What if there is no response?

I give advice on this site because I am a firm believer that travel is one of the best ways for understanding each other. The world is becoming a very small place and we need to work together, have empathy, compassion, and cultural tolerance. Anything I can do to make someone's experience overseas successful, less stressful, and authentic, I'm happy to help. I really don't care about the thanks I get or not - it's nice but I can certainly survive without it!

Joan,

welcome to reality.

I choose to contribute so that others can hopefully learn from me and/or my mistakes and what i learned. If they are just "fly by night" question people, so be it.

The way i see it many just want the quick and dirty answers to their problems. Some may want to learn how to do it too. But if they come back or not is up to them.

for whatever reason they choose not to come back is up to them.

as a stand by i add - TIA (thanks in advance)

happy trails.

I don't think that the thanks are "seldom"; more often than not it seems to me that the OP remains engaged with follow ups and thank you's . Maybe I am reading the wrong threads, but that is jmho. And based on some of the posting counts, contributors here are not doing it for the thanks or the kudos....they just like to share and help. ( and to get the stinking Badges!!!!) LOL

I don't feel offended at all. I think the infrequent posters may not realize the conversational nature of the forums. Or sometimes they feel overwhelmed by all of the advice. Particularly with posts like "what do you think of this itinerary" or "should I carry a money belt" or "should I get Euros before my trip" etc.. There are a lot of responses and opinions vary. And sometimes the post gets off topic. I can see how a poster might be so busy researching the replies, he/she forgets to go back and comment.

I don't have any data, but I'd say my observation has been different from Joan's. Seems to me most OPs do respond with thanks, sometimes with needed clarification of the question or facts to help responders answer it, sometimes with follow-up questions. Sometimes, to be sure, they just disappear without acknowledging the answers, at least on the thread, but my impression is that's uncommon.

One pattern I see, as an asker and answerer, is that sometimes a thread gets away from the original question to the point where the OP may no longer appreciate all the dialogue. I don't mean the open-ended questions like why do you travel, or where's the worst place you've been, those are obvious lead-ins to a lot of responses all over the map (so to speak). But sometimes there's one basic good answer, or maybe a few choices, responders cover the topic, and the dialogue continues beyond where it's much use to the OP. The best reason to thank responders is just courtesy and appreciation (even if the answers weren't helpful). Another reason is to try to end the conversation gently and move on. I've done that, and I've seen what looks like it on a lot of threads. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

When I see a thread where the OP has thanked several people and asked no follow-ups, I figure that thread is over and my two cents aren't needed. Plus, it's nice to know that the OP did read the responses and got some value from them.

As for Joan's last question (staying on topic as I should!), until I respond to a question I won't know whether the OP appreciates it or not, so I respond when I think I can be helpful. In my limited experience, more often than not I feel appreciated. And often I learn from other posters that I didn't know what I was talking about. (But I offer no examples!)

At the risk of sounding like a complete Ricknik, I really embrace the thoughts that RS has articulated in terms of making the world smaller, and bringing people together; Anita has expressed it beautifully here. I'm fifty five years old, and I have watched the RS shows on PBS for probably twenty five years, dreaming of going to Europe one day. We finally did it last year, and the clarity and confidence I gained from asking some questions here, and getting some informed, passionate responses, made all the difference for us in our experience-and our expectations.
I do a lot of digging and reading before I ask a question here, but I know that not everyone works that way, and some questions are, seemingly, bigger or more 'important' than others. But no matter the size of the question, for a person to have a solid answer and go to the next step, well, that's a feeling I'm familiar with. The OP, or somebody, got some good out of the discussion, and that moved them that much closer to a wonderful trip, and that is a good thing. If they don't come back on and say thanks, that's fine, from their perspective they may be overwhelmed with questions, they-or someone-will appreciate it at some point, and that makes the world just a little smaller for all of us-ALL of us. It's a tangible way we can have a positive effect on a somewhat crazy world.
And Dick-I always appreciate your well-considered, and lighthearted posts, so thanks!
Dave

I don't expect formal thank-yous and I am really happy when someone posts something like "The trip was great, thanks to all". I've seen a lot of posts like that. Even more often people do say thank you in the thread.

I don't need a direct, individual thank you, though that is always appreciated. But what I do need is some reaction by the OP that indicates that the responses as a group, have been thoughtfully read. Follow-up questions are the most obvious way to accomplish that.There is also a certain level of basic human decency at play here. I don't think it takes an internet communications savvy genius to realize that a dozen thoughtful responses to your question deserves some basic acknowledgement.

I second your opinion Randy, responding stimulates. A thank you is not so directly necessary, nevertheless appreciated, but some feedback is effective for collecting the info for optimizing the coming trip. It’s rewarding for both sides, one side to receive usefull info, a few good tips can be the icing on the cake, the other side getting a good feel to contribute to a hopefully more pleasant travel experience. If somebody totaly not respond you will have no idea what happens with the info and you don’t know if you where helpfull or not. See it more as a healthy way of communication.

To me, the best signs of gratitude and respect are when posters provide relevant details while also keeping their questions succinct. Given the current volume of questions, I don't have time to return and look for responses to old answers. We also hope that one answer can help multiple people, for instance by using the Search function.

Elaine called it. Am only here for the stinking badge.

Count this is a "problem" that doesn't exactly cause me to lose sleep at night.

@Laura-- "search function" ???? Does that work again ??