis, as it's my belief that it would provide valuable insights and information for them.

The bottom line here is that there are no dedicated individuals that sit on the forums and their sole purpose in life is to ensure all forum posts receive an answer. Though some might disagree with my view on that, as some or many of us are posting all the time.

Just as you have a job to do in addition to visiting the forums, all the rest of us do as well! We do try and make an effort to reply to as many posts as we can, but sometimes that simply isn't possible. This could be a result of a simple time issue and the other reasons you cited. In addition to those, keep in mind that the RoboHelp forums may be but a slice of the lists and forums we monitor. I think at last count I was participating in all the RoboHelp forums, all the Captivate forums, the Visual Communicator forums, the SnagIt forums as well as watching a typical load of 300-500 email messages that stream in each day. Now part of those email messages are forum traffic, as that is my preferred way of watching the Adobe forums.

Just a bit about thinking you posted to the correct forum. Although I'm certainly not speaking for everyone here, I can attest that I watch activity in ALL forum categories. I suspect others do too. And it's rather comical to see someone post a message perhaps in the HTMLHelp forum and see that there are few posts in there. Then decide to post the same question in the General category "because it seems to have more traffic". Rest assured that wherever you posted, it was probably seen. If an answer is to be had, we normally respond as quickly as we can.

Okay, off to check other posts now. Hopefully this provided you some of the insights you were looking for.

Cheers... Rick

[tojo45]

Thanks so much for the information. Yes you did provide valuable insight into the process, and that is much appreciated.

To take this conversation one further step, re the question I posted on the RoboHTML forum regarding a specific error message, that received no response, is there a resource list of error messages and their meaning/implication? I did a Knowledgebase search using the text of the error and found nothing.

Thanks again to everyone there who helps solve so many issues for so many users.

[Peter Grainge]

Not that I am aware of. Have you tried putting some or all of it into Google?

[tojo45]

Thanks for the response. Yesterday I tried a google search and the only related result was actually my posting on the forum, which i had made only hours before. Which does point out what seems like google's all-encompassing reach. I'm posting to the Robo Source Forum at the suggestion of a response I did receive today on the HTML forum.

[Linux Rules]

Hello tojo45 -

I'll echo most of Rick's response but add that I only follow two forums, General Discussion and WebHelp, as I don't "do" any of the related forum tasks.

Still, if the forum visitors don't have a solution to your question, we don't clog up the board with "I have no idea" replies.

Regards,
GEWB

[Kevin_Elmore]

You could "bump" the topic. I don't literally mean to type "BUMP," as I personally hate it when people do that (though I prefer that to creating a brand new topic repeating the question).

From my experience, a post is unanswered for one of two major reasons: The usual netizens are so busy that they put the post on a back burner and forgot about it, or the usual netizens do not readily have the answer based on the information the asker gives.

You can address both concerns at once with a follow-up message after a couple of days. Give an update or elaborate on a topic. For example, if you forget to mention the version of RoboHelp, your follow-up post can include that omission. In this way, you are bringing the topic back to the top of the list without the annoying "bump." More importantly, you might provide a key piece of information to let a netizen have a breakthrough.

Usually, I give up after one follow-up. If the question has been in the spotlight twice, then I assume that there is no answer from this group of people. That can depend on the forums, but I know that there is a core group of devoted RoboHelp experts who watch these forums regularly. If one of them doesn't provide an answer, then it's probably because the problem is too extensive for a volunteer to focus on (and I call Adobe tech support who gets paid to spend long amounts of time on my problem *smirk*).

Kevin

[Guest]

Speaking of "clogging up the board," and in addition to Kevin's point that seeing "bump" messages is kind of annoying, the forum posting guidelines say not to bump. Putting additional info makes sense, but putting "bump" or nothing in a message just to throw the thread back to the top is against the guidelines.

Just my two cents,

Ben