Two questions to ( hopefully) make you think....

[Peterexpatkiwi]

1) How many of you answer a thread with out actually reading other people's answers? (Or even looking to see how long ago it was posted.)

To be fair sometimes the OP doesn't even actually let the forum know that they have successfully resolved the problem, or that they've now finished their Camino and so no longer need support. However, I am astonished at the number of times people post an response - relevant or not - when it is clear from the most recent answers that this is the case.

And no I am not talking about something that gets posted at the same time as you are typing - that happens to me frequently!

2) Why, if the OP has asked if anyone has any RECENT experience of a particular Camino or event, do you answer when your personal experience dates from more than two or three years ago?
Ditto if somebody's asking if anyone has walked a specific camino in winter but you walked it in the height of summer...
Naturally there's nothing wrong with following the conversation, even wishing them luck - but why would you answer unless you had something relevant to say?

Historical experience of a Camino - or even from our lives in general - can resolve many an issue regardless of how long ago it may have been. There are times when nothing beats the voice of experience. But when somebody is asking if so and so Albergue is open, or how much something currently costs....

 

[David Tallan]

1. If there are a lot of posts between the post I am responding to and the end of the thread, I will often answer before reading them all. I am not confident enough that I will remember what I was going to say if I do. I can be very quickly forgetful when distracted. I've been known to forget what I was intending to shop for when I've distracted myself by tying up my shoelaces. That said, I will generally continue to read the thread after responding and when I get to my response I've been known to edit or delete it based on intervening responses.

2. I will not answer based on my 1989 Camino when someone asks for recent experience or current conditions.

 

[Peterexpatkiwi]

David, understand your response to number one - I guess the additional question that raises for me is would you use the same approach if the thread was clearly already days or even weeks old?
Although I guess it wouldn't really matter because you unlike many would clearly amend or delete as appropriate...

 

[David Tallan]

David, understand your response to number one - I guess the additional question that raises for me is would you use the same approach if the thread was clearly already days or even weeks old?
Although I guess it wouldn't really matter because you unlike many would clearly amend or delete as appropriate...

For me, what matters (I think) for this question is not how old the thread as a whole is but how old the post I am responding to is. That will determine if there is likely to have been something that comes up in the meantime that might change my response. Generally, the posts that I am responding to are not  that old, because I am on the forum often enough.

A related question/situation is what happens when I see a new post on an old thread that I want to respond to. It may be a thread 8 years old with 150 responses and some reopens it after it has been slumbering for 5 years with a new question. Do I go back and read all of the previous posts before the one I am directly responding to before adding my response to the thread. Honestly, probably not although if I have the time and the interest, perhaps. Of course, now that I am a moderator I might consider whether it is wisest just to move the question to a new thread so it isn't carrying all that baggage around as I note some of my fellow moderators sometimes do.

 

[Tincatinker]

1) because I’m far to busy to read all that stuff but the last thing I read referred to something or whatever that.. sorry, what was the question?

2) we’ll, obviously because my experience supersedes all others and it will help the OP understand that they have made a mistake without rubbing their face in it. So, I’m just being nice, right?

 

[Peterexpatkiwi]

For me, what matters (I think) for this question is not how old the thread as a whole is but how old the post I am responding to is. That will determine if there is likely to have been something that comes up in the meantime that might change my response. Generally, the posts that I am responding to are not  that old, because I am on the forum often enough.

A related question/situation is what happens when I see a new post on an old thread that I want to respond to. It may be a thread 8 years old with 150 responses and some reopens it after it has been slumbering for 5 years with a new question. Do I go back and read all of the previous posts before the one I am directly responding to before adding my response to the thread. Honestly, probably not although if I have the time and the interest, perhaps. Of course, now that I am a moderator I might consider whether it is wisest just to move the question to a new thread so it isn't carrying all that baggage around as I note some of my fellow moderators sometimes do.

I guess I'm thinking more of the former than the latter. For example I note that you just responded to the leg pain thread, which started on Sunday, and whilst your response is actually still potentially relevant it's not clear whether or not you've realized that the OP has actually now finished her Camino.
Many people respond to threads considerably after the event and long after the OP has clearly finished. Or with opinions that have already been strongly contradicted or disproven. In those situations I find it odd that they care enough to answer but not enough to read others responses first. Or, at least to do as you have suggested - answer, and then edit accordingly.

The second example you give I completely understand. I, too, would follow exactly the same approach.

 

[David Tallan]

I think my response to the leg pain thread holds even after the OP completed her Camino. I did say, if pain persists see a doctor. That's what my friend did after her completing her Camino and return home, and how she discovered her fracture and got proper treatment.

It is also something I think is still valid in a leg pain thread even if the OP no longer needs the information. It might help future pilgrims who come to the thread with similar concerns.

 

[Robo]

I'd suggest there are a couple of reasons why people keep posting even after things appear to have been resolved....

1. We love to share, and keep sharing because we love to talk about all things Camino
2. These threads get searched by many repeat Pilgrims and would be Pilgrims. And sometimes because of the topic, resurface some time later. So they become a good reference source.

I use the search function a lot!

In planning my VdlP over a period of 3-4 years (delays. health, Covid) I read threads that went back as far as 10 years. Some of the most useful were 2-3 years old. And realising things like accommodation recommendations might be out of date, it got me doing other research using more up to date sources.

As for the recency of our experience, I would agree. It can be tempting to jump in and provide an answer, but I try not to if it requires recent experience that I might lack. I would be careful about answering specifics on the Camino Frances for example, not having walked it since 2018 (except a short bit this year). More general stuff, maybe.

Things do change.

On the VdlP this year for example there were a couple of small route changes that threw me. But we have to expect that to a degree.

..

 

[Robo]

Many people respond to threads considerably after the event and long after the OP has clearly finished. Or with opinions that have already been strongly contradicted or disproven. In those situations I find it odd that they care enough to answer but not enough to read others responses first. Or, at least to do as you have suggested - answer, and then edit accordingly.

We all have our own opinions, some held quite strongly.

I have been 'pig headed' myself and swum against the tide of opinion because I felt it was wrong and quite dangerous advice. Later it transpired that those sharing their opinion, were merely doing just that. Bar one or two, they had not experienced the situation personally as I had. In that case I felt a duty to contradict.

There can be a tendency to jump in with advice based on what we 'think' sounds right or makes sense, in our enthusiasm to help. We've all done it I'm sure.

 

[C clearly]

There are many frustrating things about the forum and its members. However, when I am annoyed, I need to remind myself that the forum is a community of people from varied background, experiences, and mental states. Their posts are endlessly fascinating - eccentric and annoying, as well as inspirational.

Moderators try to keep the forum experience reasonably civil and organized, without being too controlling and eliminating all the spontaneity and eccentricity.

 

[Peterexpatkiwi]

In that case I felt a duty to contradict.

I agree completely. I'm thinking more of those who clearly have not, nor have they bothered to read the thread to see the often excellent advice that others have given.

There are many frustrating things about the forum and its members. However, when I am annoyed, I need to remind myself that the forum is a community of people from varied background, experiences, and mental states. Their posts are endlessly fascinating - eccentric and annoying, as well as inspirational.

Moderators try to keep the forum experience reasonably civil and organized, without being too controlling and eliminating all the spontaneity and eccentricity.

You do it very well, too, and I thank you all for your efforts.

 

[good_old_shoes]

Interesting questions!

#1 With regard to adding things to threads that are old and the issue is already solved ect. - to be honest, I really like that in this forum, things like that are possible.

In many forums, older threads get closed immediately when someone adds a reply later. Same with questions that have already been asked before - they get closed down with a comment to "use the search function" before anyone can answer.

That leads to forums where not much happens, unless a truly unique question is asked, which after a while is difficult, and therefore it rarely happens that there's a newer, busy thread at all.

I love this forum because it feels alive, and not just like a book. It's a bit like sitting in a café that serves as a pilgrim info point. Every second wannabe pilgrim that comes into the room has a question about hiking poles or whether shoes or boots or sandals are the better choice or which size of backpack to choose, or how to treat a blister, and (almost) every single time those questions are answered or discussed as If they've been asked for the first time. Because the question might not be unique or new, but for the person asking and in their personal case it is new.

Same with adding info to an older thread. Maybe the person who originally posted is not even in the forum anymore. But sometimes things that are added later are still good information for those who find these older threads via the search function, or a valuable new discussion with additional points of views is started. It's like re-reading an old book and discussing it, writing comments into the pages, putting info flyers between the pages at relevant points, crossing out mistakes...

I like that something like that is possible in this forum (even if answers don't always make sense or come too late for the forum member who originally posted the question maybe years ago).

If that were different, I think it would change the atmosphere of the whole forum from a busy online meeting point for pilgrims to more of a mainly static pilgrim library, that only gets a few new books added each year.

#2 Of course, if for example someone asks for a hotel in San Sebastian and gets told to check into albergue xy in San Juan de Ortega, that's because the person who answered didn't read the question properly, or maybe misunderstood because of language barriers, and it's irrelevant information. Such honest mistakes happen, but I think not that often.

What happens very often is that people share knowledge they have, even if it doesn't fit 100% to the question. Annoying sometimes, maybe, but such answers can still be helpful. For example you do not have to have recently walked the Francés in winter to give an answer to the question "is a liner enough when walking the Francés in january and staying mainly in the cheaper albergues".

Some forum members have not walked for years, and are still a great ressource for good information, and we're all lucky that they're still willing to share their experience and knowledge.

If only those who walked exactly the same route, very recently, during same season would reply, there probably wouldn't be much to read...

Moderators try to keep the forum experience reasonably civil and organized, without being too controlling and eliminating all the spontaneity and eccentricity.

A huge thank you for that!

 

[Antonius Vaessen]

I think the Forum is nothing like a simple "Q &A" it is more a community; a groupconversation where everybody has an input and not all contributions relate to the input of the person that started the tpoic.

 

[t2andreo]

I do try to consider the passage of time when replying. In general, I will not reply to questions about specific places of accommodation or services - as these will have changed from year to year. Plus, opinions are highly subjective. What was fine to me, might be unacceptable to others, and vice versa.

I do try to contribute useful advice regardless of the timeline. This sort of counsel is timeless. The worst it could be is redundant. But, good advice does bear to be repeated.

Hope this helps.

Tom

 

[bullingtonce]

1) How many of you answer a thread with out actually reading other people's answers? (Or even looking to see how long ago it was posted.)

To be fair sometimes the OP doesn't even actually let the forum know that they have successfully resolved the problem, or that they've now finished their Camino and so no longer need support. However, I am astonished at the number of times people post an response - relevant or not - when it is clear from the most recent answers that this is the case.

And no I am not talking about something that gets posted at the same time as you are typing - that happens to me frequently!

2) Why, if the OP has asked if anyone has any RECENT experience of a particular Camino or event, do you answer when your personal experience dates from more than two or three years ago?
Ditto if somebody's asking if anyone has walked a specific camino in winter but you walked it in the height of summer...
Naturally there's nothing wrong with following the conversation, even wishing them luck - but why would you answer unless you had something relevant to say?

Historical experience of a Camino - or even from our lives in general - can resolve many an issue regardless of how long ago it may have been. There are times when nothing beats the voice of experience. But when somebody is asking if so and so Albergue is open, or how much something currently costs....

I did not know we have a class disciplinarian. I guess we are quite fortunate in this regard although I have always tended to think we have more to clean up in our houses than in other people's houses.

 

[C clearly]

I did not know we have a class disciplinarian.

No? Our community includes various class jokesters, troublemakers, saints, grumps, high horse riders, and cynics, so I don't see any problem in having a few volunteer critics and disciplinarians.

 

[bullingtonce]

No? Our community includes various class jokesters, troublemakers, saints, grumps, high horse riders, and cynics, so I don't see any problem in having a few volunteer critics and disciplinarians.

That's good because I choose not to be a critics as there seems to be too many of them around; a few I am OK with. Plus this particular critic is a bit too controlling for me. Each to their own.

 

[bullingtonce]

No? Our community includes various class jokesters, troublemakers, saints, grumps, high horse riders, and cynics, so I don't see any problem in having a few volunteer critics and disciplinarians.

Plus, the level of tone is not necessary as there are better and more civil ways to address an issue.

 

[David Tallan]

That's good because I choose not to be a critics as there seems to be too many of them around; a few I am OK with. Plus this particular critic is a bit too controlling for me. Each to their own.

I don't see that this member is in a position to control anyone so I would hardly call him controlling.

 

[David Tallan]

Plus, the level of tone is not necessary as there are better and more civil ways to address an issue.

I would say that the tone of this discussion has in general been very civil.

 

[frannie z]

1) How many of you answer a thread with out actually reading other people's answers? (Or even looking to see how long ago it was posted.)

To be fair sometimes the OP doesn't even actually let the forum know that they have successfully resolved the problem, or that they've now finished their Camino and so no longer need support. However, I am astonished at the number of times people post an response - relevant or not - when it is clear from the most recent answers that this is the case.

And no I am not talking about something that gets posted at the same time as you are typing - that happens to me frequently!

2) Why, if the OP has asked if anyone has any RECENT experience of a particular Camino or event, do you answer when your personal experience dates from more than two or three years ago?
Ditto if somebody's asking if anyone has walked a specific camino in winter but you walked it in the height of summer...
Naturally there's nothing wrong with following the conversation, even wishing them luck - but why would you answer unless you had something relevant to say?

Historical experience of a Camino - or even from our lives in general - can resolve many an issue regardless of how long ago it may have been. There are times when nothing beats the voice of experience. But when somebody is asking if so and so Albergue is open, or how much something currently costs....

What's "OP" refer to? And to pile on... I see many responders go back years to questions about RECENT expereineces... I think moderators should not post those responses. They are NOT helpful.

 

[Tony Lenton]

David, understand your response to number one - I guess the additional question that raises for me is would you use the same approach if the thread was clearly already days or even weeks old?
Although I guess it wouldn't really matter because you unlike many would clearly amend or delete as appropriate...

How many times in normal conversation, say in the pub, at work, on the bus or in the hairdresser/barber do people talk at cross purposes, speak over one another, contradict themselves or fail to answer a specific question. It can be infuriating but also stimulating, funny and sometimes absolutely fascinating.
On a written forum such as this you might expect a greater degree of order but human ingenuity knows no bounds. If, for example someone were to ask what doe 2x2 equal the obvious answer is 4. However if someone else were then to regale us with a tale of their first experience of an Abacus and to make it interesting are we not all enriched? Similarly if someone asks whether Albergue A at village B is still open and someone tells us they first visited it in 1969 during the Franco era then aren’t they really adding to the sum of the forum?

 

[David Tallan]

What's "OP" refer to? And to pile on... I see many responders go back years to questions about RECENT expereineces... I think moderators should not post those responses. They are NOT helpful.

OP = original poster

Moderators don't post the responses. Responders do. Very few posts go through moderators before publication. Moderators try and take a light hand with published posts.

 

[Rita Flower]

I love this forum because it is a living conversation and I would hate to see it be more organised than it is.
I love that I feel like I know many of the regular contributors personally - and love them all with all their diversity.
I love that the level freedom the moderators allow creates a feeing of safety for me to share.
I love that it challenges me to be more understanding, considerate and inclusive.
I love that when I’m in the forum it feels like I am in Camino.

 

[Peterexpatkiwi]

I did not know we have a class disciplinarian. I guess we are quite fortunate in this regard although I have always tended to think we have more to clean up in our houses than in other people's houses.

I certainly didn't intend to come across as the class disciplinarian but rather to provoke an active debate, in which I have clearly been successful. However if the cap fits, I'll wear it!
And yes I agree completely one needs to look at oneself first, and I am always open to criticism. It is after all how one learns.
As per the heading of my post, this is to (hopefully) make you think...

And to pile on... I see many responders go back years to questions about RECENT expereineces... I think moderators should not post those responses. They are NOT helpful.

Other than your comment about the moderators (which David has answered very clearly above) I agree completely. Although there have been some excellent responses to this point above, some of which are indeed very accurate. It all comes down to relevancy.

That said - also as noted above - this is an open forum so why shouldn't somebody express their opinion ? And if it helps them relive the wonderful experience that is the Camino then good luck to them.

I agree that it can make it frustrating sometimes, however at the end of the day I am choosing to read the forum, with all of its quirks (and the amazing characters that we find on here) and enjoy it very much.

 

[bullingtonce]

I don't see that this member is in a position to control anyone so I would hardly call him controlling.

The message is rather sterile, criticizing instead of being in a neighborly engaging way. It is easy to jump into the crowd and be direct and walk away; it is more tedious and takes more discipline and empathy to engage with the audience in a collaborative manner and patiently work with them in reaching an objective and goal.
Furthermore, rule setting is fine; trying to control with rules is not fine. If someone gets pleasure in responding to a thread and it violates every 'rule' mentioned in the referenced message, I put pleasure in a person's life over 'following the rules.' People have enough challenges with their own lives that following any and every rule someone wants to put in place has no place in the complex and demanding world we live in. There is value in 'breaking rules' and there always would be. And the fact of the matter is that rules and rule obeying is controlling in and of itself.
Let's just say we each have our own perspective and that if we had an opportunity to sit down at a cafe table on the Camino route and share a glass of wine together that we would probably better understand each and walk away with a kindred friendship.

 

[C clearly]

The message is rather sterile, criticizing instead of being in a neighborly engaging way. It is easy to jump into the crowd and be direct and walk away; it is more tedious and takes more discipline and empathy to engage with the audience in a collaborative manner and patiently work with them in reaching an objective and goal.
Furthermore, rule setting is fine; trying to control with rules is not fine. If someone gets pleasure in responding to a thread and it violates every 'rule' mentioned in the referenced message, I put pleasure in a person's life over 'following the rules.' People have enough challenges with their own lives that following any and every rule someone wants to put in place has no place in the complex and demanding world we live in. There is value in 'breaking rules' and there always would be. And the fact of the matter is that rules and rule obeying is controlling in and of itself.
Let's just say we each have our own perspective and that if we had an opportunity to sit down at a cafe table on the Camino route and share a glass of wine together that we would probably better understand each and walk away with a kindred friendship.

@bullingtonce - I agree with everything you say in this post, except for the first sentence. The OP raised the topic - perhaps a little awkwardly or forwardly - but he certainly went on to welcome and participate in the discussion. Hee did not jump into the crowd and then walk away. Here on the forum, we need to be a bit forgiving of each others' gaffes. For example, your posts #15 and #17 seemed unnecessarily harsh and personal - perhaps you would accept that criticism as well.

 

[Peterexpatkiwi]

I love that it challenges me to be more understanding, considerate and inclusive.

100% . Thank you, you've absolutely nailed it.

 

[David Tallan]

The message is rather sterile, criticizing instead of being in a neighborly engaging way. It is easy to jump into the crowd and be direct and walk away; it is more tedious and takes more discipline and empathy to engage with the audience in a collaborative manner and patiently work with them in reaching an objective and goal.
Furthermore, rule setting is fine; trying to control with rules is not fine. If someone gets pleasure in responding to a thread and it violates every 'rule' mentioned in the referenced message, I put pleasure in a person's life over 'following the rules.' People have enough challenges with their own lives that following any and every rule someone wants to put in place has no place in the complex and demanding world we live in. There is value in 'breaking rules' and there always would be. And the fact of the matter is that rules and rule obeying is controlling in and of itself.
Let's just say we each have our own perspective and that if we had an opportunity to sit down at a cafe table on the Camino route and share a glass of wine together that we would probably better understand each and walk away with a kindred friendship.

I am not sure where you are seeing "rule setting". The original post is "two questions" not "two rules". The post asks about people's behaviour. It does not formulate nor expound upon rules. It opens a discussion, which the original poster has remained and engaged in. It doesn't post flat rules. Perhaps you were reading a different post than I was.

 

[trecile]

Most of us have been taught to listen to others when we are in conversation with them before blurting out our opinion. On a forum like this the listening part is reading the prior responses.

I will admit to being guilty of not always taking my time to really listen to someone (both in real life and on the forum), but it's something that I try to work on.

Occasionally, someone will ressurect an old thread to ask a new question on the topic. In that case I don't feel like I need to read all of the prior responses before answering.

 

[dick bird]

Question 1) me. Question 2), I don’t pay enough attention. In mitigation, any info or discussion may be useful to somebody even if it doesn’t address the original question. That’s the point of an open forum. The only exception is putting sarcastic labels on whoever posed the question in the first place; so here is a new rule for you, ‘don’t post anything you wouldn’t say to someone’s face’.

 

[Peterexpatkiwi]

here is a new rule for you, ‘don’t post anything you wouldn’t say to someone’s face’.

Ah, but that would greatly inhibit some, others such as myself, not at all. I'm not sure if it's exactly what she meant, but this immediately sprang to mind:

love that the level freedom the moderators allow creates a feeing of safety for me to share.

 

[shefollowsshells]

1) How many of you answer a thread with out actually reading other people's answers? (Or even looking to see how long ago it was posted.)

To be fair sometimes the OP doesn't even actually let the forum know that they have successfully resolved the problem, or that they've now finished their Camino and so no longer need support. However, I am astonished at the number of times people post an response - relevant or not - when it is clear from the most recent answers that this is the case.

And no I am not talking about something that gets posted at the same time as you are typing - that happens to me frequently!

2) Why, if the OP has asked if anyone has any RECENT experience of a particular Camino or event, do you answer when your personal experience dates from more than two or three years ago?
Ditto if somebody's asking if anyone has walked a specific camino in winter but you walked it in the height of summer...
Naturally there's nothing wrong with following the conversation, even wishing them luck - but why would you answer unless you had something relevant to say?

Historical experience of a Camino - or even from our lives in general - can resolve many an issue regardless of how long ago it may have been. There are times when nothing beats the voice of experience. But when somebody is asking if so and so Albergue is open, or how much something currently costs....

So my question, respectfully, to ( hopefully) make one think is centered around the reader vs the poster. If centered around the reader it’s a first person thought, the actions of the reader vs the actions of a stranger…
My question or thought process centers more on why would someone read something they’re not interested in reading vs asking others not to post something they’re not interested in reading.
It’s easier to control self than others…

 

[WGroleau]

In many forums, older threads get closed immediately when someone adds a reply later. Same with questions that have already been asked before - they get closed down with a comment to "use the search function" before anyone can answer.

Some sites have completely useless search features¹ and often it’s difficult to figure out the string that will get useful results.

Some sites address the obsoleteness problem by automatically disabling comments/replies to posts that have had none for some period of time. (Some go by age without even considering activity.)

Stack Exchange sites—instead of saying “use the search”—closes duplicates and provides a link to the earlier post.

¹Facebook is the worst I’ve ever seen, but then it has little worth searching for

 

[Peterexpatkiwi]

So my question, respectfully, to ( hopefully) make one think is centered around the reader vs the poster. If centered around the reader it’s a first person thought, the actions of the reader vs the actions of a stranger…
My question or thought process centers more on why would someone read something they’re not interested in reading vs asking others not to post something they’re not interested in reading.
It’s easier to control self than others…

Now that is indeed an excellent question. I can of course only answer from a personal perspective: at the speed at which I read I've already read the post before realising that it adds no value.
I guess for me if somebody has no desire to read other's responses, why bother to comment in the first place? I often intend to respond to a post, - especially ones more than a day or too old - only to find by reading that somebody else has already written a response that is better than anything I could have possibly created. And learn accordingly.
Or has posted almost exactly what I would write. In which case I may write a simple "I couldn't agree more". Sometimes I will add an example to reinforce a specific point.
As with many of the answers above it really depends upon the context.
Like @David Tallan's post #4.

As a footnote, some of the responses on here have been extremely thoughtful, even thought provoking and I thank you all.

 

[C clearly]

I think people "should" at least attempt to skim over the posts in a thread before jumping in with a response. However, I admit that I don't always read every post carefully before responding, and if the thread is very long, it becomes difficult.

So, yes, I like to see some attempt to read through the thread, but understand that sometimes a quick response seems to make more sense.

 

[dougfitz]

1) How many of you answer a thread with out actually reading other people's answers? (Or even looking to see how long ago it was posted.)

Looking at this as purely on the logical construction, then I would simply say that you didn't ask a question that any one of us could answer. Some seem to have answered a question that might have been implied in your question, that is 'do any of you answer a thread without actually reading other people's answers?' While you might be interested in the the former question, you won't get to the answer through discussion, despite the valiant attempts of some to respond to the original question.

Personally, if I feel that a post is about something I might want to address, I avoid responding to it without looking at the content and who has already responded. Why do I check who else has responded? There are two main reasons.

• there are some members who I think offer sound and generally complete advice, and unless they have omitted to say something that I think important, I don't feel the need to add my voice to the discussion and merely repeat a point they have already made.
  • I do realise that there are people who operate on an availability heuristic, and like to believe that thing that is repeated most often. That is a pity, but I don't feel inclined to feed their need to see something restated many times before they believe it.
  • I do hope that those who do this learn to discriminate between those forum members who consistently provide good advice from those that push some particular hobby horse irrespective of the context and circumstances in which the advice is provided.
• there are others whose approach is unnecessarily combative, sometimes rhetorically flawed, and with whom any expression of an alternative point of view appears to be an open invitation for tedious back and forth over some minutia. The response by @bullingtonce earlier in this thread provides a near perfect example of beginning a post with an ad hominum, clearly a rhetorical fallacy, but often mistaken for a legitimate rhetorical device that might increase the power of the point that they are trying to make.
  • as an aside, I would suggest that this particular member's series of posts illustrates the very characteristics that they suggest were exhibited by the OP.

2) Why, if the OP has asked if anyone has any RECENT experience of a particular Camino or event, do you answer when your personal experience dates from more than two or three years ago?

This question appears to assume in it's phrasing, inasmuch as it is addressed to all forum members individually, that we all do. Clearly that isn't the case. However, if @Peterexpatkiwi has observed this behaviour, it is worth asking whether this is an inappropriate practice. I don't think that it always is, and can think of many topics where it matters little whether one's experience is from this year, last year or is over a decade old.

As an example, I would observe that, despite the occasional flurry of 'current' advice about how to get footwear fitted, the contributions of the current interlocutors on this topic have added very little of practical value over the contributions made by falcon269 and others in the time shortly after I joined the forum over a decade ago.

Yet there are members who seem to think that asking for 'current' advice absolves them of any responsibility they might have to do some basic research into past posts on the topic. Even where they might be some legitimate reason to ask for 'current' advice, I think recent two recent posts asking about the costs of walking the CP from Porto illustrate this. Effectively the same question has been asked by two different members a few days apart.

The other reason that continuing a thread beyond the point where the OP's initial request for information might have been satisfied is simply that there is a more general interest that can be addressed by doing that. Despite my cynicism that there are new members who are unable to exploit the extensive information already available on the forum, I still hold out hope that providing either more complete and accurate information, or an alternative point of view, is still a valuable thing to do to assist someone who needs some advice on the topic at some future time.

 

[David Tallan]

So my question, respectfully, to ( hopefully) make one think is centered around the reader vs the poster. If centered around the reader it’s a first person thought, the actions of the reader vs the actions of a stranger…
My question or thought process centers more on why would someone read something they’re not interested in reading vs asking others not to post something they’re not interested in reading.
It’s easier to control self than others…

True, but sometimes you don't know what you are going to read until you've read it. If everything was tagged "interesting to David" and "not interesting to David", and everyone knew how to apply the tags and did so, then I could easily avoid reading posts I'm not interested in. But unsurprisingly that isn't the case. In the context of this thread, presumably the thread topic is of interest to the reader but the concern is about posts that in the thread are off topic or irrelevant because they've already been covered. How is the reader to know to avoid those posts until they read them and discover the flaws?

 

[David Tallan]

I guess for me if somebody has no desire to read other's responses, why bother to comment in the first place?

Some of us are enamored of our own opinions and love to drop our pearls of wisdom. That may coincide with an interest in the wisdom of others or it may not.

 

[dougfitz]

Some of us are enamored of our own opinions and love to drop our pearls of wisdom. That may coincide with an interest in the wisdom of others or it may not.

Beautifully put, @David Tallan, beautifully put!

 

[Smash123]

1) TL/DR
2) Others come and read replies, not just the OP. Someone, somewhere my be looking for my response

 

[JCarpenter]

I have something to add, but I am busy, and will respond a few days from now, notwithstanding the pulse rate of this thread.

 

[Carlita416]

Why do people reply staying the obvious or with no actual experience with the issue being asked about? Is there a motivation to have high reply stats?

 

[Bradypus]

Why do people reply staying the obvious or with no actual experience with the issue being asked about? Is there a motivation to have high reply stats?

I think that sometimes one reply stating the obvious may be justified - so often the OP has apparently failed to see what is obvious to most of us.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I have only noticed this old thread today, but it's interesting. It is quite long so after a few posts, I have stopped reading, which I sometimes do when they get very lengthy and I've come in late. Without dissecting the OP's question, I "generally" will reply if I have some advise or opinion, but only if it is a bit different than what others are posting and repeating, or if my advice seems like it can be helpful based on my experience. If my thoughts are quite similar to a post, I may decide to give it a "Like", but will not bother to puppet the same comment. I occasionally will "debate", but it is not my usual thing to get into. Now humor is a different bird for me, and I usually enjoy reading the posts that lend themselves to that, and sometimes contribute myself as many of you probably know.
I am not a scholar, I do not know Spanish, I am not a connoisseur of food and drink, and I am not a history buff, so I have no voice to anything on those threads. I only know that I love the joy of planning and walking the Camino and this forum is made up of all different kinds, making for a well rounded "us".