Responding to posts?

If I start thread, and someone answers but I would like to ask them for more info, can I do that in the thread or do I have to send them a "private" message?

It's probably best to do it in the thread unless it's about highly personal information.  Not everyone likes private messages.  

It is always best to put it out in public for all to see for a very good reason: while we often see the same people posting and replying, there are actually a LOT of lurkers out there. It is something like 1 person posting for 99 just reading along.

I try to keep that in mind, so that a lot of people get ideas.

Travis Johnson wrote:It is always best to put it out in public for all to see for a very good reason: while we often see the same people posting and replying, there are actually a LOT of lurkers out there. It is something like 1 person posting for 99 just reading along.

I try to keep that in mind, so that a lot of people get ideas.

This is the nature of public discussion groups - most of the time you are writing for the benefit of a wider audience, even when you are having a dialogue with an individual. Keeping these things public means everyone can benefit, and other people may contribute their own ideas as well.

“Email me when someone replies to a thread I posted to” is a setting in all of our profiles.
Replying to the thread may (if they chose this option) also gently remind a person that the conversation is continuing.
You may also get more information from someone else. Many times, I read a thread and think “yeah, that’s what I would have said” and keep quiet, maybe click the “thumbs up button”. On the other hand, I’ll comment if I feel like I can add something useful.

*edit* I also forgot, commenting also bumps the thread to the top of "Most Recent Topics" where more people may see it!

Kenneth Elwell wrote:“Email me when someone replies to a thread I posted to” is a setting in all of our profiles.

I think thats what I wanted to know.  I thank you.  I wasn't sure how they would see it.

Sorry, to clarify, someone said something of interest and I wanted to ask them for more info, but wasn't sure how to address them directly.  So, you just post to the thread and hopefully they come back to see it (when notified).

If it is a Moderator, you can just put their name in the reply.

For instance, Pearl Sutton will be along shortly because she has a an automatic search done for her name when she logs on. Since I typed in Pearl, she will automatically see that, and read this thread regarding her. Most Moderators do that, so you can summons help quickly.

BTW: Hi Pearl, sorry for falsely summonsing you!

Anyone can make any phrase/word a watch word. If you go to your  "Bookmarks and Watches" and set a word or phrase. Every time someone mentions that phrase, you get a PM. If you have a unique name like Pearl, you might set that as a watch word, but maybe not if your name is John and there's lots of Johns. So, you might set "John Jacob Jiglehimer-Smitt" as your watch phrase.

I realized a while back that people often think us moderators know when they say, "Can a moderator please delete this duplicate post?" (instead of reporting it). Until we had these spiffy watch phrase technology, we honestly had no idea. But, I realized I could set "moderator" "mod" and "admin" as watch phrases so I "magically" know when people need a moderator's help. (This is kind of a pain sometimes, though, because a Moderator is apparently something in rocket heaters or nuclear power or something that I know nothing about!)

Online forums like Permies Forum's are interesting.

Really what you have is a place that is just like a bricks and mortar place, say a feed store.

Paul Wheaton owns the store, and as such it is his rules. What he says goes. But he invites us in, and we all sit around the Rocket Mass Heater, stay warm, and chat. It can be about a guy interested in buying an all-wheel drive motorcycle. Or it could be about feeding chickens old peaches. Or it could be about cordless tools...it is conversation.

Now on our computers, we drop in and chat, just like if we were at Paul's feed store in real life. Some people own more land, some have more money, some have no land at all, but still are interested in the conversation. Some are retired, so they chat a lot (like me), and some are super busy, and just drop in for a second, one time a week. And yet others just drop in, and do not say a word. These are called "lurkers", but there is nothing negative at all about them, they just do not feel they have anything to add. I think they do, and encourage them to speak up, but to each their own.

Sometimes the conversation gets too spirited, so the store employees (moderators) tell the people to go talk about it outside, they are bothering some people. This is when the conversation gets sent to the cider press where a person has to have certain privileges to go in thee, kind of like how only a few people can go in the back room in a real store'. Other times Paul has to just step in, or have his employees step in (Moderators) and stop all conversation.

Really this is what Permies Forum is like, and it is all okay.

It is okay if you have a little land or a lot. It is okay if you are more into scrounging for food rather than having chickens. And if you like alteranative power, this might be the place for you, heck even if you live in the city and never lose power. It is okay, it is just good, honest conversation. For many of us (like me and Ryan Hobbs for instance), we live in deep isolation so we have few conversations with living people just because of how rural we are. But for lurkers, I have nothing but great things to say about them, and while it is good to get feedback, I can only hope some of my 4400 conversations on here, have helped them over the years.

I have been summoned!! :D
Yes, I have a watch set on "Pearl' and I answer to it, almost always within a day. I also get notified about all the pearl millet, and pearl gray bunnies on Permies :D The hazards of a name that has many meanings :)
And I'm also one of the deep isolation people, and spend way too much time on the net....