Everyday, I notice at least 1 anti-virus application on a Mac thread. They all end up with the same answer, so why not sticky one thread or make a guide thread and sticky it. Then, that will cut down on threads. Any thoughts? Thanks.
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How many Mac anti-virus threads are there going to be?
- Thread starter celticpride678
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You are welcome to make a guide.
But the anti-virus threads aren't the most repetitive. Check out the amount of hard drives thread there are a week.
But the anti-virus threads aren't the most repetitive. Check out the amount of hard drives thread there are a week.
I agree. The problem is, in the Windows world, if something doesn't perform as expected, it was logical that one of the first assumptions was that a virus was involved, since they're so prevalent in Windows. "Newbies" (and I use that term affectionately) come here with their first Mac experience and when something doesn't go as expected, they frequently suspect a virus is to blame. They need to be made aware that, in the Mac experience, virus is the LAST suspect, not one of the first.
The only thing with making a guide is that most people wont see it. I would rather have a thread made with one post telling everyone about the situation with anti-virus and then have it stickied under the appropriate forum section.
That would be most forum sections, since they post such threads everywhere!
Exactly, that is why I didnt name a specific one. Do any Mods have ideas about this?
This topic has been discussed many times before... the subject of repetitive threads. I don't think there's a clear solution, since a "sticky" thread would go unnoticed by many. They don't read the sticky threads that exist, the forum rules or FAQ, or the instructions that appear when posting a new thread. I don't think there's anything you can do that will make them notice, so we're stuck with answering the same questions repeatedly.
People don't read the rules. GGJstudios and I seem to be a large part of the forum police, but in all honesty - there are plenty of times the search feature, the advanced search feature and mroogle haven't led me to an answer. I do think a guide is the best solution, it's a place to start. If I was a new user, I'm not going to read through a 25 page thread on buying Apple Care on eBay, that's way too daunting, but maybe that's just me, but I doubt it.
Global announcement would put it in any forum, including the archiveThat would be most forum sections, since they post such threads everywhere!
That is a good idea. Actually, I do read stickies (perhaps I am one of the few), especially if they are not 25 pages long. At least then, someone could answer repeated questions by referring to the sticky with a single reply.
Edit: On second thought, it might be better to limit stickies to only the forums where the same topic is repeated; otherwise, you might have 25 stickies before you see any new topics!
I would like to echo your sentiments on the search feature. I always turn to the search feature first, but many times I do not find the answer to my question even after three searches. What is frustrating is that sometimes the search results turn up nothing helpful, yet I will find an answer to a question by browsing the threads. Needless to say it is very time consuming.
We've been told that many dozens of topics should have sticky threads. Everyone has a few favorites topics, but there's rarely a consensus and we have to limit the number for any given forum. There's no perfect solution since some people won't read past one sentence no matter how easy you make it to find information. Paradoxically, the more information we put in one place, the less people read it all. This problem and the tradeoffs are not unique to MacRumors.
Personally, I don't think any topic deserves to be featured in every single forum, as an announcement would be. I'd rather suffer through the duplicate threads where people don't find previous threads by searching and don't find answers by reading guides or stickies. If we have to answer the same question repeatedly, it's just part of what makes the site useful to people with questions, the same way the poor store clerk keeps telling people what time the store closes as he stands under a sign telling when the store closes.
We've chosen to take the middle approach, with links to certain guides in the headers of certain forums, and a few sticky threads, some of them for threads that contain a list of links to other threads. We'll continue to tinker with these, presumably forever.
An excellent idea! This allows for temporary broadcast of information in any forum subsection that us newbz (me) cansee regardless of thought process on where sought info would be located. Then it would be pulled.
Heck maybe a set of pre-subscribed threads to a new memebers profile once they register to the most common sticky threads or posted threads/questions by newbies. Then set the login to automatically load the subscribed thread list in full view upon logon for say 2wks by default which newbz cannot change - a reminder of this by mods to the newbz in their pm inbox??