The recommendation to conduct a search is not an attempt to establish any type of "rule." It's not being mean. It's not being rude or unhelpful.

It is simply good advice for anyone who seriously wants to get information to help them with their travel planning. No one is saying you MUST search first; no one is threatening to penalize anyone who doesn't search first.

The point is that you severely limit your information sources if you don't search. Not to mention that asking that question that is already asked several times a week is sending someone else's question further down the list more quickly where it is less likely to be seen.

Perhaps if Fodor's put a little message next to their Search box explaining that many topics may have been covered and how to do a search, more people would use it.

If you type in "obnoxious and unecessary" you get two posts and now this one make three!

Aurora -
My theory is that if I have done a search, but did not find what I needed, I put that in my post.
Shows that I put some effort into it, but still need additional help.
Most people who see that you tried searching, are even more inclined to reply to your question.

I know I am.

Debbie

As I have found out from numerous attempts the search function here is nothing if not faulty. Personally I have no problem with someone just asking the question. If it bothers you just DON'T respond.

Debbie... and how does one tell if a poster has "tried' to search? If you don't berlive that I am a searcher, please don't answer my question.

CarolLA.... thanks

AS a new user I am guilty of having asked questions that were covered before. I am also guilty of having written in capitals and probably numerous other faux pas. However I only discovered how to find my own questions when leslie kindly told me how to becos I am also guilty of having asked the same question twice.I also only found out about the text search when she told me about it. So kindly overlook our ignorance and do answer our questions as surely this is what this forum is all about. Having said that I have been trying to find out how to purchase tickets for bullfights in Spain and even tho I used text search I have not been able to get any info tht may be archived. Any suggestions.

Probably not, no one can answer and hard questions here just silly stuff like what is your nationality, how much money do you make, whats the best cheap hotel in London and why the French are so mean to Americans.

Did you try frommers.com message board? They are nice there. There is also virtualtourist.com which has a lot of personal travel logs and a search function which actually works!

julies,

There's a huge difference between:

"This question has been answered before. If you'd do a search you'd probably get the answer you want without annoying me."

AND

"This question has been answered before. Try searching for your subject and perhaps you'll find what you need."

DOCK, I did a text search on bullfights with "topic search" Spain and found plenty of posts with lots of details, right down to how to select a seat in the shade and where ot buy ticketes. Here's a web site that might be helpful:

http://www.las-ventas.com/domingo/cartel.htm

"no one can answer and hard questions here just silly stuff like what is your nationality, how much money do you make, whats the best cheap hotel in London and why the French are so mean to Americans"

Yeah right. Please head off to Froemmers and the thousands who enjoy this board will give you a cookie. Think of the cookies.

richardab

I can tell if someone did a search when they put in their post - " I tried searching but didn't find xyz "

Now - that is assuming they are telling the truth, and not part of a big conspiracy to clog up the post, but I will give them the benefit of the doubt. ;)

I don't want it to seem like there is a posting police, but simple courtesies make this a better place for all-
I know recently there was a post "why doesn't anyone answer" and most likely it was because the question had been discussed in depth very recently, and no-one felt like re-typing all that info.

I have gotten into the habit of replying to some posts " we talked about this recently , do a search on xyz"
I was including the post link, but am getting tired of doing all the leg work myself (doing the search and pasting the post) If they really want the info, they can search on it - or click on my name to see which post I am talking about....

and DOCK - if you look at the top of the page - there are links to some basic 'rules' that Fodors has put out there - a lot of these ideas are right there.

and Snoopy -
if you read Julies initial post,nowhere does she say "....annoying me" she simply states that there are vast resources available, and you will probably get more/better responses if your question is specific and unique.
She is also trying to explain to newbies the reason they might not be getting any responses.

I'll explain why I started this discussion. Maybe that will help you to understand where I am coming from. 2 days ago there was a question about the don't miss sights in Vienna. I responded as did numerous other people, and we all gave thoughtful answers. Yesterday there was a message, "What should I see in Vienna?" The 1st message was still in the past 150 posts (not exactly way down the list). The person who posted the 2nd question was not getting answers because those people who had something to day had probably said it the day before to the 1st poster. And, if the 2nd poster had looked, he would have found all the answers to his question. My point was not to discourage questioners, but to point out that there is a way to find answers to many of the questions, and also to point out why someone might not be successful in getting answers. I also recognize that there is a difference between asking a very specific question that might not be covered in a previous post, and just asking a very generic question that has probably been answered a ton of times.

Also, I have to add that I think some of you are going off the deep end in implying that this is an obnoxious post. If I had said, "You lazy bums. Spend some time searching" then it would have been obnoxious. That was not my tone, nor my intent. This has been a very enlightening discussion; I think I'm starting to understand why road rage incidents happen.

Thanks julies for the tip on rules,however I did not even notice those minute red words until you pointed them out.Once again I confess I am guilty. The post was not Why wont anyone ANSWER , but Why wont anyone Help and if it was not for the polite informative people who did reply I would in all likelihood still be asking questions which would likely be aggaravating you no end.Due to my experience I am thus tolerant of others and their queries and as has been stated in numerous other replies if a question irks you just scroll on by.I have to admit tho this is one of the liveliest posts in a long while on this forum so thanks, at least I know there are others out there .. Thanks anonymous for the bullfight info.

There is also a wealth of information within Fodors under Destinations, Hotels, Restaurants.

I'll tell you what....

You post your way and I'll post my way.

Debbie... Every person who cannot find something does not start their post with " I tried searching but didn't find xyz " . Please don't force your assumption on us.

MY theory is that if I post my question whether I searched or not I may get an interesting answer by a person who is TRUELY willing to help. Sometimes I JUST DO NOT FEEL LIKE PICKING THRU ALL THE MINDLESS POSTS and simply click on my log in name to bring up all those I have posted.

As you may see I do not play by the rules.

OOPS.

Maybe the best way would be as REX does, replying with please see fid xyz where I just answered that question.
followed by 'best wishes' or some other non threatening salutation.

My tail needs washing now.

I wish Fodors had a clear link next to the search box that led to clear, concise and specific instructions on how the search box worked, including the boolean AND and OR comparitors.

But, I still think lots of people would miss it. I design web sites as a sideline and one of the biggest positives and negatives of the internet is that no two websites have the same controls, flow, look or design philosophy. In short, people who aren't terribly internet savvy don't know where to look on the page. And although most sites have a search function, it's surprising how different to intent of that function is (search the site, search the web, search a database). Many people click links and stay away from the unfamiliar.

Help in suggesting a search is probably the best way to go, IF it sounds like help and not annoyance. But, this site is for entertainment purposes. If someone wants to expound, why not? And it someone gets a little terse or sounds a little impatient, it's at least an exercice in skin thickening for the requester. Something useful for all those imperfect things that happen on the trip later.

Exercise, even. Something my brain could use more of from the look of it.