Answers to threads not helpful

Hi,
I've been a long term lurker but only started to posting on this site in recent times. I have really found this site over the years to be brilliant when it came to all things financial. I have a very basic understanding of the big economic world issues but would still enjoyed reading other poster opinions and advise.
I have noticed lately when a infrequent poster ask a question looking for advice or an answer to something. The advise has been anything but helpful;either the person is told to go to a professional,given a lecture on the circumstance of their question or its used as a vehicle by two posters to off topic and have a pop at each other. Majority of times the question remains unanswered.

Superstitious said:

either the person is told to go to a professional

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But sometimes that is the appropriate answer.

Hi Superstitious

That is a problem ok. I am surprised that you say that the majority of questions remain unanswered. I will check this out. I would have thought that, while some don't, most people do get their questions answered.

Don't be shy about using the Report Button



The off topic posters having a pop at each other are particularly annoying. The moderators will delete those posts.

Some people use Askaboutmoney inappropriately and ask very complex questions - where going to an accountant or solicitor is the right thing to do.

The "lecture on the circumstances" is less clear than the other two. For example, someone has asked "what is the best way for 6 people to own a property jointly". It would not be the right approach for us or for a lawyer to answer that question and leave it at that. I answered that they should simply not do it. It's a bad, bad idea. They may not want to hear that, but it's the right answer.

When somone posts: "I am on €80k a year and I have a €200k mortgage but the bank is refusing to give me a restructure" - I think that the best answer to this is a lecture on their circumstances.

But please do use the Report Button where you feel it's justified. The mods usually, but not always, agree with reported posts.

Brendan

Superstitious said:

Majority of times the question remains unanswered.

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Please post a few links to questions which have gone unanswered, so we can get an idea of what you are referring to.

Brendan

Brendan Burgess said:

Some people use Askaboutmoney inappropriately and ask very complex questions - where going to an accountant or solicitor is the right thing to do.

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Another issue with respect to this is not everyone wishes to divulge the full situation making it very difficult for anyone to advise on it. In those cases, getting professional assistance is the right thing to recommend.

Superstitious said:

The advise has been anything but helpful;either the person is .... given a lecture on the circumstance of their question

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This was discussed in a bit of detail a while back in the this post
https://www.askaboutmoney.com/threads/can-the-preaching-stop-please.202192/

I think this is a problem, but a small one and most times people do not really want to hear the advice they are given, and then it descends into chaos.
I was reading a post on this forum or another recently about a guy who had done some work for some friends, and his wedding was coming up and wanted to know how much of a wedding gift he could accept tax free (effectively in lieu of work done). The advice given was it was illegal and not to do it. There was then some back-tracking involved, but the message was still the same - how big a gift can they accept tax free....
In this case, the answer to the question is not appropriate, but a discussion on the circumstance

That said, I do think this forum is getting a reputation of being very 'preachy' and lacking empathy with the financial illiterate. I have made a few comments to people on other forums redirecting them to this one, and most of the time the answer I get back is - "thanks, but no thanks. I don't fancy a lecture on my lifestyle choices." So while some find it fantastic and does give great advice, it may struggle to appeal to the masses.

Speaking as one who has had his knuckles rapped more than once here, I think the "struggle to appeal to the masses" is a good thing. I'm fairly confident that Brendan and the mods don't want a mutual admiration society [left out originally] nor a bigger user-group just for the sake of quantity, but that messers are by and large discouraged.

This forum is unique and personally, I'd like to keep it that way. It takes a certain degree of maturity to accept peer feedback at times, but in general, it makes for higher quality posting and better learning.

mathepac said:

This forum is unique...... It takes a certain degree of maturity to accept peer feedback at times, but in general, it makes for higher quality posting and better learning.

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Agree 100% with this statement. I have learned a lot from here and I would consider myself somewhat financially literate (although by no means an expert or professional).

I guess it all depends on the objectives and whether Brendan and the mods would like it to be a place for semi-financially literate people to grow their knowledge, or whether they wish for a more inclusive site appealing to the more financially inexperienced. The problem is it is very hard to be all things to all people....

One option may be a sister site, with slightly higher levels of empathy ;-)

As an FYI, one forum within this site that I have referred a number of people to, and always has fantastic feedback from is the Health Insurance one. Probably as there is less 'opinion' involved and more factual by its nature. This is very good example of how the financially inexperienced can get massive benefit from this site.