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    Been here almost for 3 months and liked almost everthing including bug :) since now habituated with them and know how to avoid then in most of the conditions.

    I saw it somewhere that in MSDN forum(sql?) registered users are automatically promoted to answerer(Is that a logical name?) after certain amount of posts, is that true?

    I eas thinnking the other day that such feature would be nice in Visual Basic Forum too. When moderators are gone for holidays, I could mark some thread answered (obviusly excluding mine) as I think that power should not even be with moderators. Does answeres post exis in Visual Basic forum or only in old system?

    Its always nice to clear threads and does not take much time too, since we have to travel thread to thread to find unanswered posts and in the course we find many threads forgotten to mark as answered

    but left a note like "Thanks that solved my problem"

    clicked marked as answer twice(marked ..removed) and a Thanks

    Obviously is an answer but user disappears for a week

    Asking question and answering by op himself but does not dare to mark answer

    And other thing like moving to off topic threads that begins with "10% discount.." or "where do I find crack for ...(delete probably)" blah blah

    So if such kind of responsibilty is divided, that will surely help forum to stay cleaner and better, and also gives us the feeling of having some sort of responsibilty towards the forum.

    Is me to the point or its already tried and abandon idea? Rest to you ..experienced Forum Members............
    Thanks

    Arjun Paudel
    Sunday, January 18, 2009 11:10 AM

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    There are no automated rules promoting a user's role to the "Answerers" role. There are a few roles in the system: Administrator, Forum Owner, Moderator, Answerer and regular user. Forum Owners manually assign Moderators and Answerers to their forums. Some automated rules promoting users has been suggested in the past but it is not something we have implemented. However, we have and will continue to consider changes or improvements to forums to make them more efficient.
    Brent Serbus STO Forums Program Manager
    • Proposed as answer by Brent Serbus Sunday, January 18, 2009 7:57 PM
    • Marked as answer by Arjun Paudel Tuesday, January 20, 2009 6:28 PM
    Sunday, January 18, 2009 7:56 PM

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    There are no automated rules promoting a user's role to the "Answerers" role. There are a few roles in the system: Administrator, Forum Owner, Moderator, Answerer and regular user. Forum Owners manually assign Moderators and Answerers to their forums. Some automated rules promoting users has been suggested in the past but it is not something we have implemented. However, we have and will continue to consider changes or improvements to forums to make them more efficient.
    Brent Serbus STO Forums Program Manager
    • Proposed as answer by Brent Serbus Sunday, January 18, 2009 7:57 PM
    • Marked as answer by Arjun Paudel Tuesday, January 20, 2009 6:28 PM
    Sunday, January 18, 2009 7:56 PM
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    Thanks for the response, I have never seen a tag called Answerer in visual basic forum. How does it work?

    Edit: I mean is it specific to some forum?


    Arjun Paudel
    Monday, January 19, 2009 2:27 AM
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    > However, we have and will continue to consider changes or improvements to forums to make them
    > more efficient.

    Please in that case make it impossible for people to mark their own posts as Proposed Answers. (It's been asked before here often).

    Having a post marked as a proposed answer by a third-party is useful to the forum Moderator.

    Having a post marked as a proposed answer by the person who posted it is not because people use a different and lower - sometimes much lower - standard when proposing their own posts.
     
    (I just had one person who marked every single answer he has (ever) made as a proposed answer)


    Because we now have a combination of third-party proposals and own proposals, the proposed answer function is only really useful to the Moderator in making it easy to find and remove self-proposals rather than the actual aim which ought to be to make it easy for the Moderator to find third-party proposals to upgrade to Answer status.


    I am glad to say that also Microsoft official staff working in "my" forums have also started requesting people who do so NOT to mark their own posts as Proposed Answers. They too are finding it less than useful.
    Wednesday, January 21, 2009 5:29 AM
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    Yes Mike, thanks for the participation. I totally agree, but I did that for a week or so when I was pretty new to the forum, I did that thinking it will not get ignored :).  But later I decided its not good to self impose answer as  answerer always posts thinking that might be an answer.  When I answer a thread I am proposing answer automatically, I don't have to click the button and tell that.

    Its always good if somebody also agrees the fact and proposes answer. Its nice to be judged by other.

    Thanks




    Arjun Paudel
    Wednesday, January 21, 2009 6:08 AM
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    Hello,

    I am always applying two simple rules:
    - even if i know that i have given the good answer , i never mark mark my post as answer
    - i often mark a post as "Propose as answer" if i think it is the good answer.It is my way to tell to the original poster : you have a possible answer, please have a big glance on it and mark it as answer or ask for more explanations if it is not fully compliant according you.A fortnight later,if the original poster has not done anything, i mark the thread as answered

    In fact, i broke twice the first rule every time i initiated the thread.Every time, i found myself the working solution and i posted.I knew that i couldn't get any point ( normal ) and nobody posted a reply.
    I have always considered that to mark his/her own answer is not "polite" , and sometimes i am thinking : "oh this person is wanting to get a new medal too quickly,it's fishy"
     
    Mike Walsh has written
    "I am glad to say that also Microsoft official staff working in "my" forums have also started requesting people who do so NOT to mark their own posts as Proposed Answers. They too are finding it less than useful"

    A question for Mike : an answered thread is more interesting for a visitor searching a solution to his/her problem.Why a poster ( if he is a moderator or an answerer of course ) could not mark his/her post as answer after having taken advice from another moderator ( I suppose that to join a moderator is always possible ) ?

    A last remark :
    For each forum, it exists a sticky post about the important matter of marking a thread as answered.But the content of this post is not the same for the whole forum.
    For me, the post of Mike Wachal in the Sql Server Express Forum is a real "little jewel" which gives all the good reasons ( Mike is "a pro" when he explains something ).
    http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sqlexpress/thread/a09f76d3-5db4-4ceb-819b-19e3eb3f36bb
    On the other hand, on the SMO/DMO Forum, the corresponding post ( from Michiel Worries ) is too short and not enough inciting ( i am sorry for Michiel who learnt me most of my knowledges about SMO and who has a very well-documented blog. I regreat that Michiel is too scarcely answering on this very "special" forum.Like for Mike Wachal, all his posts are very useful "little jewels")
    http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sqlsmoanddmo/thread/67f216be-3cb0-4aef-98c0-c3debaa603fe

    Have a nice day
    Please remember to click 'Mark as Answer' on the post that helped you. Unmark if it provides no help
    • Edited by Papy Normand Saturday, January 31, 2009 9:29 AM correct he ==> Michiel
    Saturday, January 31, 2009 9:28 AM
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    > Why a poster ( if he is a moderator or an answerer of course ) could not mark his/her post as answer after having taken advice from another moderator ( I suppose that > to join a moderator is always possible ) ?

    Most of the 'self-propose as answers' that I see are done in the same second (or the next!) that the post has been added. There is thus no consultation with anyone.

    If a moderator is consulted then there's no need for the self-propose because the Moderator can (and should if he thinks it an answer) mark it himself.

    What I do is

    a) never mark my own posts as an answer (or as propose as answer)

    b) try to avoid upgrading my own posts that someone else has proposed as an answer to answer level.

    As there are only a couple of moderators (+ one or two from Microsoft) in the forums I'm in, then (in the case of b) I ask the other moderator (by e-mail after a week or so) to check the posts where someone else has proposed my post as an answer. He then either ups it to answer or removes the propose as answer. Whichever way it's no longer marked as Propose. Usually though in that week one of the MS moderators has upped it to Answer status.
    WSS FAQ sites: WSS 2.0: http://wssv2faq.mindsharp.com WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007: http://wssv3faq.mindsharp.com
    Total list of WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007 Books (including foreign language titles) http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/V%20Books.aspx
    Saturday, January 31, 2009 11:04 AM
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    Hello,

    For myself, i am a Moderator on 4 Sql Server forums and my own rule is : as Moderator, i may not to mark my own posts as answers ( except for some rare cases when i initiated the thread, with no reply and i am posting the solution to help people who will meet the same problem )

    Anyway, i agree with your whole answer. That clarifies the way how to mark a thread as answered

    On the other hand, with the "old" forums", the "title" of Answerer or Moderator was for all the forums, now it is given for specific forums ( it is a better think because why to have all the rights of a moderator even for a forum where you posted never ? )
    Maybe, the names of the forums where some is Moderator/Answerer should be filled automatically in the profile of the concerned people. Just a little suggestion...   

    Have a nice day 
    Please remember to click 'Mark as Answer' on the post that helped you. Unmark if it provides no help
    • Edited by Papy Normand Saturday, January 31, 2009 11:53 AM added comments
    Saturday, January 31, 2009 11:45 AM