craz

Yes and No. I agree no one should be yelling at them, but at the same time they shouldn't expect people to spoon feed them either. And most newbies think they can simply start a new thread (sort of like our own OP) and everyone else will do all the work for them.

I agree with those who didn't find favor with our OP,since had the OP simply read the 1st 2 pages they wouldn't have had the need to start this thread. But why waste ones time when all they need to do is start a new thread and save hours of reading

DavidAL

+1000

silver6054

I think there are basically two irreconcilable views

1) As above, info is all there, read, don't create new threads. We all had to learn, you should too.
2) If you don't want to reply to a newbie, don't. If you do, that's fine. And if thread clutter is a problem for you, you have problems.

So not sure what more discussion can do.

HikerT

Not necessarily 2 irreconcilable views, more of a matirx:

can't read, can't understand => shouldn't be in the game
can read, can't understand => shouldn't be in the game
can't read, can understand => shouldn't be on the internet
can read and understand => welcome to FT

jatink129

Good Lord.

There's no winning with you people.

craz

Let me try it this way. This isnt anything new, the only difference was 10+ yrs ago the newbes were starting and asking how to score the Fuel Dump. There werent many if any blogs and for sure maybe 1 or 2 people with CC links, and nor scoring large referral $$$s

Basically FT was trying to Help each other max out either a programs promo or cashing out your pts or miles. As time has past and more FW or SD types started playing the FT game, a whole different type of person was joining FT. On top of that Randy sold Ft to IBB who like the Bloggers only care about minting money

FT wasnt a place to come to to score free travel or $$, it was where Road Warriors came to help 1 another and share their experiences and max out the value from their programs. There still is some of that today but most of it is long gone. As FT became a Kettles Home rather then a Road Warriors home

Instead of sharing the wealth and little by little earning your pts or miles. Its Hurry for Me and the heck with everyone else. So a person would read a post and then hit the store and buy out more items then they could possibly use, but since they got what they did they couldnt care that ABC changes its T&Cs. Bloggers only want to keep having new weekly sign ups for CCs and if the goose gets killed well they will be laughing all the way to the bank

Result is; people not treating new folks with kid gloves, and the Newbes basically once again but now regarding Manufacted Spend asking for someone to hold their hand and walk them thru it all and Gaurantee them a 1st Class tkt to BoraBora ASAP, instead of taking the hours needed to read the different threads and find most if not all the answers for themselves

A friend called me the other day to find them award tkts to Europe, I found what he more or less wanted, but he wasnt happy with the long layovers, and got a bit nasty. I then told him Im done doing the fishing for him and anytime he wants to he can call me and I will walk him thru how to do things.Not surprisingly he never called back, he did have his wife call and ask me to find them tkts,I said I told your husband anytime hes willing to learn how to fish I will teach him, but that Im done doing all the fishing for him.

The samething here had this OP (or most) showed their work, what they were able to come up till now,(back in school youd get partial credit even if you had the wrong answer as long as you showed your work) Then Im positive many folks would have pointed things out to help them along.But to basically sit there and do nothing but start a new thread and expect others to do all the work,SORRY

iqbalt80

^^^^

I have spent countless hours reading through the threads and interestingly, it is not boring. Wealth of information to parse through.
2.5 years ago, I was a newbie as well but with time, patience and reading, you climb up the ladder.

jatink129

craz while I agree with what you said, I still believe that kindness trumps snark any day.
You can teach a man to fish by showing him what to do or you can teach a man to fish by slapping him everytime he asks a question..."Why didn't you observe me when I was fishing, you dumbwit?!?!!"

Which one do you think is going to work?
Which one do you think is going to encourage him to do more, to be more?

prasha11

Some one ask,
U don't like so ignore and move on. why is it so difficult?
Don't like hand holding? don't hold but stop nagging.

craz

Sorry I disagree with this. If we dont put people (properly) in their place then others will go down the exact same road.

Bashing isnt the way to do it , but properly explaining to the Newbe that starting a new thread or posting to an existing one which basically is asking everyone else to do all the work is frowned upon, what isnt frowned upon is trying to do what you can and then posting on FT, OK I got this far but cant seem to get it to work.Then people will chip in ideas or tell them where they seem to be going off

another example (which to an extent still exists) is a Newbe posting Find me a MR from XYZ for the least $$ and most Miles.

Let that person say I came up with XYZ-ABC for 5 cpm among others that were higher cpm's . Is it possible to get a lower cost,where am I going wrong? I can fly on _____ and back on ____. Thats a big difference in the 2nd case since they would be showing they tried on their own and put some of their own time in. Basically they were trying to fish with the tools they learnt here on FT and elsewhere and now turn to the boards for help. In the 1st case they simply wanted us to do all their work (which to me seems exactly what our OP was doing, wanting us to do all their work).

craz

We dont Disagree,I agree with you that a Newbe shouldnt be Bashed but should be instructed that what they did was wrong and explained to them why. I still would have preferred if our OP was at least trying to do something by themselves but it seems they simply werent interested in putting in any of their own time

prasha11

Keep it Simple.

craz

So have I, so much so that I I only last month started up with AP, and just got a BB and yesterday for the 1st time purchased some Chase GCs.

I dont believe Ive asked a question like the OP has, instead I spent hrs reading thru the threads and its pretty much all there if a person isnt Lazy and spends the time reading the boards. I simply looked at Pg 1 & 2 of the forum and I had a list of written questions and was able to get answers to all of them w/o having to start a new thread or ask a question on an existing thread, since most of any new persons question was most likely asked and answered already

I preferred not to go this route but as Spends are going up and mine isnt that much,I prefer to make sure I cover my min spend and get the bonus rather then end up not spending enough. Doubt Id continue to do it month in and month out just to get some extra pts or miles, MS is just to get the bonuses for me. Nor am I going to do it all in the 1st month. My new Ink CC had as its 1st purchase an Ins premium that had to be paid (we pay it in full) as well as some everyday charges,that way AP or GCs wont stick out like a sore thumb

Got my SAP min over 2 months

So I will repeat myself again, theers no need to bash a newbe but at the same time theres no reason for a newbe to start a new thread instead of actually spending the time and not being lazy and actually read the threads for themself, its really self-explanatory.And if they can figure things out for themselves then most likely MS isnt for them

AlohaDaveKennedy

What you say makes sense, if we were fishing with hooks and lines. But when fishing with dynamite, the novice fisherman had better be aquainted with some basic concepts or KABOOM.

jatink129

And I agree with you that the OP should have taken the trouble.
But read page 1.

Except for one post telling him to read the first page of the forum, the rest weren't exactly giving him any love.

My point is, some people find it easier to say :
"Here OP. Read this. and this."

Some find it easier to say:
"LMGTFY. And here's some snark along with that."

I may not support spoon feeding all the time, but I am definitely against the second type of replies.

Also true.
But what would be better?
If I told you to read the instructions on the stick of dynamite?
Or
If I slapped you and told you to go stand in the corner because you hadn't?