Need real help here...How do I reply to each person individually who answers my posts?

GeoffCampbell wrote on 6/23/2003, 12:08 AM
Apparently I picked the perfect user ID, when I chose "I_Need_Help." Little did I know that I would need more help about Forum etiquette than about anything else!

At the bottom of each page there is a "Reply to this message." However, when I use it, my reply goes right back into my original post! Help me out here...PLEASE! ! ! ! ! ! !

Tony

Comments

Brazilian wrote on 6/23/2003, 12:25 AM
You're very dramatic -- calm down a little.

When you type your message in the "Reply to this message" area, it creates a new message "attached" or threaded to the original message. If you look just below the message where it says "Other messages in this thread", you'll see your reply listed with the current date/time.
GeoffCampbell wrote on 6/23/2003, 12:33 AM
OK Brazilian...I'm much calmer now...Thanks very, very much! ! !

Tony
RBartlett wrote on 6/23/2003, 5:49 AM
On the web today, replies going directly to a person's are handled either not at all or just partially.

The SoFo forum appears to have no means of emailing other members with a reply, nor of seeing another's profile. They might put their email address or other web handle in their post by their own choice.

This leads on to the reason why:

Robots trawl many sites looking for name@site.com text entries. Then some compile these and sell them on knowing you are a computer user who spends $x on video kit. Some people put their email names in as "n a m e at s i t e dot com" to see if they can convey the same info but evade the robots.

Forum designers clearly get too much "spam" and have decided to protect the communities. There are some forums that give a middle ground where you can send through the forum interface to the user. They then typically can reply directly to you.

If people can make a living by compiling email addresses and categories and selling them on, then how marvellous is that! They are not very nice web citizens though, IMHO.
GeoffCampbell wrote on 6/23/2003, 1:11 PM
To: Brazilian, and RBartlett, thank you both very much for caring enough to reply back. I'll try my best to follow the guidelines, and advice, I have been given, with regard to the "Dos, and Don'ts" of this Forum. If I'm ever out of line, let me know!

Again, thank you both, very, very, much! ! !

I_Need_Help
Tony