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Just an idea that struck me on posting my most recent thread: there's been a lot of times where I've had a very simple question I wanted to put to the people of Dakka (the thread in question was me wanting to know whether the models in Deathwatch Overkill had many weapon options etc) and I do feel a bit silly creating a whole thread for what is a very simple question that is unlikely to spark any kind of discussion.

So what I'm wondering is, whether in the 40k General Discussion or Dakka Discussion, or maybe both, we could have a stickied thread for simple questions such as these where members could receive quick answers, without clogging up sub-forums with useless threads.

Thoughts?

Lego has hard data that very few people actually read stickied threads.

 Ghaz wrote:
Lego has hard data that very few people actually read stickied threads.

It doesn't surprise me that people may skip over stickied threads in the same way as terms and conditions, but surely stickied threads where people were allowed to post to ask questions would see more use? Especially if the mods were to point people who posted new threads with simple questions to said stickied thread?

There's a sticky in 40K General Discussion titled 'Rules Questions go in YMDC!' that one doesn't even have to open to get the message and still people post rules questions in General Discussions. As the data shows, people do not read the stickies.

On top of that, what is defined as a 'simple' question? More than once, I've seen what should have been a 'simple question' turn into a multi page argument where the thread ended up being locked. Its better off leaving these 'simple questions' in their own threads. If they're truly simple, they'll sink down the forum quick enough and not 'clutter' up the forum.

Agreed!

And really, don't be afraid to just ask your question - as Ghaz said, it will get answered quickly, and sink down off the front page, or it will generate a lot of interesting (hopefully) discussion and stay 'up front'.

Either way, no worries!

IF a user find themselves asking a LOT of simple/easy questions, we sometimes ask them to stick to a single thread.

For example, one maybe titled "The Shadow's Q&A Thread".

Other than that, things run fairly smoothly as is.

Ok, that's fair enough guys, you've convinced me otherwise. Thanks for your responses!

I'll try and avoid "The Shadow's Q&A Thread" ever needing to be a thing though

One good way of getting your simple questions answered quickly is to provide a simple question.
Make sure that it can, if possible be answered with a simple yes/no or ABC options. If you can make a poll then your question will probably be answered without even being bumped.
Once you have your answer it's always a good idea to add a quick, "Thanks, that's what I needed to know" post as rarely do threads like this go any further, plus it's polite.
You can always yellow triangle a mod to lock it afterwards.

Also most simple questions can be answered by Google, Dakka's search function isn't the best but adding a 'Dakka' into a Google search will often get results.

Good ideas there, Alex, thanks for the tips!