Advice from a noob to other noobs

This site is fantastic for learning this hobby. In my opinion, there is no better place to go when trying to learn anything than directly to those who have experience to share. That's what makes forums like these so invaluable for new and experienced growers alike. On the other hand, most of the questions we noobs need answered have been asked and discussed many times before, and if we pour through those threads before posting our own, it can help us to either find the answer or narrow our questions. I'd thought I'd pass along this tip for others as I have found it to be a great way to mine for information.

As someone who has some experience with research, my advice is to always research your question before you post a new thread. See if your problem or need has been addressed before. I have found the search engine on the forum to be less-than-effective, but Google has a site search that works very well. You can use this for any site you want to search.

Go to http://www.google.com/advanced_search. Use the top fields to search for words and phrases and in the last field, put www.rollitup.org. That way you are searching within the forum rather than on the general web. Works beautifully and will give you instant access to a wealth of information.

Oops, I mean www.rollitup.org in the last field. My bad.

Good post Dude

Here's a lil tip for you ... if you make a mistake in your post ... you can edit it ... under your post on the bottom right you have a edit button

Peace

very good point ... so many answers involve looking at what is already posted a dozen times ....

Vento said:

Good post Dude

Here's a lil tip for you ... if you make a mistake in your post ... you can edit it ... under your post on the bottom right you have a edit button

Peace

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reminder, vento. I always forget that option.

Fixed.

While I realize many of the same questions have been asked and answered many times in the past, a search doesn't always yield the answers one seeks. Perhaps a member is seeking a more detailed answer? Or the question is slightly different than what was posted in the past?

I feel that forums are here for us to connect with others and learn from each other. If we were all loners, these forums wouldn't exist. It's a community of like-minded people who are here BECAUSE they want to socialize and interact with others.

That being said, this IS a forum and we ARE in the Newbie forum. If you don't like the question, stay away. Just avoid the post. I've not seen it on this forum yet, but on many other forums, newbs are treated with a lot of disrespect for asking questions. And granted they may be repetitive questions, but why spend the time to hammer somebody for asking the question? It would have taken the same or even less time to just answer the question.

If ya don't like forums - then don't join 'em.

There's 2 pennies and an off-topic response for ya.

PoorDad said:

While I realize many of the same questions have been asked and answered many times in the past, a search doesn't always yield the answers one seeks. Perhaps a member is seeking a more detailed answer? Or the question is slightly different than what was posted in the past?

I feel that forums are here for us to connect with others and learn from each other. If we were all loners, these forums wouldn't exist. It's a community of like-minded people who are here BECAUSE they want to socialize and interact with others.

That being said, this IS a forum and we ARE in the Newbie forum. If you don't like the question, stay away. Just avoid the post. I've not seen it on this forum yet, but on many other forums, newbs are treated with a lot of disrespect for asking questions. And granted they may be repetitive questions, but why spend the time to hammer somebody for asking the question? It would have taken the same or even less time to just answer the question.

If ya don't like forums - then don't join 'em.

There's 2 pennies and an off-topic response for ya.

Click to expand...

Wow, dude. Thanks for putting a whole ton of words in my mouth. I wasn't trying to discourage people from posting questions and I wasn't "hammering" anyone, and I most certainly never said I didn't like forums. In fact, I said the exact opposite. I was simply trying to point out a good way to find information. Incidentally, it's also a good way to hone your question to know exactly what you need to know and what others need to know in order to effectively understand your situation. I was sharing a research technique that I have found very useful, nothing more.

I would also suggest that someone who wants to respond to a post should actually read and comprehend the message rather than simply posting some hostile response based on some preconceived notion of what you think the poster was attempting to imply.

I kinda figured you were going to think that was an attack directed towards you.

It wasn't.

I was just trying to say that sometimes on newbie boards the more experienced members will have a tendency to be rude and disrespectful instead of answering the question. My point was, why not just answer the question - or simply avoid the newbie board.

Good post. Funny because I actually drafted something similar to this, but did not post it.

PoorDad. Go read the "101 Asked Questions" thread. It's amazing some of the questions in there. There are repeats all over the place. Most of the questions are basic - "what kind of lights" "when to water" "how do I post a picture" etc. 80% of questions should have been covered somewhere. Now, when you have a specific question about what you are specifically doing, that's a different story. But, as I have done, looking through these posts first really answers a lot, and should limit the amount of repeated questions/posts.

PoorDad said:

I kinda figured you were going to think that was an attack directed towards you.

It wasn't.

I was just trying to say that sometimes on newbie boards the more experienced members will have a tendency to be rude and disrespectful instead of answering the question. My point was, why not just answer the question - or simply avoid the newbie board.

Click to expand...

Now that I agree with. And your post did seem to be directed at me. I think forums like these are the best resource for a hobby like this because it allows people to pose their individual issues involving their individual setups, which provides for more direct and focused advice. I never begrudge anyone posting a question, even a question that has been asked many times before. I also know, however, that there is a ton of information right here in former posts that can help us sometimes either answer our own questions or, even better, determine the better questions to ask.

You are right that some forum members are hostile to people asking questions without first conducting research, and I am not one of those people. To take offense for someone asking a basic question is to take oneself way too seriously, and to actually castigate a member (newbie or otherwise) for it is rude and counterproductive to the functioning of a public forum.

Like I said, I was just trying to share a research technique I have found really useful, especially as a noob to this hobby.

I hate to sound negative ( really I do ) but as a public forum any dumbass in the world with a laptop and a hotspot can join and comment . If they cant spot the forum sign and see the beginners section .. tbh they probally dont need to be trying to grow weed ... they are just get themselves busted and a criminal record . I firmly believe that if they cant find the noob area here as simple a layout as it is ...... do we really want to hear from them anyway .... lol..... I know .... thats harsh .... but sometimes that's just how I feel ... does that make me horrible ???


edit: no offence meant to anyone , I was really high lol ... kinda nooby myself '''

Let me try to clarify my original intent with this thread. It wasn't trying to "clean up the forum" of repetitive posts as much as it was trying to give others a tip on how to use Google Advanced Search to find good information. For example, yesterday my leaves were dropping with leaves curling up. I wondered what that was so I did an advanced Google search of this forum using "leaves drooping curling up" and got all the information I needed with pictures that others had posted of their own leaves looking just like mine and tons of responses to diagnose and correct. This was much more helpful than posting a message and waiting for someone to answer, hopefully with good information.

As my title implies, I really did mean my advice to be helpful, not admonishing.

I use google to search these forums for a specific question all the time. Works far better.

I agree with PoorDad... Sometimes it is nice to get a fresh perspective on a topic that has been talked about in the past. People learn new things everyday but might not share their new info unless asked about it.

REP+ PoorDad!

PS - This is coming from a noob,

Nice job on the OP theDudeNextDoor; new people can always use a heads up.
Might I add that if you are paranoid about Google information sharing you can use a "scraper" like scroogle or if you use firefox the customizegoogle is a great extension.

I agree the search engine on this site is so pants! Can someone fix this, i search for 'hps' and get loads of unrelated stuff!