From time to time we see the rise of "catchall" threads, usually in our On-Topic areas. These threads, though, don't really have a topic...their only common tie is "Here are all my own questions, myself personally," although sometimes other folks will pitch in their own questions too.
If you start one of these threads, I can easily understand that they're really nice for YOU. You get all your questions answered in one nice neat package.
The problem is...they kinda suck for everyone else.
Other folks on The Saloon- the ones who gamely keep serving up the answers- keep having to answer the same old questions pretty much everyone coming to China has, over and over and over again.
Meanwhile, newcomers to the forum, who probably have the same questions themselves only not at the same time, can't easily benefit from the answers our members have already given you. They have to read through miles of other questions and answers before (hopefully) getting what they really want to know. They're going to be more inclined to simply re-post the same question in a new thread...making other members answer it yet again.
So I'm asking you, very politely:
PLEASE don't start (or continue) wandering personal omnibus threads.Break them up. ONE THREAD, ONE TOPIC works best for everyone in the long run.
The Saloon does have a Search function. Like any other online search engine, with a little practice you can learn to quite often get what you're looking for.
In many cases, simply looking over (at least) the first few pages of our boards will reveal an existing thread on the very subject you're curious about. There, you can add value to those existing threads by asking about specific details not yet covered.
Doing these things BEFORE posting your question can save a lot of people a lot of redundant work. If you don't see what you need already here, then please post and we'll all do our best to help you.
We DO want to answer your questions. We DO want to help you.Please, just show us this small bit of consideration in return.
Lighten the load so we can all move on to new stuff!
While I'm at it, when you're asking or posting "hard" information, it really helps a lot if you'll make your Subject Line reflect what your thread is actually about. This makes it MUCH easier for people to come up later and find their answers.
(If you're just bantering, the sky's the limit on subject lines!)
Thank you!
Raoul