What do you usually do if someone posts a question in a forum you moderate, and after a day or so, no one has responded, and you don't know the answer?

1. Post "Hmmmm, that's a good question." or something similar.
   
2. Ignore it.
   
3. Post a notice in your moderator's forum, asking someone else to respond.
   

#1 might seem like a good idea, but other people who might be able to answer the question may see that the post has a reply, and ignore it.

Good question. I've always wondered if there was a better way to handle it.

I'll first try to research it and see if I can find an answer, if I can't then I'll usually ignore it simply because I don't know what else I can do. My moderators always answer the questions they can right away so if they don't I know they're stumped as well.

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Steve
Moderator - UBB™Central's Advanced UBB.classic™ Forum

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Sorry, I won't answer support questions by e-mail, PM, or IM.

I try to acknowledge the post at least. Then they know we're trying

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I agree. Letting someone know you are listening buys you or someone else time to figure out the problem, at the very least.

I don't think too many people would ignore it, most of time you have human curiousity working in your favor.

I agree that the best way to handle this is to post and acknowledge the person's question, and that while you don't know the answer, you'll do your best to find someone who does. Then you can forward the post to someone who actually could help!

If you're on a super active board, then yes, other mods might jump in. But in my eyes, it's good to take the time to answer if you can because nobody likes to feel ignored... and if they feel that, there's a good chance you'll lose a member.

Thanks for the responses.

But what about my comment at the end? ... other people who might be able to answer the question may see that the post has a reply, and ignore it.

Do you think that's an irrelevant concern?

Hi Dave-

This is an interesting question, and something we've certainly discussed here at Infopop from time to time. It might be interesting to have an option in support-oriented forums to permit users to indicate whether their question has been adequately/completely answered or not. Of course, as you pointed out elsewhere, there is a good chance that they will nto take the time to actually give this feedback, even if their questions were answered.

Ted O'Neill
CEO, Infopop Corporation