Most thread get 0 to only few replies. Why?

[joejim]

This is just another CURIOUS question about life (in this case OBS), I called it MYSTERY.
OBS is a wonderful program, and I am grateful for those who created OBS.

I noticed that most (99%+++) thread get NO replies to less than 5 replies. YET views always exceed 10-20-30+++. So people are reading the threads but do not reply, And those threads that get few replies are from same members or questions from members who have similar questions.

BTW there are MANY threads posted each day, so members DO have MANY questions.
99.9999999% of threads do not apply to me, and I don't even understand the questions. I am just a simple OBS user.

Few CURIOUS questions.
Those VIEWs, who are you? Why do you view the threads?
Are you bored with life so stroll OBS forum for FUN?
Since you left no replies so I assume you have little to NO knowledge about OBS, then why you view the threads?

Is there any "technical" staffs who patrol the forum just to answer questions? If not, it would be a good idea.
All the forums have "moderators" who are dedicated and interested parties who (I assume) have above average knowledge of forum subjects.

Lastly why have the forum IF only zero to only few replies to threads?
Maybe I am looking at the wrong forum? Maybe there is some secret OBS forum where many replies are exchanged, who knows?
MYSTERY ?????

 

[WizardCM]

It wouldn't surprise me if most people reading threads don't know the answers. Those of us who do only check threads when we have time (I usually filter by "Unanswered threads", which shows threads like this one).

IMO the forum's core use is for resources/plugins/tools, with discussion & support on the side these days. Most support questions can be answered more quickly via the Discord or sometimes even on Twitter. Plus the unofficial subreddit is super active too.

 

[FerretBomb]

The OBS Project doesn't have staff. Anyone here on the forums is a volunteer. A lot of the time people will look in on a thread out of curiosity, but not know the answer. There are experienced folks who come through now and then to help when possible, but it isn't a job, and answering the same questions over and over gets tiring, when a search (or reading the pinned FAQ threads) would answer a lot of the most common ones. Especially given the influx of new users with the quarantine measures going on at present.

Far as those who view threads but don't respond, they may just be trying to learn. No need to clutter up threads if they don't have anything helpful to add, and keeps the signal-to-noise ratio low. :)

 

[koala]

Many of the threads ask for super basic issues I'm tired of answering. I did answered them in the past, but not any more, because it's boring. I try to always learn while browsing the forum, so I pick interesting questions, do research, and answer according to the research. But questions that were asked a thousand times before aren't interesting.

Many questions are so basic it is safe to assume the thread opener solved it himself already at the time I'm reading his question, so I'm wasting my time if I answer. It's an offline medium, after all, not online chat.

Answering even trivial questions is not as easy as it seems. You have to analyse the issue of the thread opener, even if he is unable to express himself. Then you try to answer, and he misunderstands me, or I realize I misunderstood him, because he didn't post enough information. So I usually answer only, if the thread opener posted enough information to work out a meaningful answer.

This is a forum, not a chat. In a chat, you ask step by step for information, but in a forum you expect (at least I expect) people post enough information themselves. If they don't, I'm unable to answer. For all the real basic questions, such as "I have lags", "I have a black screen", "tell me good settings", the Discord support should be used.

 

[Luke Skywalker]

I guess the people dont care and there is no staff and your thread could maybe only be found by people just scrolling through them

 

[Victor100]

Downloaded OBS an hour ago and as a new member I searched to a solution to my first problem in attempting to use OBS "Remux and file may be incomplete". I found the thread but given that I have browsed pages in this regard and in the absence of any replies am I therefore to assume that there is no solution to the problem while given the amount of enquiries, the problem does exist? Why a forum?

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

I guess the people dont care

You guess incorrectly

Downloaded OBS an hour ago and as a new member I searched to a solution to my first problem in attempting to use OBS "Remux and file may be incomplete". I found the thread but given that I have browsed pages in this regard and in the absence of any replies am I therefore to assume that there is no solution to the problem while given the amount of enquiries, the problem does exist? Why a forum?

You assume incorrectly

OBS is Free Open Source software. As such there is an expectation that users do some of their own research (self-support)
As noted above, many of us volunteer our time. BUT, a good number of posts are by people who have not done the basics on trying to help themselves. They don't even read the pinned post in the forum about getting help. Those folks are too lazy in my view to take my valuable time trying to hand feed an answer.

And then you add the fact that many people haven't the slightest clue about basic computer operations. And real-time video encoding is demanding. So you need either an over-powered machine, OR you need to know what you are doing, avoiding viruses/malware, bad browser and similar plug-ins, not running unnecessary processes, etc. And then for under-powered systems, truly knowledgeable optimization at the operating system and all running process level

The fact that others volunteer and answer questions indicates folks do care. I won't chime in, in general, on something when my input isn't really going to be useful. I also get annoyed and skip the whiny, childish, entitled, lack of due-diligence type questions... I'm not your parent and as mentioned, I too have gotten bored answering the same questions repeatedly.

As for remuxing not working? sounds like a mis-match of settings, or a some other (non-OBS) problem. I've never had a problem with standard 1HR 1080p MKV's remuxing to MP4 on a NVMe SSD (in about 15 seconds)

 

[Judy401]

Many of the threads ask for super basic issues I'm tired of answering. I did answered them in the past, but not any more, because it's boring. I try to always learn while browsing the forum, so I pick interesting questions, do research, and answer according to the research. But questions that were asked a thousand times before aren't interesting.

Many questions are so basic it is safe to assume the thread opener solved it himself already at the time I'm reading his question, so I'm wasting my time if I answer. It's an offline medium, after all, not online chat.

Answering even trivial questions is not as easy as it seems. You have to analyse the issue of the thread opener, even if he is unable to express himself. Then you try to answer, and he misunderstands me, or I realize I misunderstood him, because he didn't post enough information. So I usually answer only, if the thread opener posted enough information to work out a meaningful answer.

This is a forum, not a chat. In a chat, you ask step by step for information, but in a forum you expect (at least I expect) people post enough information themselves. If they don't, I'm unable to answer. For all the real basic questions, such as "I have lags", "I have a black screen", "tell me good settings", the Discord support should be used.

I have one easy question: how can I post a question? I only see how to reply to other's posts, but unable to post my own question. Where is the "beef" or the button to push to post a question? Thank you.

 

[koala]

how can I post a question?

Choose the forum first, for example the "windows support" forum, then click the "new thread" button. It's only visible in the forum, not if you're reading another thread.

 

[Judy401]

Thank you for guiding me. Allow me to explain: Animated Lower Thirds plugin created by NoeAL is the forum/discussion board I want to post. Attached is where I selected page 45 of this forum to land on the latest posts. That is where I am stuck. I don't see a button option to post my question. The only option I see is to reply to GrumpyDog's post. Although my 2 questions seek the forum's assistance, I want to learn how to post as a new question because my post is unrelated to GrumpyDog's post. Here is the link to below forum for you to see what I mean: https://obsproject.com/forum/thread...ds-with-dockable-control-panel.127896/page-45

Thank you for your assistance.

 

[koala]

That's different. Every plugin has one thread attached to the plugin resource page for announcements and support. There are so many plugins, there cannot be separate forums dedicated to each plugin. If you have a question about a plugin, do add a reply to its thread. It doesn't need to be linked to the previous post in that thread. The whole thread is a collection of random questions and random answers about that plugin.
It's different to the vanilla OBS support where you're expected to create a new thread for every question.

 

[Judy401]

Thx a million for this great explanation. It means a lot to me.