Can we stop littering threads with unproductive responses?

Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Mavzylor

New member
This site is called “Catholic Answers”, not “Catholic Go Research it Yourself”, not “Catholic Ask Your Spiritual Director”, not "Catholic Snarky ‘Who Knows?’ "
 
Some of us just don’t know the answers to these questions, we do the best we can, and then we hit a roadblock to where we can’t help anymore. It’s not very helpful when you post things like this.
 
There’s nothing wrong with not knowing the answer. This post will be helpful to me if people see it and understand. It’s disappointing when I get a notification and it’s just someone saying, “go research it yourself”.
 
With all due respect, there are things that come up on here over and over. There will be threads sitting right on the “Latest” board directly addressing someone’s question and yet someone starts a new thread asking the exact same thing.

Before I post a question on a board I usually do a board search, or a Google search (Google brings up a lot of old CAF threads) and at least try to see if there has been anything addressing my question lately. Discourse also puts up a helpful “Your topic is similar to” when you are about to start a new thread. People just seem to ignore those however, and start new threads. So in many cases, people should do a little research.

When you get a response like “ask your spiritual director”, it’s an indication that what you are asking is best discussed with a priest or spiritual director. The endless “Is this a mortal sin?” posts are one example of a topic that nobody here is really equipped to speak to. What might be a mortal sin for one person in one circumstance might not be a mortal sin for somebody in another circumstance; in any event, we aren’t the final arbiters of that. Nor are we in a good position to be giving people advice about what to do with their spiritual lives - they really need a spiritual director for that. Also, a LOT of people who post on here seem to be suffering from scruples or other spiritual issues that they should be discussing one on one with a priest or spiritual director, not just offering up to a board of lay strangers for opinions.

I get the impression that people sometimes use this forum as a lazy way of finding out answers because it would be too much trouble to actually do some research or contact a spiritual director. There’s no harm in telling somebody to do these things if you think that’s what they should do. You’re also not guaranteed to get an answer that you want when you ask the forum. It’s kind of presumptuous of you to tell other people how they should answer just because you don’t like the answer you got.
 
Last edited:
I don’t mind being forward, as I don’t appreciate these responses. If I see them less often, then it was worth being honest to me. If I still see them frequently, well at least I tried.
 
Sometimes questions are asked which are not appropriately addressed on an internet forum - I’m thinking especially of threads started by the scrupulous among us. Rather than feed their illness with more information to obsess about oftentimes the best advice is a short, kind referral to a priest or spiritual director. Such replies are made for the benefit of the OP, not for the entertainment of observers.
 
And I don’t mind being equally forward in telling you that forums aren’t Burger King and you don’t always get to “have it your way” when it comes to responses.
 
I would be much happier with some of the unproductive threads went away. And no, I don’t mean this one. This one opens a discussion.
 
I always try to give answers that will help someone. I am not a theologian or philosopher, Try to give answers in something I am knowledgeable about or had an experience with. If I don’t know anything or very little about a thread., I will not post an answer. I leave it to others who may be more informative, but I will agree with you when, someone comes on the forum after going all other routes priest, research, etc and still continues not to understand something and is told {after a long "philosopher’s ? ?post] to go seek help in the same places they tried there is something wrong… The same with someone who gives an .answer as a theologian and it goes on and on leading to nowhere. Their are people out there who give very sensible and informative information to ones looking for guidance, and they are the ones I thank and hope will continue to make this forum a place you can come to for help. God Bless you::🦋🦋
 
My guess, and only a guess, is this thread will do absolutely nothing to stop unproductive threads.

Perhaps a better FAQ might help, but with all the goofy threads that do get opened…
 
I am not sure what you mean by unproductive responses. I mean, a response might be interpreted in different ways by different readers. For example, someone asks for advice, and I respond only with prayer. I think it is productive, but others may not.
 
Last edited:
That’s a good point. Some might find it encouraging to hear that you are praying for them while others might prefer you just “go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.” I guess what I mean by unproductive responses, are responses that are posted just for the sake of posting, and clearly not aimed at offering help.
 
Last edited:
I can think of instances where such responses are productive.

Q: Can you help me with my theology homework.
A: Go research it yourself.

Q: Can you tell me if this minor thing is a sin. By the way, I suffer from extreme scrupulosity.
A: Please seek out a spiritual director.

Sometimes answering a poster’s question directly isn’t what is ultimately the most helpful.

I agree with you about the snarkiness, though. We could all use a reminder to tone down the snarkiness. I try to limit my snark to occasions where it is not likely to cause offense, but even then I’d probably be better off without it.
 
Mavzylor said:
This site is called “Catholic Answers”, not “Catholic Go Research it Yourself”, not “Catholic Ask Your Spiritual Director”, not "Catholic Snarky ‘Who Knows?’ "
Click to expand...
When you ask questions on a public Forum you’re gonna get an assortment of answers! Personally, I’m shocked at the laziness that some posters demonstrate. Some Threads would only require a Google search for an answer. While some Forum Denizens post their “opinions” and don’t cite Church documents when answering others questions. Suffice to say, it’s better to say “I don’t know “ rather than make stuff up.
 
Last edited:
Cruciferi said:
Some Threads would only require a Google search for an answer.
Click to expand...
Sometimes, I’m tempted to reply with a link to lmgtfy.com, but then I realize that would be snarky and so I refrain. 😆

I will often imagine that my mother is the person posting such questions. She is very technologically illiterate, and so going to Google and sifting through search results is overwhelming for her. So I try to be cognizant of that and just answer the question.
Cruciferi said:
While some Forum Denizens post their “opinions” and don’t cite Church documents when answering others questions.
Click to expand...
I know I’m just as fond of my opinions as the next person, but I would like to see more people being clear about what is their opinion, what they are just guessing at, and what is actually Church teaching. I try as much as possible to delineate accordingly, but I’m sure I’m not always successful.
 
I don’t know what the answer to your question might be, but I have a cousin in Montana who really likes to go camping and goes for about a month every summer. Sometimes it rains.
 
anna said:
I always try to give answers that will help someone.
Click to expand...
I like an OP that makes it plain from the outset whether they’re asking for information or for an opinion. If it’s a request for information, I will sometimes post a reply in the form of a link to a book at Amazon.com, or to another website, or to a Wikipedia page, or whatever, with just a word or two of explanation. Sometimes, however, it will then emerge that what seemed to be, on the surface, a request for information was really intended as the beginning of a chat thread about opinions. If that was the intention, I think they ought to have stated their purpose clearly from the start.
 
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
I like grilled cheese apple patties
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top