Help Vampires

[Joe Sermarini]

I was looking to post a question on a non-coin related Forum and decided I better read their rules first.  They had a link to this page...

http://slash7.com/2006/12/22/vampires/

[djmacdo]

All too true!

[Joe Sermarini]

For me it confirmed the value of some of our rules.

[Andrew McCabe]

I was looking to post a question on a non-coin related Forum and decided I better read their rules first.  They had a link to this page...

http://slash7.com/2006/12/22/vampires/

Very nice. Sometimes you see it coming, and have to sit on one's hands to resist replying. Sometimes you get caught. I know that some of our most helpful members e.g. Andreas have got quite disciplined in pointing questioners towards device or legend searching on acsearch rather than just providing the answer that a questioner could as easily find. I wonder is there a place for standard responses that link to Stickie threads e.g. on cleaning, storage or photography, or on how to look for a coin ID using acsearch before one asks the board, to keep the board clearer for more interesting questions.

There was a thread in the last few days where I felt fell a Help Vampire was at play. The exact same answers were provided by numerous helpful people (hint: "Don't get too close to the coin"; "Have you followed the advice regarding the distance from phone to coin"; "pull your camera back from the coin"; "pull back a few centimetres so the coin is in focus"; "you need to move your camera back"), and generated not an attempt at a new photo in response to those answers, but instead a new general thread on photography with a new set of questions which ignored the advice already given; all this in parallel to other questions asked ("why does Copper always come up when I ask about bronze?") answers provided ("Bronze is a copper alloy....  Copper is an element on the periodic table, bronze is not.") and then ignored ("I've forgotten much of my periodic table by now"). If it seems impolite to point all this out, the Help Page that Joe links to says it's necessary to point it out HV behaviour in order to curb it.

[Potator II]

Very useful page Joe, thanks a lot.
We're quite infested of help vampires out there on the french forums (although not all vampires are french... ). As noted by Andrew, we usually dare not pointing this out but we should. I think we will now...

Best
JC

PS : How can I translate that in french....?   
Sorry, just kidding 

[SC]

Just read it.  Great article.

It is a tough line to navigate.  I like to be generous at first, even with people asking what, as a short hand, I will call dumb questions.  This hobby needs new people to survive, especially the young.  Ancient coins can be quite an intimidating area for some.  I have seen many who join and start with "dumb" or repetitive questions and move on to be great members.  (I fear now to re-read my first ten posts....)

However, if they don't progress, or seem intent on mischief, I just ignore them.

Shawn