ebsprintin
Veteran Expediter
This thread can also be titled: Common answer to common questions.
Newbies to the forum frequently start their posting career with broad questions like: 1) How can I get started in expediting? 2) Who is the best company to work for? 3) What is the meaning of life, the universe and, everything?... This is my answer.
Read before posting. Go back one year in the General Expediter, Truck Talk, and Newbies Paradise forums (the General forums) and scan for threads that sound like topics that can be of interest. Read them. Go to all the other forums for a quick browse to see what is in them. The reason you do this is because most questions you can ask have already been asked. You also get to know the voice of the different personalities who frequent these parts of the cybersphere. And you'll also realize that my question number three about life doesn't belong in the General forums.
Learn the search function. After browsing the general forums use the search function to compile topics of interest that you ran across in the general forums and want to further investigate. The search function can be found on the red tabs at the top of the open forums. One click opens a search field. Follow the "advanced search" link and use that to narrow down your search. Don't overlook the power of using the "Search by User Name" field. If a search returns an overwhelming number of posts try to narrow down the results by entering a "Search by User Name" entry. Use the name of a users who seem to know something about the topic. This is why you get to know the different personalities during the initial reading tour of the forums. If you have trouble getting the search function to return hits then try and use the Search by Tab found within advanced search. Enter the same queries and see what comes up.
Read the FAQ section. The FAQ section is another red tab at the top of the open forum pages. It's good to know the rules of the road before setting out.
Private Message. I am still not ready to have you posting your first overly broad question. I'm assuming that during your homework session of browsing and searching the general forums you are also refining the questions you want to ask the general forum population. If your question is still of a broad, overarching nature then try directing this question to users who seem open to being helpful. Try this. Go to a thread that is related to your topic of interest. Find someone who was part of that discussion and send them a private message and ask something like, "You were part of a discussion about "whatever". Does it still apply today? Would you mind expounding on "whatever"? ....." Private messages can be sent to any user from within any thread by clicking on the user's name and selecting the "Send a private message to ..." option. Private messages can also be accessed from within the user-of-interest's profile page contact info. The advantage of using this tactic is that many people are more willing to personally address a specific topic that they were involved with than to join a general discussion of a general question that they have already answered a number of times before.
Ask the question. Going through the above process will probably turn the first question into something more specific and easily answered which will make the discussion more about a topic that is useful to more people and less likely to turn into another thread about how to get started using the forum.
It does take time to go through this process but look at it as a test. If someone does not have the patience to do a little of the necessary background research in a field that they are interested in then they are very unlikely to have the patience that is required to succeed in this line of work.
eb
Newbies to the forum frequently start their posting career with broad questions like: 1) How can I get started in expediting? 2) Who is the best company to work for? 3) What is the meaning of life, the universe and, everything?... This is my answer.
Read before posting. Go back one year in the General Expediter, Truck Talk, and Newbies Paradise forums (the General forums) and scan for threads that sound like topics that can be of interest. Read them. Go to all the other forums for a quick browse to see what is in them. The reason you do this is because most questions you can ask have already been asked. You also get to know the voice of the different personalities who frequent these parts of the cybersphere. And you'll also realize that my question number three about life doesn't belong in the General forums.
Learn the search function. After browsing the general forums use the search function to compile topics of interest that you ran across in the general forums and want to further investigate. The search function can be found on the red tabs at the top of the open forums. One click opens a search field. Follow the "advanced search" link and use that to narrow down your search. Don't overlook the power of using the "Search by User Name" field. If a search returns an overwhelming number of posts try to narrow down the results by entering a "Search by User Name" entry. Use the name of a users who seem to know something about the topic. This is why you get to know the different personalities during the initial reading tour of the forums. If you have trouble getting the search function to return hits then try and use the Search by Tab found within advanced search. Enter the same queries and see what comes up.
Read the FAQ section. The FAQ section is another red tab at the top of the open forum pages. It's good to know the rules of the road before setting out.
Private Message. I am still not ready to have you posting your first overly broad question. I'm assuming that during your homework session of browsing and searching the general forums you are also refining the questions you want to ask the general forum population. If your question is still of a broad, overarching nature then try directing this question to users who seem open to being helpful. Try this. Go to a thread that is related to your topic of interest. Find someone who was part of that discussion and send them a private message and ask something like, "You were part of a discussion about "whatever". Does it still apply today? Would you mind expounding on "whatever"? ....." Private messages can be sent to any user from within any thread by clicking on the user's name and selecting the "Send a private message to ..." option. Private messages can also be accessed from within the user-of-interest's profile page contact info. The advantage of using this tactic is that many people are more willing to personally address a specific topic that they were involved with than to join a general discussion of a general question that they have already answered a number of times before.
Ask the question. Going through the above process will probably turn the first question into something more specific and easily answered which will make the discussion more about a topic that is useful to more people and less likely to turn into another thread about how to get started using the forum.
It does take time to go through this process but look at it as a test. If someone does not have the patience to do a little of the necessary background research in a field that they are interested in then they are very unlikely to have the patience that is required to succeed in this line of work.
eb
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