So why is there 841 unanswered posts?

[skwirlinator]

I know this a huge board but why would trhere be so many unanswered posts?

[skwirlinator]

I don't want this one to be one of them....LOL

[mickal555]

I dunno

I sometimes go though and anser them

Alot of them are the BA's About the BABB posts

[jt-3d]

Wow, you have a lot of time on your hands, huh? World peace, hunger, homeless bums, none of this has any meaning when compared to the travesty that is the unanswered posts on this board.

Maybe because they aren't worth responding to.

[Moose]

Because the NASA disinformation management doesn't pay us nearly enough to answer every single post. (We do have home lives, after all.) So if you really want 100% coverage, write your congresscritter to increase NASA's misinformation funding.

[Normandy6644]

Wow, you have a lot of time on your hands, huh? World peace, hunger, homeless bums, none of this has any meaning when compared to the travesty that is the unanswered posts on this board.

Maybe because they aren't worth responding to.

That was probably harsher than it needed to be.

[Moose]

You might be right, Normandy, but I'd been leaning towards an irritated MYOB-type answer as well. It's easy to read a sense of criticism and/or demand from the OP that is especially unjustified when expressed by a new poster.

[Tranquility]

Well he's not that new.

I wish folks would just take it easy sometimes.

[frogesque]

Sometimes a post isn't ignored it just gets missed - especially if the board flags have been acting goofy. Another cause is that a post can be made during a quiet period on the board and then get flooded off the front page when everyone else wakes up and logs on with their own news, stories or pet topic updates.

It's not just newbies that have zero replies. ToSeek will often update or post little snippets of interesting or valuable info that don't really warrent reply.

This isn't a WoOt! Cool post! Bamph! type of board so if we have nothing constructive to add or a witty comment to make most members will say nothing.

If you are still interested in a subject you have started and haven't had a reply you can add to it with maybe some informative links with another post or simply bump the original after a week or so.

[Lance]

As of this post there are 410653 posts, 843 of which are unanswered. That's 0.2%. Not very many in my opinion.

[Moose]

Well he's not that new.

Oops, so he is. So he is.

In any case, there are 800 unanswered threads simply because there are 800 unanswered threads. I don't think there really is a definable "why", and I don't see this as something that requires any real degree of solving.

[A Thousand Pardons]

As of this post there are 410653 posts, 843 of which are unanswered. That's 0.2%. Not very many in my opinion.
Unanswered posts are topics with 0 replies, right? So, that 410653 posts includes all the 24,000 posts to the word association game. But we only have 18397 topics, so the percentage is more like 4.6%

[skwirlinator]

Just curiosity

I don't really care, I was just wondering if anyone else noticed

There is a link to search them out and I use it to see if a topic has been mentioned and to look at what topics have been ignored

Had no idea some of you were so touchy on the subject

Sorry #-o

[Lance]

As of this post there are 410653 posts, 843 of which are unanswered. That's 0.2%. Not very many in my opinion.
Unanswered posts are topics with 0 replies, right? So, that 410653 posts includes all the 24,000 posts to the word association game. But we only have 18397 topics, so the percentage is more like 4.6%

Oops...

Well, my heart was in the right place...

[A Thousand Pardons]

I don't really care, I was just wondering if anyone else noticed
No, I hadn't, but I thought I'd look it over to try to answer your OP: "why would trhere be so many unanswered posts?" I decided to use my own posts, but there were only three:

Twins again (http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=480)
Master of Disguise (http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=1919)
Flash photo of a meteor train (http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=3291)

I can kinda see why no one would want to discuss the Twins Paradox again, and I can certainly see why no one would want to even think about one of the worst movies ever made, but wow that meteor train thing is kinda interesting, I may have to go back and look at that.

PS: Those topics were some of the first 18% of topics. I thought I'd calculate that as long as my calculator was loaded and warmed up. Of course, the first topic was topic number 3 (http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=3)--also never replied.

[Normandy6644]

I can also see why some posts go unanswered. I the ones I've posted were probably math or physics questions that either no one could answer or those who could didn't feel like it ( :wink: ). Sometimes it makes sense for a post to go unanswered, but as frogesque said, with the amount of posting this board sees, sometimes they just get missed.

[Candy]

I dunno

I sometimes go though and anser them

Alot of them are the BA's About the BABB posts
A few of them are mine, too. :-"

[Kristophe]

As frogesque said, ToSeek has a bunch of topics with no replies. Though most of us really appreciate his daily ritual of combing the intraweb for science news, a lot of people don't really seem to be in the mindset to say "That is SO TOTALLY AWESOMETACULAR!" every time he does so.

Some people insist on posting the same thing over and over again, and after a while I can see why someone may not be inclined to reply. The vast, vast, vast majority of topics see replies, though, so I don't think it's really much of an issue.

[jt-3d]

Wow, you have a lot of time on your hands, huh? World peace, hunger, homeless bums, none of this has any meaning when compared to the travesty that is the unanswered posts on this board.

Maybe because they aren't worth responding to.

That was probably harsher than it needed to be.

I agree, sorry skwirlinator. I was cranky.

[Lurker]

Some of us who have jobs figure that since our employers go to all the trouble of cutting us a pay check once or twice a month..... 8)

[Richard of Chelmsford]

I sometimes miss posts because they are just too learned for me, and go over my head, or else I just haven't got the energy to think of a good reply.

It doesn't mean to say they are poor posts.

[skwirlinator]

Wow, you have a lot of time on your hands, huh? World peace, hunger, homeless bums, none of this has any meaning when compared to the travesty that is the unanswered posts on this board.

Maybe because they aren't worth responding to.

That was probably harsher than it needed to be.

I agree, sorry skwirlinator. I was cranky.

You were right. Thanx for the apology we all get cranky or passionate sometimes.

I just remember BA cleaning out a board to make space and I'm wondering why he doesn't purge old unanswered posts. 100 pennies make a dollar

[skwirlinator]

Some of us who have jobs figure that since our employers go to all the trouble of cutting us a pay check once or twice a month..... 8)

I don't understand your reference to this subject. I have a job and I get a paycheck every week. I still couldn't figure out why people cant acknowledge someones posts. Not that it matters.

My job is not to be concerned with unanswered posts and if yours is I am sorry for stepping on your toes. No offence intended.

I got threatened for answering an old post on another board so I deleted my membership and let it go. I meant no harm.

[Moose]

Some of us who have jobs figure that since our employers go to all the trouble of cutting us a pay check once or twice a month..... 8)

I don't understand your reference to this subject.

Lurker was joking. I suspect the rest of the sentence would read something like "... we may as well actually work once in a while rather than hang out at the BABB all day."

I got threatened for answering an old post on another board so I deleted my membership and let it go. I meant no harm.

I'm sorry to hear someone did that to you.

In any case, you asked a sincere question and got a bunch of answers, each likely true.

[A Thousand Pardons]

I still couldn't figure out why people cant acknowledge someones posts.
Still? Do you mean, you still can't?

[Chip]

Some posts don't need answers. That is to say, answers aren't really expected. These are more within the "heads up" category. They're into the bulletin board side of the BABB. :)

[A Thousand Pardons]

Some posts don't need answers. That is to say, answers aren't really expected. These are more within the "heads up" category. They're into the bulletin board side of the BABB. :)
Especially ones from the BA--in forum where no one else can post.

PS: there are 29 of those, unless (sorry skwirlinator) you count topics in which the only replies are by the OP, then there are **gasp** 42. Oops, I mean 41

PSS: And then there is forum seven (http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/viewforum.php?f=7), the forum of Atlantis, where all posts are unanswered.

PSSS: Here is an unanswered post (http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=17712#17712). It's not an unanswered topic, but the question about the earth cookie is still hanging there, if anyone wants to take a nibble.

[The Bad Astronomer]

Maybe I am particularly dense today, but how do you count the number of threads with only one post?

[A Thousand Pardons]

There's a link on the front page of the BABB that goes to View unanswered posts (http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/search.php?search_id=unanswered). It now shows 841 unanswered topics.

PS: if you are asking about the posts in the About the BABB forum, I did those by hand--on my calculator.

[Lurker]

There's a link on the front page of the BABB that goes to View unanswered posts (http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/search.php?search_id=unanswered). It now shows 841 unanswered topics.

PS: if you are asking about the posts in the About the BABB forum, I did those by hand--on my calculator.
Um... that would pretty much explain that one... :wink:


And thanks Moose, you got it exactly. I know that I am pushing the edge when my manager finds me on BABB and asks is she could interrupt and maybe ask a favor since our division is so far behind on our current major project.

[skwirlinator]

I still couldn't figure out why people cant acknowledge someones posts.
Still? Do you mean, you still can't?

I understand. lol. You guys are great! lol

=D>

[mickal555]

I think it's anawered topics btw

[Candy]

I still couldn't figure out why people cant acknowledge someones posts. Not that it matters.
I think it does matter. Thanks for pointing that out, skwirlinator.

People post a thought for a reason. If I'm not to busy, I always acknowledge someone's unanswered post (no matter how old it is). If you notice, I'm usually the second poster behind the first poster. I didn't realize I was doing this, until Tranquility said something to me in a PM. I just like the way people think sometimes. :D

FYI: I have a full-time job, too, and I go to school. :wink:

[A Thousand Pardons]

Um... that would pretty much explain that one...
which one?

You mean the 42 instead of the 41?--no, I didn't do that one on the calculator, I just used the total number of topics as reported on the front page. The problem with that is the BA left the barn door open early in BABB history, and a couple cow orkers got in and started a thread--so that particular thread doesn't have just the BA's responses.

[skwirlinator]

Here's one of my unanswered posts:
One day our electronic technology, which is based on the manipulation of electrons, could be supplanted by photonics, which is based on the manipulation of light waves (photons). If the promise of photonic technology is realized, the high-speed processing and movement of data today will seem so sludgelike, people of the future will wonder how we ever got anything done. Photonic technology is still a long way down the road but the goal is a few steps closer now.

http://www.physorg.com/news4186.html

It's incredible and astounding that we are learning things like this. Imagine what we will know at 500,000 years (If we last that long)

Its a good article and I posted to see what edumacated people would think.
I believe the problem with a response is in the title wording...sounds startrekky. LOL

[Maksutov]

Um... that would pretty much explain that one...
which one?

You mean the 42 instead of the 41?--no, I didn't do that one on the calculator, I just used the total number of topics as reported on the front page. The problem with that is the BA left the barn door open early in BABB history, and a couple cow orkers got in and started a thread--so that particular thread doesn't have just the BA's responses.
What are "cow orkers"? Something from The Lord of the Rings? And why were they messing with the BABB? :wink:

[Candy]

What are "cow orkers"? Something from The Lord of the Rings? And why were they messing with the BABB? :wink:
Oh, stealing this for work! 8)

[skwirlinator]

Lol I cant resist this one....

http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=21856&highlight=


LOL

[A Thousand Pardons]

What are "cow orkers"? Something from The Lord of the Rings? And why were they messing with the BABB? :wink:
Oh, stealing this for work! 8)
Cow orker is a time honored usenet term for your clueless office compatriots. I just google-grouped (http://www.google.com/advanced_group_search?hl=en) it and found it in posts to alt.sca (Society for Creative Anachronism) from 1989, but it seems to have taken off in talk.bizarre. I think I picked it up in the venerable AFU (alt.folklore.urban), whose members often use fractured english as shibboleths.

Plus, it fit in with the barn door analogy.

[Lurker]

What are "cow orkers"? Something from The Lord of the Rings? And why were they messing with the BABB? :wink:
Oh, stealing this for work! 8)
Cow orker is a time honored usenet term for your clueless office compatriots. I just google-grouped (http://www.google.com/advanced_group_search?hl=en) it and found it in posts to alt.sca (Society for Creative Anachronism) from 1989, but it seems to have taken off in talk.bizarre. I think I picked it up in the venerable AFU (alt.folklore.urban), whose members often use fractured english as shibboleths.

Plus, it fit in with the barn door analogy.
Again I ask myself!!

Why... Oh why... do I follow some of these threads!!!!! #-o

8)