Using the Search Engine to Answer Your Questions.:thumbup:

[bdahunter]

A lot of hunters who are new to Surf Hunting or interested in getting into this side of the hobby post the same sorts of questions month after month. I've been on this forum for a couple of years now since I was a newbie and I was given some sage advice by one of the old veterans about how to ask questions. He told me to use the search engine for basic questions like 'What's the best underwater detector?' 'Where's the best place to hunt at the beach?' 'PI or VLF, which one is better?' 'What's the best scoop?', etc. etc.. All of these questions have been asked and answered tens of time before in the past year or two and the answers given are still valid. The problem with asking the same old questions is that veterans get plain old tired of answering so they stop answering questions unless they're refinements of the common questions that are easily accessible by just doing a simple search. You'll get a lot more and varied answers by running a search first and you'll have enough info to ask an important question if you still need to after you've done some simple research.
You'll get better answers to your questions from knowledgeable members if you do your homework first, that's all I'm saying.

Good Hunting to All,

BDA

 

[Mat in MA]

I like your thinking. The only problem is that when this post along with others is moved a few pages down I don't think the newbies take the time to do any research on the forums. To them they think it's easier and quicker to just ask the question and hope some one will give them a quick answer.

 

[Craig-PI]

BDA... New people are always going to ask the same questions.. I'm a admin on another site and we get the same questions over and over and we are there for them.. If I can answer the question I'll do it even if its over and over..

 

[bdahunter]

[quote Craig-PI]BDA... New people are always going to ask the same questions.. I'm a admin on another site and we get the same questions over and over and we are there for them.. If I can answer the question I'll do it even if its over and over.. [/quote]

I do my best to answer the same old questions myself because I feel I have a debt to repay to all the great guys and gals who shared their experience with me as a newbie. It doesn't mean that I get them all and sometimes I think I should just cut and paste the same answer again and again, but I don't. What I really find odd is that the best hunters do a lot of research on the hobby and the places they hunt which gives them the edge over the competition. If you don't learn to do the research how can anyone expect to excel at this wonderful hobby of ours?

Cheers,

BDA

 

[bdahunter]

[quote Mat in MA]I like your thinking. The only problem is that when this post along with others is moved a few pages down I don't think the newbies take the time to do any research on the forums. To them they think it's easier and quicker to just ask the question and hope some one will give them a quick answer.[/quote]
It is quicker and easier, no doubt, Mat. The answers are fewer and the quality of the answers is lower than if one took the time to research all the answers to the same question over the past year. If I was a newbie who was serious about getting into the hobby, I would do some thorough research before plunking down $1,200 for a good underwater detector, plus another few hundred for accessories.

Cheers Mate,

BDA

 

[Craig-PI]

I agree BDA I was just posting what I do

 

[BlackX]

A FAQ for each forum pinned to the top would be nice. But would take someone going to the trouble of putting it together. Could link to superior previous answers though.

In slower fora, newbie-questions can stimulate conversation and, at times, one learns something new anyhow.

The search engine only goes back so far but what I've been doing lately is using Google to search findmall so I can see older posts too. The syntax one needs to add to Google to only get results from findmall is "site:findmall.com".