Forum etiquette and cross-posting

#1: Post by **insatiableOne** » June 3rd, 2014, 3:50 am

TomC wrote:For future reference, please review this sites Guidelines for productive online discussion, particularly, Why is cross-posting strongly discouraged? Moderators reserve the right to delete cross-posts. To avoid repeating previously provided recommendations, members may wish to follow the same question posted on CoffeeGeek here.

I posted a question, then waited three hours.
Had received one suggestion for an item that has been discontinued.

Seven hours later I posted that answer here looking for a response, since there were no others.
I was not looking to stir things up or intentionally break the rules.

Although I did sincerely appreciate the suggestions I did receive.

...split from Different espresso grinder needed, budget around $1000 by moderator...

#2: Post by **Gfcronus** » June 3rd, 2014, 9:43 pm

TomC wrote:For future reference, please review this sites Guidelines for productive online discussion, particularly, Why is cross-posting strongly discouraged? Moderators reserve the right to delete cross-posts. To avoid repeating previously provided recommendations, members may wish to follow the same question posted on CoffeeGeek here.

This always cracks me up. So the logical extension is this: why not delete one of the forums entirely? What's the point of having both a CoffeeGeek forum AND a Home Barista forum (to say nothing of all the other forums). If the point of avoiding "cross-pointing" is to eliminate the perception that one is being "spammed" (really?) then get rid of the redundant forums. Why on earth do they all exist in the first place?

Ok, diatribe over. Carry on.

#3: Post by HB » June 3rd, 2014, 10:41 pm

The short answer to your question is that HB and CG are aimed at different demographics. CG's demographic is wider and more mainstream; HB's is narrower and more focused on so-called "hardcore" enthusiasts. For other rationale, see What is wrong with posting on other sites. My reply to that thread is excerpted below for easy reference:

HB wrote:I don't think of HB as my house or even a coffeehouse. It's like an espresso lab. Team HB helps facilitate the discussion, which, for example, includes asking someone to take cell phone conversations outside. It stretches the analogy, but forum cross-posting is like talking to someone in-person while chatting with another person on the phone about the same subject. Taken to the extreme, participants would have to bounce back-and-forth between multiple sites simply to follow the whole conversation. That's silly.

We understand that it's a matter of netiquette and there's room for interpretation. However, we ask that members respect this site's goal to "raise the discussion level" by keeping cross-posting to a minimum.

#4: Post by **NightFlight** » June 4th, 2014, 12:41 pm

My 2 cents go like this. I first saw this post on another mainstream coffee site and responded for a nice 83mm flat electronic walk-up for 26 bucks short of a grand; it is now 1400.00 (no time to waffle.) I then head over here (I will not provide reasons for being a member of each site

) Lo and behold, exact same post; minutes apart (I checked.) Shotgunning posts is rude. What I did was not add another post on this site; my way of not adding to the cross-posting. What I had thought about doing was linking him back to the other site; but that would have been just as rude. Love the site and what you do for us all Dan, please keep on keeping on.

#5: Post by **peacecup** » June 4th, 2014, 4:36 pm

To continue off topic, I know cross posting can be tiresome, but the OP seems justified. If I were planning to spend so large a sum on a new coffee grinder I'd want as much advice as I could get. Those who were willing to respond could post on one forum or the other, but need not post on both. Or am I missing something?

PC

#6: Post by **SJM** » June 4th, 2014, 5:04 pm

To my way of thinking the error was in correcting the OP on the forum rather than with a PM.
There was no need to embarrass the OP.

#7: Post by **da gino** » June 4th, 2014, 5:14 pm

There is a very good reason for the correction, which is that it helps people learn the rules so that they don't repeat the mistakes others make (reading a post like that is certainly how I learned about the rule years ago, for example). The correction was neither rude nor aggressive just factual and the guideline totally makes sense. One of the main reasons that information is so easy to find here (ie there is such a good signal to noise ratio) is that the moderators have always worked hard to keep it that way. The well thought out guidelines certainly help with that.

#8: Post by **drgary** » June 4th, 2014, 5:20 pm

peacecup wrote:To continue off topic, I know cross posting can be tiresome, but the OP seems justified. If I were planning to spend so large a sum on a new coffee grinder I'd want as much advice as I could get. Those who were willing to respond could post on one forum or the other, but need not post on both. Or am I missing something?

PC

Just as a practical matter, and probably the reason it's "netiquette": If you post on one forum people answering there will not know all that's been asked and suggested. Otherwise one wastes the time of respondents who offer answers already given in the other forum.

Someone planning to spend a large sum on a new Titan grinder for instance can reduce their risk by spending their own time thoroughly researching site buying guides, reviews and threads on gear they're considering.

#9: Post by **peacecup** » June 5th, 2014, 5:25 pm

drgary wrote:If you post on one forum people answering there will know all that's been asked and suggested. Otherwise one wastes the time of respondents who offer answers already given in the other forum.

I still don't quite get it. I post on forum A, and get 10 responses, and forum B and get 10 other responses (presumably no one responder would respond on both forums). Now I have 20 responses to consider, instead of 10, which seems advantageous. Even if 5 on each forum say the same thing I don't see it as a waste of time, but rather getting the information for 10 different people instead of 5.

My logic is based partly on the idea that the readers of the two forums don't cross post or even cross-read that often. If they did there would only be one forum in the end, since nobody would be willing to post everything twice. CG and HB, for example are two more or less mutually-exclusive communities. So asking on both forums is like getting a second opinion from a different doctor. Or am I still missing something?

I never read CG anyway, although I always liked Mark Prince's articles.

#10: Post by **another_jim** » June 5th, 2014, 6:39 pm

peacecup wrote:I still don't quite get it. I ...

Wrong person, wrong number.

When you post something, hundreds of people read it. When you cross-post something, your duplication wastes the time of hundreds of people who consider a question already answered elsewhere. The only ethically justified course is to post on one forum; and then, only if you do not get the response you need, to post on another.

Forum etiquette and cross-posting

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