Q: How do you deal with questions that don't offer details? It's difficult to guess what some of people are actually asking when they don't give details nor fill out the questions required of them.
A: This is exactly what helpers have to be prepared to deal with, on this help forum. A majority of the questions here are post by first time visitors. It is our job, as helpers, to try to educate all the new comers, in the best way that we know. I find [silent treatment] is a good strategy. It makes them think, why is there no response from any one. I find this method is very effective when used against thread hijackers, just ignore them when they are rude or trying to jump queue by using swear words, all capital letters (make noise), duplicate questions or some other tricks. I have seen them all.
Soon people will realize that helpers are not mind readers. They need to have specific data: URL, browser, location. A longer description of the problem never hurts. Many askers do not realize that helpers are unpaid volunteers. We are just bloggers who are trying to help a fellow blogger because Google does not operate a help desk; no email address and no telephone number available any where.
