# Off Topic > Suggestions for Improvement >  >  Infractions for not marking threads [SOLVED]?

## Marcol

Many OPs simply ignore requests to mark threads *[SOLVED]*. They just hit and run.

Despite this having been made easier to do, and many members including such a request in their signatures, it's still a hopeless task.

Since it is a fundimental feature of the forums' search facility, surely this should incur a penalty/infraction for not complying.

If more posts were marked *[SOLVED]* we might not need to answer the same questions time after time, and time again.

Good Titles and [SOLVED] should be the order of the day, no?

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## Fotis1991

Αgree 100% :Smilie:

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## jeffreybrown

@Marcol,
But if they are hit and run posts, then how should those threads get marked?  Do you think we need to do some clean-up?

I tend to lean towards the side, get rid of the [Solved] business altogether.

When I do a search, I normally start with a blanket internet search and see what comes up.  I look at all threads from whatever hits come up.  Whether it is marked solved or not it may still satisfy what I am looking for.

My gut tells me, we will still get the same questions over and over again with or without a solid mark as solved rule.

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## Domski

The rules as this place are strict enough as it is. If you start issuing infractions for not marking threads solved (more) people will just get the hump and leave.

Dom

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## arlu1201

There is a cleaned up thread "Mark As Solved" which can be used if required. http://www.excelforum.com/the-water-...rk-solved.html

If the OP / user who gave the solution feel that the issue has been solved but it has not been marked so, they can post a link to the thread in that thread and the mods will mark it solved.

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## zbor

I wouldn't give infraction for not making thread solved.
There wouldn't be much use of it since most users open account for single question, got the answer (here or somewhere else) and don't log on anymore.
No use for warn them, no need for moderators to do extra job.
I don't even ask them to make it solved.

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## Andy Pope

It's a slippery slope if you go around marking stuff Solved when the OP has not said it is. 

If guys want to hit/run so be it, aint no rule against that [yet!]. 
If you don't like having your answers being marked as solved don't answer anybody with a low post count.

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## abousetta

I would suggest that a canned response be proposed that states something like:

"It has been some time since we have heard back from you regarding the solution that was provided. Since the person assisting you believes that the issue has been resolved, we have marked the thread as Solved. If you feel that the issue is still not solved, please PM me and I will delete this post. Thank you."

This would of course be posted by one of the moderators through a request submitted to this thread http://www.excelforum.com/the-water-...rk-solved.html.

I would stay away from unneeded penalties, but still want things to be marked as Solved.

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## arlu1201

I like the idea of the canned message.

Also, the Star of the month competition that is currently running (competition no 2) also involves finding the user with the highest rep for the month along with the most number of solutions provided.  If the threads have been marked solved, it will surely help in deciding who the winner is.  :Smilie:

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## Domski

I hope you're going to start paying your new mods if this is how you intend on creating work for them  :EEK!: 

Dom

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## daddylonglegs

I've always been opposed to the idea of marking threads "Solved" - I'm not sure that it doesn't cause more problems than it resolves

This forum worked perfectly well before that option was introduced and many other forums still operate that way.

Every day I see threads that are "Solved" where the original poster is still asking questions (so presumably it isn't "solved"). Also it implies an end to the discussion while I feel it's often healthy for discussion to continue, either putting forward different (possibly better) solutions or just exploring/explaining the solutions already offered.

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## jeffreybrown

I am in hearty agreement DLL  :Smilie:

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## roki4

I disagree with infraction for not marking thread as solved.

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## zbor

> I like the idea of the canned message.
> 
>  If the threads have been marked solved, it will surely help in deciding who the winner is.



So winner depending on how many people make thread solved and not on users contribution on the forum. If one user make thread solved. What if user got few different answers and don't state which one he used? What if he choose :worse: answer )like volatile) while actually other should be winner?

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## arlu1201

> So winner depending on how many people make thread solved and not on users contribution on the forum. If one user make thread solved. What if user got few different answers and don't state which one he used? What if he choose :worse: answer )like volatile) while actually other should be winner?



No no, you are getting me wrong.  If you check the thread containing the guidelines for the competition, the users' contribution will surely be included.  How many solutions were provided by the user which enabled the OPs to solve their problems will be the deciding factor.





> I hope you're going to start paying your new mods if this is how you intend on creating work for them 
> 
> Dom



Dom, the mods have nothing to do with this. The winner will be system calculated.

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## Domski

> Dom, the mods have nothing to do with this. The winner will be system calculated.



I wasn't referring to any competition. What I meant is that you were saying you like the idea of the canned response. I assume the mods would have to go through all the threads that weren't marked solved and apply it.

Dom

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## royUK

How do you propose checking how many solutions have been posted? You have a post count & you have a rep system, but nothing that defines a solution as opposed to a comment or question.

If you use the rep system then that will be flawed because I have received rep for advising someone to change their thread title, but many solutions that I have posted have received no rep at all. Also, if you use rep there's nothing to stop pals repping posts!

The idea of such a competition is rubbish & if it continues admin & mods should be excluded!

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## Simon Lloyd

> No no, you are getting me wrong.  If you check the thread containing the guidelines for the competition, the users' contribution will surely be included.  How many solutions were provided by the user which enabled the OPs to solve their problems will be the deciding factor.
> 
> 
> Dom, the mods have nothing to do with this. The winner will be system calculated.



It's not possible to use a "system" to calculate these, firstly prefixes aren't counted, secondly when using the prefix there is no option to permanently add a mark as to which user helped them solve their query. If a member has 30 replies to a post how can you tell which one person should get the point for the competition when it's marked solved?, no system can calculate that, so the winner has to be decided by a person "choosing" which person should win!, just look at DLLs quote where he states that often a thread marked solved will continue in discussion.

People will be more inclined to help and participate if things were a little more truthful, the winner cannot be system calculated, i can code most things for vbulletin and i couldn't possible code a crystal ball in to it!

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## JBeaucaire

> ...i can code most things for vbulletin and i couldn't possible code a crystal ball in to it!



Yeah, but if you COULD, you might win $300.... I'm just saying.

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## Kyle123

I dislike the whole idea of marking as solved, a forum is a place people come to learn; that can be either through asking direct questions or looking at proposed solutions. 

I have learned more from people's solutions to other people's problems than I ever did asking questions. As such I like to see as many different solutions to a given problem as possible (one of the reasons I like SO) so I am opposed to any approach which would limit this - I know people ignore threads that are marked as solved and don't bother posting answers.

Far from encouraging people to mark threads as solved, I would be in favour of getting rid of [Solved] altogether - it certainly hasn't done MrE any harm.

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## snb

No comment





> 5. Basis for Judgement - 
> The judgement panel will judge the tips on the basis of -
> a. Thanks received from users
> b. Moderator votes in the poll provided to moderators.
> 
> The top 10 posts will be sent to the moderators who will cast their vote. The top 3 will be selected out of the 10.=







> No no, you are getting me wrong. If you check the thread containing the guidelines for the competition, the users' contribution will surely be included. How many solutions were provided by the user which enabled the OPs to solve their problems will be the deciding factor.
> 
> Dom, the mods have nothing to do with this. The winner will be system calculated.

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## Phoenix5794

Also, is there some way to attribute a solved thread to a specific person? So far I've been unable (to even search) to find a method to say that "this person's" reply was the one that answered my question. And at which point it would be the reply stated directly below the OP's question.
Many other forums practice this same method.

I love this forum and the people on it since it has helped me countless times with my coding, but I think there are some changes that could take place in formatting that would make things much cleaner and more professional. I personally love the format of SolidWork's Forums:

SolidWorksCorrect.jpg
https://forum.solidworks.com/thread/43655

Notice the correct answer being chosen by the OP has been shown in his original post and I also like the indenting for replies. It's ever so slightly as to not waste a ton of space, but easy enough to tell who is replying to whom. 
And sorry for adding this to this thread (I think I'll just make a new one somewhere), but it seemed somewhat relevant to the banters taking place. :D

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## arlu1201

> No comment



SNB,

You are talking about 2 different competitions.

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## Kyle123

> Also, is there some way to attribute a solved thread to a specific person?



Hmm I'm not really a fan of this either, frequently there several solutions posted to the question, who is best placed to rate the answer? I've seen posts on both SO and EE credited as answers when there are far better alternatives listed. Just because the OP marks a post as being the correct answer, this does not mean it is the best solution.

There are many ways to skin a cat and it should be encouraged for people to post their own take on a particular scenario.

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## Phoenix5794

> Hmm I'm not really a fan of this either, frequently there several solutions posted to the question, who is best placed to rate the answer? I've seen posts on both SO and EE credited as answers when there are far better alternatives listed. Just because the OP marks a post as being the correct answer, this does not mean it is the best solution.
> 
> There are many ways to skin a cat and it should be encouraged for people to post their own take on a particular scenario.



Then perhaps there could be a system to differentiate between the numerous 'answers', regardless of whether or not they are the 'best' answer.
When I'm searching through this SolidWorks forum, for instance, it helps me to know which ones have a solution (whether best or not) and to find a solution easily.
Often times I'm sifting through pages and pages of threads without finding a hint of an answer.
Now of course this is in regards to something much more specific because coding is far more complex than a UI error in SolidWorks, but I think there could still be some way to alleviate the searching function of the server.

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## romperstomper

> I've seen posts on both SO and EE credited as answers when there are far better alternatives listed.



I'd agree that nothing will work 100% of the time but I don't see that means you should skip something that works most of the time. IMO if you are going to have a mark solved facility, it ought to be by choosing one or more answers. Of course, without points and money at stake, or cleanup volunteers, I'm not sure either works terribly well.

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## Kyle123

I agree that if you're going to have a SOLVED status then choosing answer/s probably works the best, however the purpose/design of those sites differs somewhat from this, I'd argue that SO actively discourages discussion based on it's format, though I like that better answers can be distinguished from the amount of up-votes awarded by the community regardless of them being marked correct, similarly I like that multiple solutions can be marked as answers on EE.

I'll review my previous comments, having a SOLVED status based on particular answers and with a separate votes per answer (rather than a rep system) measure would be far better than the present scenario. Perhaps like an SO that encourages discussion, although I wouldn't be opposed to the removal of the SOLVED status altogether.

@romper Out of interest which do you prefer having modded over here and MrE?

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## romperstomper

From a mod point of view, I prefer the MrExcel way, partly as it's less work but also because the process is too hit and miss with no real way of enforcing it , so it just feels like a waste of time. In fact, a partly successful Solved process can be worse, if people restrict their searches to only Solved threads.(EE is as you say a different story - it's easy to enforce there)

On the other hand I think if there were something like an 'accept this as answer' button, I think you'd get more questions actually marked solved, and I can see the benefit in that. It's a lot simpler when searching for an answer if you can quickly skim down a long series of posts looking for a 'This is the answer' flag. I know that there are arguments about which is the best answer and other solutions coming along later, but at the end of the day the searcher is probably going to at least get something that works.

Edit: my previous answer got me thinking... perhaps the mods here can take up Cleanup Volunteer duty and do a weekly sweep of all unsolved questions over a month old, post a recommended resolution, then after another week, either choose an answer/mark it solved, or delete the whole thing as pointless.  :Smilie:

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## Kyle123

hmmm, sounds like a lot of work, rather them than me  :Wink: 

I've just had a quick google out of curiosity, I couldn't find anything that would let vBulletin mark a particular post as the correct one, so it would probably need custom coding, which going on past experience in this forum I'm guessing isn't likely to happen any time soon (reliably at least  :Wink: ).

Ah well, never mind, always good to discuss alternatives

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## royUK

> Edit: my previous answer got me thinking... perhaps the mods here can take up Cleanup Volunteer duty and do a weekly sweep of all unsolved questions over a month old, post a recommended resolution, then after another week, either choose an answer/mark it solved, or delete the whole thing as pointless.



The mods cannot now keep pace with moderating and that assumes they can provide a solution.

Any way marking solved does not lock the posts o anyone can add solutions, I know I have in the past

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## romperstomper

It wasn't really a serious suggestion (though the CVs wouldn't have to be mods) but I wasn't suggesting they provide a solution to the question, merely review and post a suggested resolution - i.e. which answer to accept, or delete the question.

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## NBVC

I'd like to see who would volunteer to CV  :Wink:

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