Forum Psychology - Is there no place for courtesey in forums? (May/10/2008 )
Now, this is no cribbing, but presents an interesting study in psychology. May be a thesis for a psych grad..
In the past month or so, I answered about two dozen questions. Today, I decided to look back and found out that only a couple of original posters have gone to the effort and thanked me.
So, I thought about possible reasons for such behavior. Here is a list of what I could think of..
1. My answers did not satisfy them.
2. They never visit again after posting a question.
3. A forum is not supposed to be a place to show niceties, it is their privilage to ask and get answers from some lazy forumhounds.
4. They want a short and direct answer; if you give them many points to ponder, or a link that requires further reading on their part, it is no help really.
Have anybody else experienced this? Can you think of some additional explanations?
hello cellcounter,
yes, i understand what you mean. i think your points 1, 2 and 4 are the strongest. it's also about feeling part of a community (even if it's virtual, with no real names) as you may have already noticed each section has its own moderators, i was amazed when i became a member and methylnick and kruemel replied really soon in the dna methylation subforum. bioforum has more than 34,000 members, from which a large amount has only posted once and never came back, who knows, maybe they googled after posting and found the answer somewhere else or asked a lab-mate who is familiar with this or that protocol / problem. but some of the "constant" members are experts on their subject and are always willing to help, without expecting a thank you, as methylnick's signature says "for the love, not for the money". i think it's great that you feel enthusiast about helping other members, even if you don't know if they'll thank you or ever come back and see what you wrote for them. don't feel discouraged, i think this forum is a great place and there's space for everyone who wants to actively participate. the more you get involved you get to know the members here: phage434, mdfenko, swanny, thebearer, fred_33, just to mention some, and of course you'll have already noticed hobglobin, vetticus3 and casandra 
who always put some spice when posting
BTW, would you like to join our last.fm group? 
it's called The Bioforum
I am happy to see many members started with asking questions, then gradually became more involved on the answering question side. lol.
I guess most is thoughtlessness, they just don't care. Anyway I'm (or was) not interested in gratefulness, but would be more interested if it helped, my thoughts were going in the right direction or if not why.
And casey? Not only spice, sometimes acid, sometimes sugar. 
Thanks everyonoe 
Forum is a great place. Most of the questions being asked here are the ones that one can not find answers to simply by search or looking up the protocol books. And it is amazing that most of them are answered right away!
toejam, I am not much into music at this point. So I will pass this one. But I did check it out!
Thank U cellcounter for bringing this up
Even thank yous are sometimes acid and sometimes sweet.
Hi cellcounter,
There could be a hundred reasons why people forget to say thank you so don't take it personally. Actually if we do a mini-analysis...let's consider, for instance, our top poster-fred33..he's got over 3000 posts, right? Now let's say that 80% of those were for answering queries and let's also say that there is t a rate of "ungratefulness" return of about.....let's take your case i.e. ~10% then fred should have collected more than 2000 markers . So this shouldn't dissuade you from replying to inquiries and helping people out.
BTW welcome to the forum. And I'm also glad to you brought this topic up. I have now appointed myself as the "resident Emily Post (Miss Manners)" HEY some of you guys....the least you can do is show appreciation to the forum members who took the time and effort to answer your inquiries. Saying thank you doesn't cost anything and doesn't hurt a bit...just like joining the last.fm- Bioforum group (we need more people there )
Oh and if you wanna go along the spice trail...just follow the two thugs- hobglobin and toejam 
..thank you guys for the sweet and sour analogy...
casandra
Thank U casandra. That was wonderful.
And you're most welcome BB
. I thought that it was wonderful too..ermm..what exactly was wonderful? But still you're most welcome....your resident Emily Post,
casandra