I think you are making this more complicated than it is.

1) You ask how to answer a question that is very specific.

a) When viewing questions, you have to make a decision on whether to answer. "The first 2 days," that part is irrelevant. It could be 1 hour or 4 days, zero answers or ten bad answers. If you feel you have something to contribute, post it. If you don't, don't.

b) By pointing someone in the right direction, you are still giving an answer, not "giving an answer without answering." At my job, the most valuable thing is not knowing how to DO stuff, but knowing who to ASK to get stuff done. So this is still valuable information. If you know of a great website where the asker can get a great answer, then check out the site and do anything you can to try to research the question on your own first. If you cannot make sense of it, then you can always join the forum yourself or send out a message to a specialist and ask on behalf of the asker, or, if you feel this is too much trouble, simply give an answer like,

"ProfessorMurder666, I was unable to find a forum dedicated to making remote controlled sea planes by hand. However, I did find a guy in Ft. Lauderdale named Hurricane Billy that is involved in a project to hand chisel a sea plane from beechwood found in the bottom of the Nantucket. While it is apparently not destined to be remote controlled, many of the concepts will apply in your situation. He seems friendly and is probably willing to answer your questions. His site is here
www.billysboathouse.com
and his email address is longjohn@parrotheads.com. I also found a great forum on RC planes called "RC Top Gun!" Some of the admins like Curly and DuderNaut seem really knowledgeable and approachable. Check out www.rctopgun.com. I think together, with a bit of additional research, these resources will get you well on your way to making your bubinga RC sea plane. You have to let us know when "7 of 9" makes her maiden flight!"

c) Again, there is no issue where you have to direct a person without first answering. Answer it as I showed above.

2) You asked about when No Best Answer is selected by the person who asked the question even though some good answer are given.

a) The asker may simply not be online or not remember to select Best Answer

b) Lets assume she personally chooses "No Best Answer." There is nothing in the world you can do at this point. If you think you had a great answer, well, again, the asker didn't. They don't have to explain themselves, and neither do you. That is just how the community is set up. There are billions of people out there with entirely different cultures, upbringings, and educational levels. There is no way you can please them all. If a middle-aged, upper-middle class, Christian woman says, "I am depressed - what can I do?" and I say, "Get some exercise - it can stimulate receptors and instigate endorphins; if you have long term depression, see a professional and inquire about selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors" and the other person says "Read 1 and 2 Timothy, say 4 Hail Mary's, and talk to your pastor," and she chooses the second one, it doesn't INVALIDATE my answer, she just chose a different one. This is where a bit of self-confidence is necessary on our part. Have some faith in yourself, and don't judge yourself by the perceptions of some stranger on a forum if they select No Best Answer or another answer.

I recall when I worked at retail, many years ago. The majority of customers were generally polite, even if there were tons of customers and few sales people. But there were always a few here and there that were vicious, sanctimonious pricks, that did everything in their power to make you feel small. I had no power over them, I just had to deal with them and get them out the door. I remember one lady was screaming at me calling me a thief and telling me I was responsible for keeping "her people" poor, single handedly. I told her, "Lady, I'm $200,000 in the hole. Don't tell me about being broke." The same thing applies here - you have no control.

The only thing you can do is leave a comment, but I suggest being polite. For instance, recently I spent like 4 hours on a question and gave what I considered a lecture quality answer. The asker gave be Best Answer, but he also gave me 4 stars. 4 STARS? My first inclination was to write, "Thanks for the 4 stars. I guess I could've FLOWN to your house and given the answer in person." But instead, I simply said, "Thank you for giving me Best Answer and for the 4 stars. I always aim to give the highest quality answer possible, so please let me know if there is anything different I can do to ensure that I give a 5 star answer in the future." Yeah, so, be polite.

So the point is, be flexible; don't be offended. We are talking about one question in a sea of thousands on one website in a sea of millions. Anyone that has a serious, life-affecting question should be consulting a licensed specialist in their area, so in the broad scheme of things, I think you are perhaps putting Mahalo on too high a pedestal.

Asker's Rating:

Permalink | Report